George E. Collins

George Edwin Collins
Born(1928-01-10)January 10, 1928
Stuart, Iowa, U.S.
DiedNovember 21, 2017(2017-11-21) (aged 89)
Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.
Alma materCornell University
Known forGarbage collection (computer science)
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison, Ohio State University, RISC-Linz, University of Delaware, North Carolina State University
Doctoral advisorJ. Barkley Rosser
Doctoral studentsEllis Horowitz

George E. Collins (January 10, 1928 in Stuart, Iowa – November 21, 2017 in Madison, Wisconsin)[1] was an American mathematician and computer scientist. He is the inventor of garbage collection by reference counting[G60][2] and of the method of quantifier elimination by cylindrical algebraic decomposition.[G75][3]

He received his PhD from Cornell University in 1955.[4] He worked at IBM, the University of Wisconsin–Madison (1966–1986) Ohio State University, RISC-Linz, University of Delaware, and North Carolina State University.[1]

  1. ^ a b "In Memoriam: Professor Emeritus George E. Collins". Archived from the original on 2018-09-09. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference jones was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference caviness was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "George Collins - the Mathematics Genealogy Project".