Matt Welsh (computer scientist)

{{Short description|American computer scientist}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Matt Welsh | birth_name = Matthew David Welsh | thesis_title = An Architecture for Highly Concurrent, Well-Conditioned Internet Services | thesis_year = 2002 | thesis_url = https://worldcat.org/title/892830129 | education = North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics | fields = Systems Networking Mobile computing<ref name=gs/> | alma_mater = Cornell University (BS) University of California, Berkeley (MS, PhD) | doctoral_advisor = David Culler Eric Brewer<ref name=mathgene>{{MathGenealogy}}</ref> | workplaces = Harvard University Google Apple Palantir | website = {{URL|https://www.mdw.la}}}}

'''Matthew David Welsh''' is a computer scientist and software engineer and is currently the Head of AI Systems at Palantir, which he started after stints at Aryn, Fixie.ai, Google, xnor.ai, OctoML, and Apple.<ref name="zdnet_end">{{Cite web |title=It's the end of programming as we know it -- again |first=Joe |last=McKendrick |website=ZDNet |date=28 December 2022 |access-date=31 December 2022 |url= https://www.zdnet.com/article/its-the-end-of-programming-as-we-know-it-again/ }}</ref> He was the Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science at Harvard University and author of several books about the Linux operating system, several Linux HOWTOs,<ref name=gs>{{Google scholar id}}</ref><ref>[https://www.google.com/custom?hl=en&safe=off&client=google-coop-np&cof=FORID%3A13%3BAH%3Aleft%3BS%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Ftldp.org%3BCX%3ATLDP%2520Search%2520Engine%3BL%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Ftldp.org%2Flogos%2Fldp2.jpg%3BLH%3A100%3BLP%3A1%3BVLC%3A%23551a8b%3BGFNT%3A%23666666%3BDIV%3A%23cccccc%3B&adkw=AELymgVCfmdB-2w4LcO_LRL563JmPpZ_buycpilePnuKeRW-2G-lDt39Q3qj4EQLHDoQf2VDhjcpZCx2Tj8IQBhgn8VwznD5kHOoxlXl6DqbTI3czdYiaRdRyhbVT_xhgU0nOtpnFOKv&boostcse=0&q=matt+welsh&btnG=Search&cx=017644269519104757279%3Agm62gtzaoky Google internal search for Matt Welsh] at The Linux Documentation Project</ref> the LinuxDoc format<ref>Announcement [http://www.w3.org/Tools/Linuxdoc-SGML.html "Linuxdoc-SGML v1.1 now available"] 1994-06-07</ref> and articles in the ''Linux Journal''.<ref name="O'Reilly">{{cite book |last1= Welsh |first1= Matt |last2= Kaufman |first2= Lar |editor1-first= Andy |editor1-last= Oram |title= Running Linux |chapter-url= https://archive.org/details/runninglinux00wels/page/631 |edition= 2nd |date= August 1996 |orig-year= 1995 |publisher= O'Reilly & Associates |location= Sebastopol, California |isbn= 1-56592-151-8 |page= [https://archive.org/details/runninglinux00wels/page/631 631] |chapter= About the authors |chapter-url-access= registration }}</ref>

==Education== Welsh is a 1992 graduate of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics.<ref>{{cite web|last=Welsh|first=Matt|title=NCSSM and how it saved my life|url=https://matt-welsh.blogspot.com/2012/10/ncssm-and-how-it-saved-my-life.html|work=Volatile and Decentralized|date=8 October 2012 }}</ref>

Welsh received a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University in 1996 and Master of Science and PhD degrees from the University of California, Berkeley in 1999 and 2002, respectively.<ref name=phd>{{cite thesis | degree=PhD|oclc=892830129|publisher = University of California, Berkeley|url=https://search.library.berkeley.edu/permalink/01UCS_BER/1thfj9n/alma991036918179706532|website=berkeley.edu| year = 2002 | id={{ProQuest| 304740948}} | first=Matthew David|last=Welsh|title = An Architecture for Highly Concurrent, Well-Conditioned Internet Services }}</ref> He spent the 1996–97 academic year at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory and at the University of Glasgow.<ref name="O'Reilly"/> His thesis was supervised by David Culler and Eric Brewer.<ref name=mathgene/>

==Career and research== Welsh has led teams at Google and Apple Inc., and served a professor of Computer Science at Harvard University. In November 2010, five months after being granted tenure,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.seas.harvard.edu/news-events/press-releases/matt-welsh-promoted-to-full-professor-granted-tenure|title= Matt Welsh promoted to full professor; granted tenure|website=harvard.edu|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101119153834/https://seas.harvard.edu/news-events/press-releases/matt-welsh-promoted-to-full-professor-granted-tenure|archivedate=2010-11-19|author=Anon|year=2010}}</ref> Welsh announced that he was leaving Harvard.<ref>{{cite web|first=Matt|last=Welsh|year=2010|url=https://matt-welsh.blogspot.com/2010/11/why-im-leaving-harvard.html|website=blogspot.com|title= Why I'm leaving Harvard}}</ref>

===''The Social Network''=== Welsh taught the operating systems class at Harvard in which Mark Zuckerberg was a student. Welsh was later portrayed by actor Brian Palermo in the movie ''The Social Network'' featuring Zuckerberg and the founding of Facebook. Welsh was reportedly paid $200 for his Powerpoint slides used in the movie.<ref>{{cite web|title=NCSSM commencement speech |url=http://new.livestream.com/ncssmlivestream/commencement2014/videos/52485109}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=In Defense of Mark Zuckerberg|date=10 October 2010 |url=https://matt-welsh.blogspot.com/2010/10/in-defense-of-mark-zuckerberg.html}}</ref>

===Publications=== His publications<ref name=gs/> include: *''Running Linux''<ref name=linux>{{cite book|last1= Dalheimer|first1= Matthias Kalle |last2= Welsh |first2= Matt |title= Running Linux |url= http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596007607.do |access-date= 2013-08-23 |edition= 5th |year= 2005 |publisher= O'Reilly Media |isbn= 978-0596007607 }}</ref> *''Linux Installation and Getting Started''<ref>{{cite book|last1= Welsh |first1= Matt |last2= Hughes |first2= Phil |last3= Bandel |first3= David |last4= Beletsky |first4= Boris |last5= Dreilinger |first5= Sean |last6= Kiesling |first6= Robert |last7= Liebovitch |first7= Evan |last8= Pierce |first8= Henry |title= Linux Installation and Getting Started |url= http://tldp.org/LDP/gs/gs.html |access-date= 2009-08-14 |edition= 2nd |year= 1998 |orig-year= 1992-1996 |publisher= Specialized System Consultants |isbn= 1-57831-001-6 }}</ref> *''The End of Programming''<ref name=endof>{{cite journal |last=Welsh |first=Matt |title=The End of Programming |doi=10.1145/3570220 |journal=Communications of the ACM |year=2022 |volume=66 |issue=1 |pages=34–35 |s2cid=254878553 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Welsh, Matt}} Category:Cornell University alumni Category:UC Berkeley College of Engineering alumni Category:Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences faculty Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:American computer scientists Category:North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics alumni Category:American science bloggers Category:21st-century American science writers Category:Google employees Category:Palantir people