Ivan Sutherland

Ivan Sutherland is an American computer scientist whose work helped establish interactive computer graphics and virtual reality. His projects include Sketchpad, an influential drawing program, and an early head-mounted display.

Sketchpad: Sketchpad is an interactive computer drawing program created by Ivan Sutherland in 1963. Its constraint-based drawing and direct manipulation made Sutherland’s doctoral work a turning point in computer graphics.
Interactive Computer Graphics: Interactive computer graphics lets users create or alter images through immediate computer response. Sketchpad made this mode of working practical through a light pen and a graphical display.
Head-Mounted Display: A head-mounted display is a wearable device that presents visual information in front of the eyes. Sutherland built an early tracked display whose imagery changed with the wearer’s head position.
Claude Shannon: Claude Shannon was an American mathematician and engineer who founded information theory. Shannon supervised Sutherland’s master’s thesis at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Sutherland studied there and developed Sketchpad as his doctoral dissertation.
Computer Graphics: Computer graphics is the creation, representation, and manipulation of images using computers. Sutherland’s research helped establish the field as an interactive discipline.
Light Pen: A light pen is a pointing device that detects its position on a display by sensing emitted light. Sutherland used one to draw and select objects directly on Sketchpad’s screen.
Augmented Reality: Augmented reality overlays computer-generated content onto a view of the physical environment. The tracked, see-through display envisioned by Sutherland anticipated later augmented-reality systems.
David Evans: David Evans was an American computer scientist who founded the University of Utah’s influential computer science program. Evans recruited Sutherland to Utah and built the research environment around his graphics work.
Lincoln Laboratory: Lincoln Laboratory is a federally funded research and development center operated by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Sutherland worked there after completing his doctorate, applying computing to defense research.

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