{{Short description|American software programmer}} {{for|the member of the "Bright Young Things" social scene|Brian Dean Paul}} {{BLP sources|date=June 2011}} [[File:Brian Paul and Richard Stallman crop.jpg|thumb|Brian Paul receiving the [[FSF Free Software Awards|FSF Award for the Advancement of Free Software]] from [[Richard Stallman]]]] '''Brian E. Paul''' is a [[Computer programming|computer programmer]] who originally wrote and maintained the source code for the [[Open-source software|open source]] [[Mesa (computer graphics)|Mesa]] graphics library until 2012, and is still active in the project. He began writing its source code in August 1993. Mesa is a [[free software]]/[[open source software|open source]] [[computer graphics|graphics]] [[Library (computer science)|library]] that provides a generic [[OpenGL]] implementation for rendering [[3-D computer graphics|three-dimensional]] graphics on multiple [[platform (computing)|platforms]].
== Education == Paul obtained his bachelor's degree at the [[University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh]] in 1990. He worked on the SSEC Visualization Project while obtaining his master's degree at the [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]].
== Mesa development == Paul was a graphics hobbyist. He thought it would be fun to implement a simple 3D graphics library using the OpenGL API. He spent eighteen months of part-time development before he released the software on the Internet. The software was well received, and people began contributing to its development.<ref name="lwn-history">{{cite web |last1=Edge |first1=Jake |title=The history of Mesa |url=https://lwn.net/Articles/569083/ |website=LWN.net |publisher=Eklektix, Inc |access-date=23 March 2021}}</ref> Graphics hardware support was added to Mesa in 1997 in the form of a [[Glide API|Glide]] driver for the new [[3dfx Interactive|3dfx]] Voodoo graphics card.<ref name=DRI>[https://dri.sourceforge.net/doc/DRIintro.html "Introduction to the Direct Rendering Infrastructure"]; Retrieved 2007-02-11</ref>
== Career == Paul continued working on the SSEC Project after graduation. He has also worked for [[Silicon Graphics]], [[Avid Technology]], and Precision Insight<ref name="lwn-history" /> (bought out by [[Geeknet|VA Linux Systems]]).
In 2000, Paul won the third [[Free Software Foundation]] [[Award for the Advancement of Free Software]].<ref>[https://www.gnu.org/award/2000/2000-pr.txt "Brian Paul is Awarded the Free Software Foundation Award For the Advancement of Free Software"]; February 2, 2001; Retrieved February 11, 2007</ref>
In November 2001, he co-founded Tungsten Graphics, which was acquired by [[VMware]] in December 2008, where he now works.<ref name="lwn-history" />
== Other contributions ==
Paul has also contributed to or written:
* [[Chromium (computer graphics)|Chromium]] * [[Direct Rendering Infrastructure]] in [[XFree86]]<ref name=DRI /> * Blockbuster – a high-res movie player for scientific visualization applications * Glean – OpenGL validation * Togl – an OpenGL widget for Tcl/Tk * [[Vis5D]] visualization system * [[VisAD]] visualization system * [[Cave5D]] – an adaptation of Vis5D to immersive virtual reality * TR – OpenGL tile rendering library * V-Blocks – virtual building blocks * Avid Marquee – video animation, 3D text, graphics
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * [https://web.archive.org/web/20150503154441/http://www.mesa3d.org/brianp/home.html Brian Paul's Home Page] * [http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=99/12/17/0927212 "Interview: Brian Paul Answers"]; slashdot; December 17, 1999; Retrieved February 11, 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paul, Brian}} [[Category:Free software programmers]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]] [[Category:University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh alumni]] [[Category:University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni]]