Edward Yourdon - Biography

Biography

Yourdon obtained his B.S. in applied mathematics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1965, and has done graduate work in electrical engineering and computer science at MIT and the Polytechnic Institute of New York.

In 1964 Yourdon started working at Digital Equipment Corporation developing FORTRAN programs for the PDP-5 minicomputer and later assembler for the PDP-8. Later in the 1960s and begin 1970s after working at a small consulting firm and as independent consultant in 1974 Yourdon founded his own consulting firm, YOURDON Inc. to provide educational, publishing, and consulting services. After he sold this firm in 1986 he served on the Board of multiple IT consultancy corporations, and was advisor on several research project in the software industry throughout the 1990s.

In June 1997, Yourdon was inducted into the Computer Hall of Fame, along with such notables as Charles Babbage, Seymour Cray, James Martin, Grace Hopper, Gerald Weinberg, and Bill Gates. And December 1999 the Crosstalk: The Journal of Defense Software Engineering, named him one of the ten most influential people in the software field.

In the late 1990s, Yourdon became the centre of controversy over his beliefs that Y2K-related computer problems would result in severe software failures that would culminate in widespread social collapse. These failures did not materialize and he was later criticized for exaggerating the severity of the problem.

In the new millennium, Yourdon became Faculty Fellow at the Information Systems Research Center of the University of North Texas as well as Fellow of the Business Technology Trends Council for the Cutter Consortium, where he also was editor of the Cutter IT Journal.