{"id":18948,"date":"2024-12-26T17:15:29","date_gmt":"2024-12-26T18:15:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=18948"},"modified":"2024-12-26T18:25:44","modified_gmt":"2024-12-26T18:25:44","slug":"donald-bitzer-unsung-pioneer-of-interactive-computing-dies-at-90","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=18948","title":{"rendered":"Donald Bitzer, Unsung Pioneer of Interactive Computing, Dies at 90"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In the 1960s and \u201970s, he developed the PLATO computer system, which combined instant messaging, email, chat rooms and gaming on flat-screen plasma displays.<\/p>\n

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Donald Bitzer, an electrical engineer whose groundbreaking computer system PLATO, developed in the 1960s and \u201970s at the University of Illinois, was a telegram from the digital future that combined instant messaging, email, chat rooms and gaming on flat-screen plasma displays, died on Dec. 10 at his home in Cary, N.C. He was 90.<\/p>\n

His son, David, confirmed the death.<\/p>\n

Unfashionably attired and prone to performing magic tricks during lectures, Dr. Bitzer was a charismatic and overlooked character in the history of computing \u2014 an industry whose stories about inventive Silicon Valley prodigies has sometimes overshadowed the contributions of the industrious university professors who came first.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe level to which PLATO, its people and its history have been ignored is extraordinary given not only how seminal the innovations were and how early its online community flourished, but also how recently it all happened,\u201d the tech entrepreneur Brian Dear wrote in \u201cThe Friendly Orange Glow: The Untold Story of the Rise of Cyberculture\u201d<\/a> (2018).<\/p>\n

Dr. Bitzer, a professor<\/a> of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois, began developing PLATO in 1960 as a tool for educators to create interactive, individualized coursework. It swiftly evolved into \u201ca culture, both physical and online,\u201d Mr. Dear wrote, \u201cwith its own jargon, customs and idioms.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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PLATO, an acronym for Programmed Logic for Automated Teaching Operations, initially ran on television-like screens connected to the university\u2019s ILLIAC I computer<\/a>, a five-ton machine powered by 2,800 vacuum tubes.<\/p>\n

To increase interactivity, in 1964 Dr. Bitzer, along with a fellow professor, H. Gene Slottow, and a graduate student, Robert Willson, invented a plasma display illuminated by gas-infused pixels \u2014 the same technology that would later power flat-screen televisions.<\/p>\n

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In the 1960s and \u201970s, he developed the PLATO computer system, which combined instant messaging, email, chat rooms and gaming on flat-screen plasma displays.Donald Bitzer, an electrical engineer whose groundbreaking computer system PLATO, developed in the 1960s and \u201970s at the University of Illinois, was a telegram from the digital future that combined instant messaging, email, chat rooms and gaming on flat-screen plasma displays, died on Dec. 10 at his home in Cary, N.C. He was 90.His son, David, confirmed the death.Unfashionably attired and prone to performing magic tricks during lectures, Dr. Bitzer was a charismatic and overlooked character in the history of computing \u2014 an industry whose stories about inventive Silicon Valley prodigies has sometimes overshadowed the contributions of the industrious university professors who came first.\u201cThe level to which PLATO, its people and its history have been ignored is extraordinary given not only how seminal the innovations were and how early its online community flourished, but also how recently it all happened,\u201d the tech entrepreneur Brian Dear wrote in \u201cThe Friendly Orange Glow: The Untold Story of the Rise of Cyberculture\u201d (2018).Dr. Bitzer, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois, began developing PLATO in 1960 as a tool for educators to create interactive, individualized coursework. It swiftly evolved into \u201ca culture, both physical and online,\u201d Mr. Dear wrote, \u201cwith its own jargon, customs and idioms.\u201dPLATO, an acronym for Programmed Logic for Automated Teaching Operations, initially ran on television-like screens connected to the university\u2019s ILLIAC I computer, a five-ton machine powered by 2,800 vacuum tubes.To increase interactivity, in 1964 Dr. Bitzer, along with a fellow professor, H. Gene Slottow, and a graduate student, Robert Willson, invented a plasma display illuminated by gas-infused pixels \u2014 the same technology that would later power flat-screen televisions.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18950,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18948"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18951,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18948\/revisions\/18951"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}