Editing Steve Russell (computer scientist)

{{short description|American computer scientist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Steve Russell
| image             = Stephen Russell 2011 (cropped).jpg
| caption           = Russell in 2011
| birth_name        = Stephen Russell
| birth_date        = {{birth year and age|1937}}<ref name="computerhistory">{{cite web |url=http://www.computerhistory.org/pdp-1/steve-slug-russell/ |title=Steve "Slug" Russell |website=PDP-1 Restoration Project |publisher=Computer History Museum |access-date=December 31, 2015}}</ref>
| birth_place       = [[Hartford, Connecticut]], U.S.
| death_date        = 
| death_place       = 
| death_cause       = 
| resting_place     = 
| resting_place_coordinates = <!--{{coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline,title}}-->
| home_town         = 
| other_names       = Slug
| fields            = [[Computer science]]
| workplaces        = [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]]
| patrons           = 
| education         = 
| alma_mater        = [[Dartmouth College]]
| thesis_title      = <!--(or | thesis1_title = and | thesis2_title = )-->
| thesis_url        = <!--(or | thesis1_url = and | thesis2_url = )-->
| thesis_year       = <!--(or | thesis1_year = and | thesis2_year = )-->
| doctoral_advisor  = <!--(or | doctoral_advisors = )-->
| academic_advisors = 
| doctoral_students = 
| notable_students  = 
| known_for         = [[Spacewar!]]<br/>[[Lisp (programming language)|Lisp]]
| awards            = 
| spouse            = <!--(or | spouses = )-->
| partner           = <!--(or | partners = )-->
| children          = 
| signature         = <!-- Filename only -->
| signature_alt     = 
| website           = <!--{{URL|www.example.com}}-->
| footnotes         = 
}}
[[File:Spacewar!-PDP-1-20070512.jpg|thumb|[[Spacewar!]] on the [[Computer History Museum]]'s [[PDP-1]], 2007]]
'''Stephen Russell''' (born 1937),<ref name="computerhistory"/> also nicknamed "'''Slug'''",<ref name="computerhistory"/> is an American [[computer scientist]] most famous for creating ''[[Spacewar!]]'', well known for being the first widely distributed [[video game]].

==Biography==
Born in [[Hartford, Connecticut]],<ref name="computerhistory"/> Russell attended [[Dartmouth College]] in [[Hanover, New Hampshire]], from 1954 to 1958.

Russell wrote the first two implementations of the programming language [[Lisp (programming language)|Lisp]] for the [[IBM 704|IBM 704 mainframe computer]]. It was Russell who realized that the concept of [[UTM theorem|universal function]]s could be applied to the language. By implementing the Lisp universal evaluator in a lower-level language, it became possible to create the Lisp [[Interpreter (computing)|interpreter]]; prior development work on the language had focused on [[Compiler|compiling]] the language.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/history/lisp/node3.html#SECTION00030000000000000000 |title=The implementation of Lisp |website=History of Lisp |first=John |last=McCarthy |author-link=John McCarthy (computer scientist) |date=August 12, 1979 |access-date=December 31, 2015}}</ref> He invented the [[continuation]] to solve a double recursion problem for one of the users of his Lisp implementation.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.computernostalgia.net/articles/steveRussell.htm |title=Steve "Slug" Russell |work=Computer History}}</ref>

In 1962, Russell created and designed ''[[Spacewar!]]'', with the fellow members of the [[Tech Model Railroad Club]] at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] (MIT), working on a [[Digital Equipment Corporation]] (DEC) [[PDP-1]] minicomputer.<ref name="nyt1">{{cite news |last=Markoff |first=John |author-link=John Markoff |date=February 28, 2002 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/28/technology/a-long-time-ago-in-a-lab-far-away.html |title=A Long Time Ago, in a Lab Far Away… |website=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=April 27, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.computerhistory.org/pdp-1/spacewar/ |title=Spacewar! |author=<!-- Unstated --> |date=<!-- Undated --> |website=PDP-1 Restoration Project |publisher=Computer History Museum |access-date=November 22, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://computerhistory.org/profile/steve-russell/ |title=Steve Russell |author=<!-- Unstated --> |date=<!-- Undated --> |website=Computer History Museum |access-date=November 22, 2020}}</ref> ''Spacewar!'' is widely considered to be the first digital video game<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.movingimage.us/exhibitions/2012/12/15/detail/spacewar-video-games-blast-off/ |title=Spacewar! Video Games Blast Off |author=<!-- Unstated --> |date=March 3, 2013 |website=Museum of the Moving Image |publisher=Entertainment Software Association |access-date=November 22, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |date=November 1996 |title=The Great Videogame Swindle? |magazine=[[Next Generation (magazine)|Next Generation]] |publisher=[[Imagine Media]] |issue=23 |pages=64–66}}</ref> and served as a foundation for the entire video game industry.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://thedoteaters.com/?bitstory=bitstory-article-1/spacewar |title=Spacewar! – It Came from MIT |website=The Dot Eaters |access-date=July 10, 2023}}</ref>

He later served as an executive of [[Computer Center Corporation]] (nicknamed C-Cubed), a small time-sharing company in [[Washington (state)]]. In 1968, he mentored [[Bill Gates]] and [[Paul Allen]] on the use of the DEC [[PDP-10]] mainframe, while they were part of the programming group of [[Lakeside School (Seattle)]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Isaacson |first=Walter |author-link=Walter Isaacson |year=2014 |title=The Innovators |publisher=Simon & Schuster UK |isbn=978-1-47113-879-9 |pages=Chapter 9}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Idea Man |last=Allen |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Allen |year=2011 |publisher=Penguin Group |pages=Chapters 3–4}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Early history of video games]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Steve Russell}}

{{Lisp programming language}}
{{Early history of video games}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Steve}}
[[Category:American video game programmers]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Dartmouth College alumni]]
[[Category:1937 births]]
[[Category:American computer scientists]]
[[Category:Lisp (programming language) people]]
[[Category:Scientists from Hartford, Connecticut]]
[[Category:Game Developers Conference Pioneer Award recipients]]
[[Category:Bill Gates]]
[[Category:Lakeside School (Seattle) alumni]]
[[Category:Early history of video games]]