Mormons in Technology

In the next few months we will be publishing a short series called "Mormons in Technology."

I thought it might be fun to ask for your ideas. Does anyone have any suggestions as to who we should feature? The person doesn't have to have lived in any specific time period. The only requirement is that they contributed significantly to the world of technology.

There is a lot that goes into deciding whether or not we will spotlight a certain individual and their contributions, so please be aware that we can't use every suggestion.

We'd have to include Philo T. Farnsworth.

On a different note, I remember meeting the guy who invented the FlowBee at a church event. I think he was a member - but he might have been just a investigator. It was a long time ago.

The first that comes to mind is President Gordon B. Hinckley. He pushed technology in the Church long before becoming a general authority.

Interesting idea. I hadn't thought of President Hinckley. Thanks for the suggestions!

I would say you ought to include Yukihiro Matsumoto, the designer and architect of the Ruby programming language:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukihiro_Matsumoto
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_(programming_language)

McDanielCA wrote:I thought it might be fun to ask for your ideas. Does anyone have any suggestions as to who we should feature? The person doesn't have to have lived in any specific time period. The only requirement is that they contributed significantly to the world of technology.

Orson Pratt: The Odometer and the surveying and layout of the Salt Lake Meridian.

Henry Eyring: President Eyring's father

Alan Ashton: Founder of Word Perfect Corporation

Elder Russell M. Nelson: innovations in heart surgery

mkmurray wrote:I would say you ought to include Yukihiro Matsumoto, the designer and architect of the Ruby programming language:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukihiro_Matsumoto
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_(programming_language)

Here's a great statement from "Matz" about why he created Ruby, written as a Foreword to an online manual introducting and documenting the langauge:

http://ruby-doc.org/docs/ProgrammingRub ... eword.html

I can suggest Nolan Bushnell, creator of Atari. I can't know, but I believe that the music of "Bobby Goes Home" (see in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKm3JIv0iQ8) is his suggestion.

We can find some interesting people (in technology fields too) in http://www.mormonwiki.com/Famous_Mormons.

Just as a follow-up, I thought I would post links to the articles that are published in this resultant series:

• Mormons in Technology pt. 1 (William Clayton)
• Mormons in Technology pt. 2 (Harvey Fletcher)

I will keep this list updated as it progresses.

Henry Eyring (Father of President Eyring)
I noticed that he was mentioned above. He was not only one of the most brilliant minds of all time, but an incredible man.

I had the honor of spending the night in his home (slept on the floor in a sleepiong bag) when I was about 11 years. Then spent the entire next day with him teaching me amazing concepts, and then my Father and I went with him to General Priesthood Meeting in the Tabernacle.


My two cents about Harvey Fletcher (credited with being instrumental in the development of Stereo Sound)

I see above that he was featured - but I have a neat little addition.

I also had the pleasure of spending half a day with him as he is also a relative. He would over and over reiterate to me "every action has an equal and opposite reaction". What a simple but eternal principle.


Anyways - Two Great men who I had the opportunity of of gaining a personal knowledge of.

You have some brilliant relations!

mkmurray wrote:I would say you ought to include Yukihiro Matsumoto, the designer and architect of the Ruby programming language:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukihiro_Matsumoto
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_(programming_language)

This knowledge alone makes me want to learn Ruby.

ubuntuFan wrote:This knowledge alone makes me want to learn Ruby.

It's a fun change of pace from C# for me. I enjoy learning a little here and there. It's dynamic in so many ways, so it's fun to think about solving the same programming problems in different ways with different languagues and solutions.

It is interesting to notice that "Matz" is a Mormon. He doesn't make too much fuss about it, anyways.

Also, interestingly, while the main Wikipedia article states that he's a member of the Church and has served as a full time missionary, in the photo section, where his religious affiliation is stated as "Mormon", there is that [citation needed] tag. Well, that's what mainly annoys me about Wikipedia.