Oren Patashnik

Oren Patashnik (born 1954) is an American computer scientist. He co-created <a href="/facts/BibTeX/xakIAcCb">BibTeX</a>, and co-authored <a href="/facts/Concrete_Mathematics/JkEz9aNX">Concrete Mathematics: A Foundation for Computer Science</a>.
While working at <a href="/facts/Bell_Labs/fKP5Gk0H">Bell Labs</a> in 1980, Patashnik proved that <a href="/facts/Qubic/x7wlAw6F">Qubic</a> can always be won by the first player. Using 1500 hours of computer time, Patashnik's proof is an early example of a <a href="/facts/Computer-assisted_proof/Dnk4uESy">computer-assisted proof</a>.
In 1985, Patashnik created the bibliography-system, <a href="/facts/BibTeX/xakIAcCb">BibTeX</a>, in collaboration with <a href="/facts/Leslie_Lamport/jGCarz9C">Leslie Lamport</a>, the creator of <a href="/facts/LaTeX/c1lvjF0A">LaTeX</a>. LaTeX is a system and <a href="/facts/Programming_language/cWTYbgWa">programming language</a> for formatting documents, which is especially designed for mathematical documents. BibTeX is a widely used bibliography-formatting tool for LaTeX.
Patashnik assisted <a href="/facts/Ronald_Graham/ukKzczTL">Ronald Graham</a> and <a href="/facts/Donald_Knuth/GozNzDM6">Donald Knuth</a> in writing the 1988 textbook <a href="/facts/Concrete_Mathematics/JkEz9aNX">Concrete Mathematics: A Foundation for Computer Science</a>.
Patashnik became a doctoral student of <a href="/facts/Andrew_Yao/F5AHrY0e">Andrew Yao</a> at <a href="/facts/Stanford_University/JEQeF9z2">Stanford University</a>, where he completed his Ph.D. in 1990.

Oren Patashnik open-in-new

Oren Patashnik