While it is very common to see successful autodidact musicians, painters, authors and architects - I am not familiar with any famous autodidacts in the field of TCS. Are there any examples of an accomplished autodidact theoretical computer scientist (i.e., someone who published a significant paper, without ever going to grad school) ?
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4$\begingroup$ Two huge names in theory B (both Turing award winners) - Robin Milner en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Milner and Tony Hoare en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Hoare $\endgroup$– Huck BennettCommented Feb 20, 2012 at 7:13
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1$\begingroup$ @Suresh: Jeff Edmonds' CV says that he does: cse.yorku.ca/%7Ejeff/cv.pdf (Assuming that's the Jeff Edmonds you mean) $\endgroup$– Huck BennettCommented Feb 20, 2012 at 7:16
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3$\begingroup$ I don't see the point of the question. $\endgroup$– GopiCommented Feb 20, 2012 at 8:22
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6$\begingroup$ I think Suresh probably meant Jack Edmonds. Bob Floyd also had no Ph.D. $\endgroup$– David EppsteinCommented Feb 20, 2012 at 8:33
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6$\begingroup$ Do you count people like Jacob Fox, Daniel Kane, and Mihai Patrascu, who published significant results years before they went to graduate school? $\endgroup$– JeffεCommented Feb 20, 2012 at 8:53
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1 Answer
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In addition to some of the great people listed in the comments, Gregory Chaitin independently developed much of Kolmogorov complexity while he was a highschool student in New York city.
answered Feb 20, 2012 at 14:41