Editing David C. Evans (computer scientist)

{{short description|American computer scientist}}

{{other people||David Evans (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = David C. Evans
| birth_name        = David Cannon Evans
| image             = 
| image_size        = 
| caption           = 
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1924|2|24}}
| birth_place       = [[Salt Lake City, Utah]], United States
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1998|10|3|1924|2|24}}
| death_place       = Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
| work_institution  = [[University of California, Berkeley]]<br/>[[University of Utah]]<br/>[[Evans & Sutherland]]
| alma_mater        = University of Utah
| thesis_title      = Design and Operation of Two Electronic Computing Devices
| thesis_year       = 1953
| doctoral_students = [[Alan Kay]]
| known_for         = [[Computer graphics]]
| awards            = [[IEEE Emanuel R. Piore Award]] (1986)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ieee.org/documents/piore_rl.pdf |title=IEEE Emanuel R. Piore Award Recipients |publisher=[[IEEE]] |accessdate=March 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101124232834/http://ieee.org/documents/piore_rl.pdf |archive-date=November 24, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| spouse            = Beverly Joy Frewin Evans
| parents           = 
| children          = 10, including [[David F. Evans]]
}}
'''David Cannon Evans''' (February 24, 1924 – October 3, 1998) was the founder of the [[computer science]] department at the [[University of Utah]] and co-founder (with [[Ivan Sutherland]]) of [[Evans & Sutherland]], a pioneering firm in [[graphics hardware|computer graphics hardware]].<ref>[http://db3-sql.staff.library.utah.edu/lucene/Photo/P0400/P0452.xml David C. Evans Biography and Photograph Collection at the University of Utah] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613110729/http://db3-sql.staff.library.utah.edu/lucene/Photo/P0400/P0452.xml |date=2010-06-13 }}</ref>

==Biography==
Evans was born in [[Salt Lake City]]. He attended the University of Utah and studied electrical engineering; he earned his Bachelor of Science in Physics in 1949 and his Doctorate in Physics in 1953.<ref>{{cite web
| url=https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv84585
| title=David C. Evans audio-visual collection, 1972-1987
| accessdate=December 9, 2016
}}</ref> Evans first worked at the [[Bendix Corporation|Bendix]] aviation electronics company, where he acted as project manager in 1955 to develop what some describe as an early [[personal computer]] that ran on an interpretive operating system. The [[Bendix G-15]] was a bulky unit about the size of a two-door refrigerator. He stayed with the company just long enough to manage the G-20 project.<ref name="obit">{{cite news |title= David Evans, Pioneer in Computer Graphics, Dies at 74 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |author= John Markoff |author-link= John Markoff |date= October 12, 1998 |url= https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D02E6D91F3BF931A25753C1A96E958260&scp=27 |accessdate= April 16, 2011}}</ref>

Evans became a faculty member of the [[University of California, Berkeley]]. 
His first important work with graphics dates from that period, when he did several experiments on an IDIOM display hooked up to a [[Digital Equipment Corporation]] [[Programmed Data Processor|PDP]]-5.{{citation needed|date= April 2011}}
In 1963, he was co-[[Principal Investigator]] (with [[Harry Huskey]]) for [[project Genie]] to produce an early multi-user [[timesharing]] system. Students from this period include [[Butler Lampson]] and [[L. Peter Deutsch]].<ref>{{cite web |title= Project Genie: Berkeley's piece of the computer revolution |publisher= [[University of California, Berkeley]] Engineering |author= Paul Spinrad and Patti Meagher |url= http://coe.berkeley.edu/news-center/publications/forefront/archive/forefront-fall-2007/features/berkeley2019s-piece-of-the-computer-revolution |accessdate= April 16, 2011 |url-status= dead |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20110719144454/http://coe.berkeley.edu/news-center/publications/forefront/archive/forefront-fall-2007/features/berkeley2019s-piece-of-the-computer-revolution |archivedate= July 19, 2011 }}</ref>
The system, which included key developments in the field of [[virtual memory]], was sponsored by the US Defense Department's [[DARPA|Advanced Research Projects Agency]].<ref name="obit" />

In 1965, the University of Utah recruited him back to start their own computer science department.
When he was building up the University of Utah department in 1968 he managed to convince [[Ivan Sutherland]] (who had funded Evans' DARPA research) to come to [[Utah]], accepting the condition that they start a computer graphics company together. Evans retired from the company in 1994.
Evans's students at Utah included [[Alan Kay]], [[Edwin Catmull]], [[James H. Clark]], [[John Warnock]], [[Alan Ashton (executive)|Alan Ashton]], [[Franklin C. Crow|Frank Crow]], [[Jim Blinn]], [[Bui Tuong Phong]], [[Sutherland–Hodgman algorithm|Gary Hodgman]], and [[Henri Gouraud (computer scientist)|Henri Gouraud]].

Evans was a member of [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church). He served as a [[branch president]], a counselor in [[Bishop (Latter Day Saints)|bishoprics]] and [[Stake (Latter Day Saints)|stake presidencies]], and as a [[Scouting|scout master]] for a total of 27 years.<ref name = cn>''[[Church News]]'', October 26, 1996.</ref> Evans was awarded the [[Silver Beaver]] for his role in scouting.<ref name="obit"/>

Evans married Joy Frewin. They had ten children, only seven of which lived to adulthood. One of these is [[David F. Evans]], who became a [[general authority]] in the LDS Church. From 1984 to 1990, Joy Evans was a counselor in the general presidency of the [[Relief Society]] to [[Barbara W. Winder]]. At the time of his death on October 12, 1998, Evans had 39 living grandchildren and great grandchildren.

In 1996, [[Brigham Young University]] established the David C. Evans Chair of Computer Engineering and Graphics. Evans was at the ceremony where the founding of a chair in his honor was announced, but due to his suffering from [[Alzheimer's disease]], did not make any remarks at the ceremony.<ref name = cn/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Biography}}
* {{Find a Grave|3659}}

{{Evans & Sutherland}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, David C.}}
[[Category:American computer scientists]]
[[Category:Latter Day Saints from California]]
[[Category:20th-century American educators]]
[[Category:Computer graphics professionals]]
[[Category:University of Utah faculty]]
[[Category:University of Utah alumni]]
[[Category:University of California, Berkeley faculty]]
[[Category:Bendix Corporation people]]
[[Category:1924 births]]
[[Category:1998 deaths]]
[[Category:Scientists from Salt Lake City]]
[[Category:Latter Day Saints from Utah]]