27 Jan
2016
27 Jan
'16
6:11 p.m.
Can someone here ID the mystery person?
Embarrassingly, CHM has the person misidentified as well.
-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Need help identifying a photo
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 2016 16:46:45 +0000
From: Ceruzzi, Paul <CeruzziP(a)si.edu>
To: members(a)lists.sigcis.org <members(a)lists.sigcis.org>
There is a famous photo on Wikimedia commons, of what purports to be Ken
Thompson & Dennis Ritchie in front of a PDP-11, presumably working on
UNIX. The problem is that the seated person doesn’t look like either of
them. And he is clean-shaven. Could it be Bjarne Stroustrup? Does anyone
recall seeing T&R w/o facial hair? Any help in tracking this down would
be much appreciated! The photo has been reprinted in many places, and
I’d like to track this down before I inadvertently propagate an error.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ken_Thompson_(sitting)_and_Dennis_R…
Paul E. Ceruzzi
Curator, Division of Space History
National Air and Space Museum
MRC 311, PO Box 37012
Smithsonian Institution
Washington, DC 20013-7012
www.ceruzzi.com <http://www.ceruzzi.com>
ceruzzip(a)si.edu <mailto:ceruzzip@si.edu>
202-633-2414
_and_Dennis_Ritchie_at_PDP-11_(2876612463).jpg){kind=link}
27 Jan
27 Jan
6:26 p.m.
I’m not sure it isn’t right. The guy standing up is definitely Dennis. The hairline
looks right for Ken in “the day”.
6:30 p.m.
On Wed, Jan 27, 2016, at 12:11, Al Kossow wrote:
Can someone here ID the mystery person?
Embarrassingly, CHM has the person misidentified as well.
The same picture is at
https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/picture.html, with no suggestion
that it's anyone else.
6:52 p.m.
OK, the thing that threw me was KT without glasses.
On 1/27/16 9:30 AM, Random832 wrote:
On Wed, Jan 27, 2016, at 12:11, Al Kossow wrote:
Can someone here ID the mystery person?
Embarrassingly, CHM has the person misidentified as well.
The same picture is at
https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/picture.html, with no suggestion
that it's anyone else.
7:47 p.m.
Al Kossow scripsit:
OK, the thing that threw me was KT without glasses.
From Dorothy L. Sayers, _The Five Red Herrings_:
The ticket-collector on the train was not helpful.
[...] Certainly he had seen nobody remotely resembling the
portrait of Gowan [a suspect with a very full black beard].
Was there anybody at all like what Gowan would be if clean-shaven?
Well, that was asking something, that was. Had the Inspector
any idea what a 'edge-'og would look like without its spikes?
No, nor he didn't suppose nobody had, neither. He was a
ticket-collector, not a puzzle-picture expert. [...]
--
John Cowan http://www.ccil.org/~cowan cowan(a)ccil.org
Winter: MIT, / Keio, INRIA, / Issue lots of Drafts.
So much more to understand! / Might simplicity return?
(A "tanka", or extended haiku)
6:55 p.m.
On Jan 27, 2016, at 12:30 PM, Random832
<random832(a)fastmail.com> wrote:
On Wed, Jan 27, 2016, at 12:11, Al Kossow wrote:
Especially since it seems to be Dennis whose authenticating it.
Can someone here ID the mystery person?
Embarrassingly, CHM has the person misidentified as well.
The same picture is at
https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/picture.html, with no suggestion
that it's anyone else. 
7:23 p.m.
That's exactly what Ken looked like in the early 1970s when I first met him.
--Marc Rochkind
On Wed, Jan 27, 2016 at 10:55 AM, Ronald Natalie <ron(a)ronnatalie.com> wrote:
On Jan 27, 2016, at 12:30 PM, Random832
<random832(a)fastmail.com> wrote:
On Wed, Jan 27, 2016, at 12:11, Al Kossow wrote:
Especially since it seems to be Dennis whose authenticating it.
Can someone here ID the mystery person?
Embarrassingly, CHM has the person misidentified as well.
The same picture is at
https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/picture.html, with no suggestion
that it's anyone else. 
7:34 p.m.
Certainly looks like Ken without glasses just like first met him many years
ago,
On Wed, Jan 27, 2016 at 12:11 PM, Al Kossow <aek(a)bitsavers.org> wrote:
Can someone here ID the mystery person?
Embarrassingly, CHM has the person misidentified as well.
-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Need help identifying a photo
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 2016 16:46:45 +0000
From: Ceruzzi, Paul <CeruzziP(a)si.edu>
To: members(a)lists.sigcis.org <members(a)lists.sigcis.org>
There is a famous photo on Wikimedia commons, of what purports to be Ken
Thompson & Dennis Ritchie in front of a PDP-11, presumably working on
UNIX. The problem is that the seated person doesn’t look like either of
them. And he is clean-shaven. Could it be Bjarne Stroustrup? Does anyone
recall seeing T&R w/o facial hair? Any help in tracking this down would
be much appreciated! The photo has been reprinted in many places, and
I’d like to track this down before I inadvertently propagate an error.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ken_Thompson_(sitting)_and_Dennis_R…
Paul E. Ceruzzi
Curator, Division of Space History
National Air and Space Museum
MRC 311, PO Box 37012
Smithsonian Institution
Washington, DC 20013-7012
www.ceruzzi.com <http://www.ceruzzi.com>
ceruzzip(a)si.edu <mailto:ceruzzip@si.edu>
202-633-2414
11:10 p.m.
On Wednesday, 27 January 2016 at 9:11:45 -0800, Al Kossow wrote:
On Wed, 27 Jan 2016 16:46:45 +0000, Paul Ceruzzi wrote:
> There is a famous photo on Wikimedia commons, of what purports to be Ken
> Thompson & Dennis Ritchie in front of a PDP-11, presumably working on
> UNIX. The problem is that the seated person doesn?t look like either of
> them. And he is clean-shaven. Could it be Bjarne Stroustrup?
>
>
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ken_Thompson_(sitting)_and_Dennis_R…
Amusingly, the summary information for that link stated "Ken Thompson
(sitting)-&-Bjarne Stroustrup at PDP-11". I've corrected it.
Greg
--
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3217
days inactive
3217
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8 comments
7 participants
participants (7)
-
Al Kossow -
Clem Cole -
Greg 'groggy' Lehey -
John Cowan -
Marc Rochkind -
Random832 -
Ronald Natalie