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Image of Bjarne StroustrupTexas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) Distinguished Research Professor Dr. Bjarne Stroustrup was named a 2015 Fellow by the Computer History Museum for his invention of the C++ programming language.

As stated in his award recognition, “C++ revolutionized the software industry by enabling a variety of software development techniques-including object-oriented programming, generic programming, and general resource management-to be deployed at scale.” It is one of the most widely used programming languages in the world. Many of the popular applications used today, such as Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, Amazon, Google and Facebook, are written, at least in part, using C++.

The Computer History Museum Fellow Awards honor exceptional men and women whose ideas have changed the world. The fellowship is a lifetime award for individuals who have made major contributions to the computer industry. The list of fellows is a veritable Who's Who of the computer industry.

Stroustrup received a master's in mathematics from Aarhus University and a Ph.D. in computer science from Cambridge University.

His research interests include distributed systems, software development tools, design and programming and programming languages. He is currently a managing director in the technology division of Morgan Stanley in New York City, a Distinguished Research Professor in computer science at Texas A&M University, and a visiting professor in computer science at Columbia University.

The three 2015 Fellows will be inducted into the Museum’s Hall of Fellows on April 25, at a formal ceremony where high-level executives, entrepreneurs, innovators, professors, and previous Fellows will be in attendance.

“This recognizes C++’s place in computing history and also honors the many people who helped make it one of the most successful programming languages ever and the many who used C++ to build awe-inspiring systems,” Stroustrup said of the award.