Donald B. Gillies

Donald B. Gillies
Donald B. Gillies
Born	Donald Bruce Gillies; October 15, 1928; Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Died	July 17, 1975 (aged 46); Urbana, Illinois, USA
Nationality	Canadian
Alma mater	University of Toronto; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Princeton University
	Scientific career
Fields	Mathematics, Computer Science
Institutions	University of Illinois,; Stanford University (sabbatical),; National Research Development Corporation (UK)
Doctoral advisor	John von Neumann

Donald Bruce Gillies (October 15, 1928 – July 17, 1975) was a Canadian computer scientist and mathematician who worked in the fields of computer design, game theory, and minicomputer programming environments.

Early life and education[edit]

Donald B. Gillies was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to John Zachariah Gillies (a Canadian) and Anne Isabelle Douglas MacQueen (an American). He attended the University of Toronto Schools, a laboratory school originally affiliated with the university. Gillies attended the University of Toronto from 1946 to 1950, majoring in mathematics.^{[citation needed]}

He began his graduate education at the University of Illinois and helped with the checkout of ORDVAC computer in the summer of 1951. After one year he transferred to Princeton to work for John von Neumann and developed the first theorems of core (game theory) in his PhD thesis.^[1]

Gillies ranked among the top ten participants in the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition held in 1950.^[2]

Career[edit]

Gillies moved to England for two years to work for the National Research Development Corporation. He returned to the US in 1956, married Alice E. Dunkle,^[3] and began a job as a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The Math Department at UIUC celebrated the new primes with a postal meter cancellation stamp^[4] — until Appel and Haken proved the Four-color theorem in 1976.

Starting in 1957, Gillies designed the three-stage pipeline control of the ILLIAC II supercomputer at the University of Illinois.^[5] The pipelined stages were named "advanced control", "delayed control", and "interplay". This work competed with the IBM 7030 Stretch computer and was in the public domain. Gillies presented a talk on ILLIAC II at the University of Michigan Engineering Summer Conference in 1962.^[6] During checkout of ILLIAC II, Gillies found three new Mersenne primes,^[7] one of which was the largest prime number known at the time.^[8]

In 1969, Gillies launched a project to build the first Pascal compiler written in North America, a fast-turnaround, in-memory, 2-pass compiler. The compiler, for the PDP-11/23 minicomputer, was completed before 1975.^[9]^[10]

In 1974, Gillies became the first source code^[11] licensee for the Bell Labs UNIX operating system.^[12]

Death and legacy[edit]

Gillies died unexpectedly at age 46 on July 17, 1975, of a rare viral myocarditis.^{[citation needed]}

In 1975, the Donald B. Gillies Memorial lecture was established at the University of Illinois, with one leading researcher from computer science appearing every year. The first lecturer was Alan Perlis.^[13]

In 2006, the Donald B. Gillies Chair Professorship was established in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois. Vikram Adve was invested as the second chair professor of the endowment in 2018.^[14] The Department of Computer Science awarded a Memorial Achievement Award to Gillies in 2011.^[15]

References[edit]

^ Gillies, Donald (1953). Some theorems in N-person games. Princeton University (Thesis). OCLC 19736643.
^ Bush, L. E. (1950). "The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition". The American Mathematical Monthly. 57 (7): 467–470. doi:10.2307/2308299. ISSN 0002-9890. JSTOR 2308299.
^ Engagement Announcement (New York Times), Alice E. Dunkle is Betrothed to Donald Gillies, a Mathematician, December 10, 1955.
^ "History Timeline".
^ Gillies, Donald B. (October 1957). On the design of a very high speed computer (Report).
^ Gillies, Donald B. (June 1962). On the design of a very high speed computer.
^ Gillies, Donald B. (Jan 1964). "Three new Mersenne primes and a statistical theory". Mathematics of Computation. 18 (5): 93–97. doi:10.2307/2003409. JSTOR 2003409.
^ "History Timeline". cs.illinois.edu. Retrieved 2020-11-18.
^ http://pascal.hansotten.com/uploads/pug/03_Pascal_Newsletter_Feb75.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}
^ "Roy H Campbell". Archived from the original on 2020-08-05.
^ "History Timeline".
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-22. Retrieved 2017-04-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ "DONALD B. GILLIES MEMORIAL LECTURE". 2021-05-12.
^ "vikram adve invested donald b gillies professor computer science". 2018-04-15.
^ Memorial Achievement Award Archived 2015-03-18 at archive.today

External links[edit]

[1] Gillies, Donald (1953). Some theorems in N-person games. Princeton University (Thesis). OCLC 19736643.

[2] Bush, L. E. (1950). "The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition". The American Mathematical Monthly. 57 (7): 467–470. doi:10.2307/2308299. ISSN 0002-9890. JSTOR 2308299.

[3] Engagement Announcement (New York Times), Alice E. Dunkle is Betrothed to Donald Gillies, a Mathematician, December 10, 1955.

[4] "History Timeline".

[5] Gillies, Donald B. (October 1957). On the design of a very high speed computer (Report).

[6] Gillies, Donald B. (June 1962). On the design of a very high speed computer.

[7] Gillies, Donald B. (Jan 1964). "Three new Mersenne primes and a statistical theory". Mathematics of Computation. 18 (5): 93–97. doi:10.2307/2003409. JSTOR 2003409.

[8] "History Timeline". cs.illinois.edu. Retrieved 2020-11-18.

[9] ttp://pascal.hansotten.com/uploads/pug/03_Pascal_Newsletter_Feb75.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}

[10] "Roy H Campbell". Archived from the original on 2020-08-05.

[11] "History Timeline".

[12] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-22. Retrieved 2017-04-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[13] "DONALD B. GILLIES MEMORIAL LECTURE". 2021-05-12.

[14] "vikram adve invested donald b gillies professor computer science". 2018-04-15.

[15] Memorial Achievement Award Archived 2015-03-18 at archive.today

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v t e Topics of game theory
Definitions	Congestion game Cooperative game Determinacy Escalation of commitment Extensive-form game First-player and second-player win Game complexity Graphical game Hierarchy of beliefs Information set Normal-form game Preference Sequential game Simultaneous game Simultaneous action selection Solved game Succinct game Mechanism design
Equilibrium concepts	Bayes correlated equilibrium Bayesian Nash equilibrium Berge equilibrium Core Correlated equilibrium Coalition-proof Nash equilibrium Epsilon-equilibrium Evolutionarily stable strategy Gibbs equilibrium Mertens-stable equilibrium Markov perfect equilibrium Nash equilibrium Pareto efficiency Perfect Bayesian equilibrium Proper equilibrium Quantal response equilibrium Quasi-perfect equilibrium Risk dominance Satisfaction equilibrium Self-confirming equilibrium Sequential equilibrium Shapley value Strong Nash equilibrium Subgame perfection Trembling hand equilibrium
Strategies	Appeasement Backward induction Bid shading Collusion Cheap talk De-escalation Deterrence Escalation Forward induction Grim trigger Markov strategy Dominant strategies Pure strategy Mixed strategy Strategy-stealing argument Tit for tat
Classes of games	Auction Bargaining problem Global game Intransitive game Mean-field game n-player game Perfect information Large Poisson game Potential game Repeated game Screening game Signaling game Strictly determined game Stochastic game Symmetric game Zero-sum game
Games	Go Chess Infinite chess Checkers All-pay auction Prisoner's dilemma Gift-exchange game Optional prisoner's dilemma Traveler's dilemma Coordination game Chicken Centipede game Lewis signaling game Volunteer's dilemma Dollar auction Battle of the sexes Stag hunt Matching pennies Ultimatum game Rock paper scissors Pirate game Dictator game Public goods game Blotto game War of attrition El Farol Bar problem Fair division Fair cake-cutting Bertrand competition Cournot competition Stackelberg competition Deadlock Diner's dilemma Guess 2/3 of the average Kuhn poker Nash bargaining game Induction puzzles Trust game Princess and monster game Rendezvous problem
Theorems	Aumann's agreement theorem Folk theorem Minimax theorem Nash's theorem Negamax theorem Purification theorem Revelation principle Sprague–Grundy theorem Zermelo's theorem
Key figures	Albert W. Tucker Amos Tversky Antoine Augustin Cournot Ariel Rubinstein Claude Shannon Daniel Kahneman David K. Levine David M. Kreps Donald B. Gillies Drew Fudenberg Eric Maskin Harold W. Kuhn Herbert Simon Hervé Moulin John Conway Jean Tirole Jean-François Mertens Jennifer Tour Chayes John Harsanyi John Maynard Smith John Nash John von Neumann Kenneth Arrow Kenneth Binmore Leonid Hurwicz Lloyd Shapley Melvin Dresher Merrill M. Flood Olga Bondareva Oskar Morgenstern Paul Milgrom Peyton Young Reinhard Selten Robert Axelrod Robert Aumann Robert B. Wilson Roger Myerson Samuel Bowles Suzanne Scotchmer Thomas Schelling William Vickrey
Miscellaneous	Alpha–beta pruning Bounded rationality Combinatorial game theory Confrontation analysis Coopetition Evolutionary game theory Glossary of game theory List of game theorists List of games in game theory No-win situation Topological game Tragedy of the commons

Early life and education[edit]

Career[edit]

Death and legacy[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]