John Warnock | |
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 Warnock in 2008 | |
| Born | John Edward Warnock (1940-10-06)October 6, 1940 Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. |
| Died | August 19, 2023(2023-08-19) (aged 82) Los Altos, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of Utah (BS,MS,PhD) |
| Known for | |
| Awards |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Computer science |
| Institutions | University of Utah |
| Doctoral advisor | |
John Edward Warnock (October 6, 1940 – August 19, 2023) was an Americancomputer scientist,inventor, technology businessman, andphilanthropist best known for co-foundingAdobe Systems Inc., the graphics and publishing software company, withCharles Geschke in 1982.[2] Warnock was President of Adobe for his first two years and chairman and CEO for his remaining sixteen years at the company. Although he retired as CEO in 2001, he continued to co-chair the Adobe Board of Directors with Geschke until 2017. Warnock pioneered the development of graphics, publishing, web and electronic document technologies that have revolutionized the field of publishing and visual communications.
Warnock was born on October 6, 1940, and raised inSalt Lake City, Utah.[3] He failed mathematics in ninth grade before graduating fromOlympus High School in 1958;[4] however, Warnock went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and philosophy, a Doctor of Philosophy degree in electrical engineering (computer science), and an honorary degree in science, all from theUniversity of Utah.[1] At the University of Utah he was a member of the Gamma Beta chapter of theBeta Theta Pi fraternity.[5] He also received an honorary degree from theAmerican Film Institute.[6] He lived in theSan Francisco Bay Area with his wife Marva M. Warnock, marrying in 1965. Marva is a former partner andgraphic designer at Marsh Design inPalo Alto, California, and is known not only for creating the iconic Adobe logo, but also as a designer for nonprofit organizations.[7] They have three children.[8]
Warnock is known as the creative driving force behind Adobe System's initial software products:PostScript,Adobe Illustrator, and thePDF, and he continued to be involved in new product development throughout his career. "The thing I really enjoy is the invention process. I enjoy figuring out how to do things other people don't know how to do."[9]
Warnock's earliest publication and subject of his master's thesis was his 1964 proof of a theorem solving theJacobson radical for row-finite matrices,[10] which was originally posed by the American mathematicianNathan Jacobson in 1956.[11]
In his 1969 doctoral thesis, Warnock invented theWarnock algorithm forhidden surface determination incomputer graphics.[12] It works byrecursive subdivision of a scene until areas are obtained that are trivial to compute. It solves the problem of rendering a complicated image by avoiding the problem. If the scene is simple enough to compute then it is rendered; otherwise it is divided into smaller parts and the process is repeated.[13] Warnock noted that for this work he received "the dubious distinction of having written the shortest doctoral thesis in University of Utah history".[4] The Warnock algorithm solving the hidden surface problem enabled computers to render solid objects at a time when most computer renderings were only line drawings and was featured on the cover of Scientific American in 1970 with accompanying article byIvan Sutherland.[14]
In 1976, while Warnock worked atEvans & Sutherland, aSalt Lake City–based computer graphics company, the concepts of thePostScript language were seeded.[15] Prior to co-founding Adobe with Geschke, Warnock worked with Geschke atXerox's Palo Alto Research Center (Xerox PARC), where he had started in 1978.[16] Unable to convince Xerox management of the approach to commercialize theInterPress graphics language for controlling printing onany computer and printer,[17] he and Geschke left Xerox[16] to start Adobe in 1982, naming it afterAdobe Creek, which ran behind both their homes.[3] They initially hired two computer scientists (Bill Paxton and Doug Brotz) and two electronics designers (Tom Boynton and Dan Putnam) from PARC.[18][19] At their new company, they developed from scratch a similar technology, PostScript, and brought it to market for Apple'sLaserWriter in 1985.[20]Apple co-founderSteve Jobs said: "When that first page came out of the LaserWriter, I was blown away...No one had seen anything like this before. I held this page up in my hand and said, ‘Who will not want that?’ I knew then, as did John, that this was going to have a profound impact."[3] Adobe's PostScript technology made it possible to print high-resolution text and images from a computer, revolutionizing media and making desktop publishing feasible.[21]
In late 1986, Warnock inventedAdobe Illustrator, a computer drawing program that used lines andBézier curves to render infinitely scalable graphics. He initially developed it to automate many of the manual tasks utilized by his wife, Marva, a graphic designer.[22] Illustrator was released in early 1987.[23]
In the spring of 1991, Warnock outlined a system called "Camelot", inventing thePortable Document Format (PDF) file-format.[9] The goal of Camelot was to "effectively capture documents from any application, send electronic versions of these documents anywhere, and view and print these documents on any machines [sic]". Warnock's document contemplated:[24]
Imagine if the IPS (Interchange PostScript) viewer is also equipped with text searching capabilities. In this case the user could find all documents that contain a certain word or phrase, and then view that word or phrase in context within the document. Entire libraries could be archived in electronic form...
The new PDF format, though, was slow to gain industry traction and Warnock noted that "the industry 'did not get it'".[25]
One of Adobe's populartypefaces,Warnock, is named after him.[26]
Warnock held twenty patents.[9][27] In addition to Adobe Systems, he was or had been on the board of directors atebrary,[28] Hiball,[29]Knight-Ridder,Octavo Corporation,Netscape Communications, andSalon Media Group.[6][30] Warnock was a past chairman of theTech Museum of Innovation in San Jose.[6] He was on the board of trustees of theAmerican Film Institute, theSundance Institute and theFolger Shakespeare Library.[6][30]
His hobbies included photography,skiing,web development, painting,hiking,curation of rare scientific books, and historicalNative American objects.[31]
A strong supporter of higher education, Warnock and his wife, Marva, have supported three presidential-endowed chairs in computer science, mathematics, and fine arts at theUniversity of Utah,[32] and also an endowed chair in medical research atStanford University.[33] In 2003, Warnock and his wife donated 200,000 shares ofAdobe Systems (valued at over $5.7 million)[34] to the University of Utah as the main gift for a new engineering building.[35] The John E. and Marva M. Warnock Engineering Building was completed in 2007 and houses theScientific Computing and Imaging Institute[36] and the Dean of theUniversity of Utah College of Engineering.[37] John and Marva have also personally assisted with cataract surgeries led byGeoffrey Tabin on missions to reverse blindness inleast developed countries.[7] They endowed a chair at theMoran Eye Center, which supports work to treat preventable blindness in Utah and around the world.[2] John was also the Founding Chairman of theTech Museum of Innovation from 1995 to 1999.[2]
Warnock, the commencement speaker for the University of Utah Class of 2020, advised: "The rest of your life is not a spectator sport. Your job in life is to be an active player, to make the world a better place."[38]
Warnock died in Los Altos, California on August 19, 2023, at the age of 82, from pancreatic cancer.[9][3]
The recipient of numerous scientific andtechnical awards, Warnock won the Software Systems Award from theAssociation for Computing Machinery in 1989.[39][40] In 1995 Warnock received theUniversity of Utah Distinguished Alumnus Award and in 1999 he was inducted as a fellow of theAssociation for Computing Machinery. Warnock was awarded theEdwin H. Land Medal from theOptical Society of America in 2000.[41] In 2002, he was made a fellow of theComputer History Museum for "his accomplishments in the commercialization of desktop publishing with Chuck Geschke and for innovations in scalable type, computer graphics and printing."[42]Oxford University'sBodleian Library bestowed theBodley Medal on Warnock in November 2003.[43][44] In 2004, Warnock received theLovelace Medal from theBritish Computer Society in London.[45] In October 2006, Warnock—along with Adobe co-founder Charles Geschke—received theAmerican Electronics Association's Annual Medal of Achievement Award, being the first software executives to receive this award. In 2008, Warnock and Geschke received theComputer Entrepreneur Award from theIEEE Computer Society "for inventing PostScript and PDF and helping to launch the desktop publishing revolution and change the way people engage with information and entertainment".[46] In September 2009, Warnock and Geschke were chosen to receive theNational Medal of Technology and Innovation, one of the nation's highest honors bestowed on scientists, engineers and inventors.[47][48] In 2010, Warnock and Geschke received theMarconi Prize, an honor specifically for contributions to information science and communications.[49]
Warnock was a member of theNational Academy of Engineering,[6] theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences,[6] and theAmerican Philosophical Society.[50][51] He received honorary degrees from theUniversity of Utah,[6] theAmerican Film Institute,[6] andThe University of Nottingham in the UK.[52]
The algorithm was Warnock's doctoral thesis.32 pages.
This document describes the base technology and ideas behind the project named 'Camelot.' This project's goal is to solve a fundamental problem [...] there is no universal way to communicate and view ... printed information electronically.
The stock currently valued at over $5.7M is the cornerstone gift of a $13M capital campaign to construct a new engineering building dedicated to undergraduate instruction and emerging areas of research.
Speech byBodleian Library's 23rd Librarian,Reg Carr
Bodleian Librarian Speech on History of the Bodley Medal
2004 winner, Dr John E Warnock, Chairman of the Board, Adobe Systems
