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| US electronics
engineer who pioneered the development of computer graphics, the method
by which computers display pictorial (as opposed to alphanumeric) information
on screen. Sutherland was born in Hastings, Nebraska, and studied at the Carnegie Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In Salt Lake City, Utah, he founded the Evans and Sutherland Computer Corporation and was professor at Utah 1972-76. In 1976 he moved to the California Institute of Technology. The Sketchpad project was the first system of computer graphics that could be altered by the operator in the course of its use. Sketchpad used complex arrangements of the data fed into the computer to produce representations of the objects in space as well as geometrical detail. Programs could be altered using light pens, which touch the surface of the screen. Sutherland worked on this at MIT 1960-63. At Utah, Sutherland was engaged in the design of a colour graphics system able to represent fine distinctions of colour as well as accurate perspective. The image could be moved, rotated, made larger or smaller to give a realistic image of the object, rendering the computer suitable for use in engineering and architectural design. |