Ole Johan Dahl

Along with KristenNygaard, the co-inventor of ObjectOrientedProgramming for which they received the TuringAward in 2001. Here's his homepage: http://www.ifi.uio.no/~olejohan/

I'm saddened to hear that Ole-Johan has died; the news doesn't appear to have circulated as widely as that of Kristen Nygaard's death, possibly because of Kristen's greater fame in politics; I first learned from AlanKay's message of condolence here: http://www.ifi.uio.no/in_memoriam_kristen/ . This page: http://www.simula.no/news_one.php?news_id=37 appears to be the press release. Its in Norwegian, perhaps someone could help translate? ----

A translation by Espen Odegaard:

Ole-Johan Dahl: A great scientist and a good colleague.

O-J D, Norway's first professor in informatics, died 29 June nine year ago [2002]. He was 70 years old. By his death Norwegian and international research in informatics lost one of its pioneers and great contributors. As a text book author, lecturer and mentor for a large number of students at the University of Oslo, O-J D has been central in the establishing of a Norwegian IT competence during the last part of the previous century.

O-J D together with Kristen Nygaard this year received both the Turing-award and the John von Neumann medal for the invention and development of object oriented programming and the programming language Simula 40 years ago. Their contribution in the sixties is today considered one of the most important results of research in the last century.

O-J D introduced object orientation and Simula in the teaching of informatics in the seventies. Initially this model was controversial, but would later form a role model for basic teaching of informatics around the world. In the later years Dahl's research has been performed within theoretical computing, focusing on development of formal methods for software development, development of programming languages and proofing of programs' correctness.

In spite of his tremendous contribution to research O-J D would always appear as a modest man, who reluctantly spoke about his deeds. In professional discussion he could, however, show a great temper. When attending a presentation he would insist on understanding all details thoroughly, and he would never accept anything he considered professional shortcuts.

O-J D would study works performed by colleagues with the same interest and openness, whether it would be an established international researcher or a freshman. His ability to understand and get the picture of intricate problems within a short time was well known, and his views and professional input was highly valuated. With these words we will honour a great scientist, a professional role model and a good colleague. Within informatics communities around the world the scientist and the man O-J D will be deeply missed.

Olav Lysne and Morten Dæhlen

Simula Research Laboratory

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