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Peter G. Neumann

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Peter G. Neumann
Neumann in 2007
Born(1932-09-21)September 21, 1932
New York City, U.S.
DiedMay 17, 2026(2026-05-17) (aged 93)
Santa Clara, California, U.S.
Alma materHarvard University
Known forRISKS Digest
Multics operating system
SpouseElizabeth Neumann[2]
Scientific career
FieldsComputer science
InstitutionsSRI International
ThesisEfficient error-limiting variable-length codes (1962)
Anthony Oettinger[1]

Peter Gabriel Neumann (September 21, 1932 – May 17, 2026) was an American computer science researcher who studied how computer systems fail and advocated for the principles that make them fail less often.[3]. Neumann worked on the Multics operating system in the 1960s,[4] and edited the RISKS Digest columns for ACM Software Engineering Notes and Communications of the ACM.[5] He founded ACM SIGSOFT and was a Fellow of the ACM, IEEE,[6] and AAAS.[7]

Early life and education

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Neumann was born on September 21, 1932, in Manhattan, New York,[8] to Elsa Schmid Neumann, a mosaic artist, and Israel Ber Neumann, an art dealer.[9]

His mother was commissioned to create a mosaic of Einstein and became friendly with him.[9] While a student at Harvard, he had a two-hour breakfast with Albert Einstein, on 8 November 1952, discussing simplicity in design.[10]

He held three degrees from Harvard University — an A.B. (1954) in Mathematics, and an S.M. (1955) and Ph.D. (1961) in Applied Mathematics and Science. He held a Fulbright scholarship in Germany from 1958–1960.

Career

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Neumann worked at Bell Labs from 1960 to 1970. He worked at SRI International in Menlo Park, California since 1971.

Before the RISKS mailing list, Neumann was known for the Provably Secure Operating System (PSOS).[11]

Neumann worked with Dorothy E. Denning in the 1980s to develop a computer intrusion detection system known as IDES that was a model for later computer security software.[12][13]

Death

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On May 17, 2026, Neumann died at Santa Clara Hospital due to complications arising from a recent fall. He was 93.[8]

Memberships and awards

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Neumann long served as moderator of RISKS Digest and was a member of the ACCURATE project.[14]

He was the founding editor of ACM Software Engineering Notes (SEN), and was a Fellow of the ACM.[15]

In 2018, Neumann received the EPIC Lifetime Achievement Award from Electronic Privacy Information Center.[16]

Selected publications

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  • Neumann, Peter G., Computer-Related Risks, Addison-Wesley/ACM Press, ISBN 0-201-55805-X, 1995.

References

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  1. ^ Peter G. Neumann at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  2. ^ "Elizabeth Neumann". The Vineyard Gazette - Martha's Vineyard News. 2020-12-01. Retrieved 2026-05-17.
  3. ^ Spafford, Eugene H.; Garfinkel, Simson L. (May 18, 2026). "In Memoriam: Peter G. Neumann (1932-2026)". ACM. Retrieved May 18, 2026.
  4. ^ R. C. Daley and P. G. Neumann (1965). "A General-Purpose File System For Secondary Storage". 1965 Fall Joint Computer Conference. Archived from the original on 2013-01-02.
  5. ^ "Risks Forum - ACM Queue". Archived from the original on 2018-01-01. Retrieved 2012-07-23.
  6. ^ "IEEE - Fellows - N". Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Archived from the original on 2012-09-26. Retrieved 2012-01-03.
  7. ^ "AAAS - the World's Largest General Scientific Society". Archived from the original on 2014-01-15. Retrieved 2011-05-21.
  8. ^ a b Markoff, John (May 17, 2026). "Peter G. Neumann, Who Warned of Computer Security Risks, Dies at 93". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 17, 2026.
  9. ^ a b "Peter G. Neumann, who warned of computer security risks, dies at 93". The Star (Malaysia). 19 May 2026. Retrieved 19 May 2026.
  10. ^ Markoff, John (2012-10-30). "Killing the Computer to Save It". The New York Times. p. D1. Archived from the original on 2018-10-23.
  11. ^ Feiertag, Richard J.; Neumann, Peter G. (1979). "The foundations of a provably secure operating system (PSOS)" (PDF). Proceedings of the National Computer Conference. SRI International, Menlo Park, California: AFIPS Press. pp. 329–334. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  12. ^ Denning, Dorothy; Neumann, Peter (1985). "Requirements and Model for IDES - A Real-Time Intrusion Detection System" (PDF).
  13. ^ Denning, Dorothy (February 1987). "An Intrusion-Detection Model" (PDF). IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering. SE-13 (2): 222–232. doi:10.1109/TSE.1987.232894. S2CID 10028835. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
  14. ^ Neumann, Peter G. (2007-11-30). "Security and Privacy Risks in Voter Registration Databases (VRDBs)". www.csl.sri.com. Retrieved 2021-05-31.
  15. ^ Association for Computing Machinery. "ACM: Fellows Award / Peter G Neumann". Association for Computing Machinery. Archived from the original on 4 October 2006.
  16. ^ "Annual Report of the ACM CCPP 2018". SRI International. 2018.
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