Robert Morris

Robert Morris (July 25, 1932 – June 26, 2011) was an American cryptographer and computer scientist. He is best known for his work on Multics and Unix and for co-creating Darwin, the first programming game.

Early life and education Robert Morris was born on July 25, 1932, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Walter W. Morris, a salesman, and Helen Kelly Morris, a homemaker. The pair also contributed a version of runoff text-formatting program for Multics.

Morris's contributions to early versions of Unix include the math library, the dc programming language, the program crypt, and the password encryption scheme used for user authentication. The encryption scheme (invented by Roger Needham), was based on using a trapdoor function (now called a key derivation function) to compute hashes of user passwords which were stored in the file /etc/passwd; analogous techniques, relying on different functions, are still in use today.

In 1961, together with Victor A. Vyssotsky and Douglas McIlroy, Morris co-created Darwin, the first programming game, on an IBM 7090.

National Security Agency In 1986, Morris began work at the National Security Agency (NSA). He once told a reporter that, while at the NSA, he helped the FBI decode encrypted evidence.

Personal life and death Robert Morris married Anne Farlow, and they had three children together: Robert Tappan Morris, Meredith Morris, and Benjamin Morris. Robert Tappan Morris created the Morris worm in 1988, which is considered the first computer worm on the Internet.

Robert Morris died on June 26, 2011, in Lebanon, New Hampshire.

Selected publications