Michael Stonebraker

Early Life and Education

Michael Ralph Stonebraker was born on October 11, 1943, in Newburyport, Massachusetts, U.S. He earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University in 1965 and furthered his studies at the University of Michigan, where he received a master's degree in engineering in 1966 and a Ph.D. in computer information and control engineering in 1971 source.

Academic Career

After completing his Ph.D., Stonebraker joined the University of California, Berkeley as an assistant professor in the department of electrical engineering and computer sciences. It was during his tenure at Berkeley that he made some of his most significant contributions to the field of computer science.

Contribution to Relational Databases

In 1974, Stonebraker invented INGRES (Interactive Graphics and Retrieval System), one of the first relational databases source. In 1986, he developed Postgres (Post INGRES), an advancement over INGRES that incorporated object-oriented programming.

Later Academic Contributions

In 2001, Stonebraker became a lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), later serving as the co-director of the Intel Science and Technology Center for Big Data at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

Stonebraker continued his innovative work by developing several other databases:

• C-Store (2005): A column-oriented database designed for improved performance.
• H-Store (2007): A database that utilized a computer's memory rather than disk storage for faster data access.
• SciDB (2011): An array-based relational database used in machine learning and statistical processing.

Industry Contributions

Stonebraker founded and managed several database companies, serving as the chief technology officer for seven firms, including Ingres, Illustra, Informix, Cohera, Required Technology, Streambase, and Vertica Systems source.

Awards and Honors

Michael Stonebraker's contributions to computer science have been widely recognized:

• ACM Software System Award (1988): For his creation and development of INGRES.
• ACM SIGMOD Award (1992): For his contributions to relational database systems research and development.
• IEEE John von Neumann Medal (2005): Awarded by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
• A.M. Turing Award (2014): Often considered the "Nobel Prize of Computing," awarded by the Association for Computing Machinery for his pioneering work in database systems source.

Legacy

Michael Stonebraker's work has had a profound impact on the field of computer science, particularly in the area of database management systems. His innovations laid the foundation for modern relational databases and continue to influence the way data is stored, retrieved, and managed in today's digital world.

Career Timeline

• 1965: Earned bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University source
• 1966: Received master's degree in engineering from the University of Michigan source
• 1971: Received Ph.D. in computer information and control engineering from the University of Michigan source
• 1971: Joined University of California, Berkeley as an assistant professor source
• 1974: Invented INGRES (Interactive Graphics and Retrieval System) source
• 1986: Developed Postgres (Post INGRES) source
• 1992: Co-founded Illustra Information Technologies source
• 2001: Became a lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) source
• 2005: Developed C-Store, a column-oriented database source
• 2007: Developed H-Store, a main-memory database source
• 2011: Developed SciDB, an array-based relational database source
• 2014: Awarded the ACM A.M. Turing Award source