4 ms·

I know a few cases of researchers who don't have PhDs, but I've never seen this before. Probably the best known researcher in CS who doesn't hold a PhD is Simo

I know a few cases of researchers who don't have PhDs, but I've never seen this before. Probably the best known researcher in CS who doesn't hold a PhD is Simon Peyton Jones. He is very well known in the field of programming languages and one of the main implementors of the main Haskell implementation GHC. I think he might have started a PhD in the last few years, but he was appointed a professor at Glasgow without one.

seanmcdirmid 14y ago
There are many many more than that, but we don't typically bother with those details; if the guy/gal knows their stuff, who cares what their degree level is?
- noelwelsh 14y ago
  Sssh, you don't want the grad students to hear! Without grad students who's gonna do all the prof's grunt work?
  - raverbashing 14y ago
    Yes After all, how dare someone tell the grad students they can be someone without a PhD. They are almost forgetting how's life outside the academic circles! Now, you're late for CS 201 room 704 on that building across the campus, go and don't forget your TA notes.
  - seanmcdirmid 14y ago
    The PhD gives us time and resources to become a researcher; it is actually a quite useful experience. If we can get the time/resources another way, great! I personally would have been lost on my own; I met people in my program who really set my path. If you are young and inexperienced, it is also getting more difficult to get your foot in the door of a research institution without a PhD from a TOP program. Sure, there are other ways up, but getting the PhD is probably a reasonable way to approach things.
    - noelwelsh 14y ago
      I agree. I have a PhD. While the process wasn't 100% sunshine and rainbows I enjoyed most of it, learned a heck of a lot, and I understand the utility of doing a PhD for most people who are interested in doing further research.
      - seanmcdirmid 14y ago
        Well, your name is familiar :)
  - eli_gottlieb 14y ago
    Help, I'm trapped in a research paper factory. If you can read this, send help to: Taub Building Technion City Haifa, Israel 32000
    - wyclif 14y ago
      I met my wife in Haifa. I know where that building is...
- aortega 14y ago
  All credentials including PhDs are designed for getting into a job (I.E. research position, postdoc, etc.), and they are a very effective tool at it. In scientific articles (At least from IEEE) notice there are no titles associated with authors. It's a common misconception that you need a PhD to publish an article, there are many papers with authors in high-school.
  - seanmcdirmid 14y ago
    > All credentials including PhDs are designed for getting into a job I don't think PhDs are designed for getting a job actually. Sure, you can get some jobs easier with them, but the value of the PhD is really about the close apprenticeship you have with your advisers and other professors/grad students in your orbit. When you actually finish your PhD, its like...what am I supposed to do next? Your circle can advise you, but you've hardly been preparing for this at all during the 4-8 years you've been inside. You could be in middle school and publish an article. You are even allowed to make up an institution, the PC won't care at all. Heck, many conferences do double-blind reviewing now, and you know its possible to accept a paper from someone in prison (who might get disqualified b/c they can't present it, but still...).
  - dlo 14y ago
    Are there papers in top-tier journals and conferences whose primary authors are still in high school? I would be curious to read these! EDIT: spelling
    - aortega 14y ago
      Nature: http://www.english.rfi.fr/node/142835 http://www.english.rfi.fr/node/142835 That was a very public case. I'm sure there are other not so public.
fijal 14y ago
you mean "the best known researcher employed by a university as a professor"? Because a lot of VM researchers don't have a PhD.
- noelwelsh 14y ago
  I was simply sharing with HN what I thought might be an interesting anecdote about SPJ within the context of this post. Feel free to split whichever hairs are of interest to you.
lkozma 14y ago
Another well known CS researcher without PhD was Robert (Bob) Floyd, of graph algorithms fame: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Floyd http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Floyd
mark_h 14y ago
Robin Milner is another notable CS research without a PhD, but with a Turing award.
- mafribe 14y ago
  Tony Hoare, another Turing award winner, also doesn't have a PhD.

seanmcdirmid 14y ago

There are many many more than that, but we don't typically bother with those details; if the guy/gal knows their stuff, who cares what their degree level is?

noelwelsh 14y ago
Sssh, you don't want the grad students to hear! Without grad students who's gonna do all the prof's grunt work?
- raverbashing 14y ago
  Yes After all, how dare someone tell the grad students they can be someone without a PhD. They are almost forgetting how's life outside the academic circles! Now, you're late for CS 201 room 704 on that building across the campus, go and don't forget your TA notes.
- seanmcdirmid 14y ago
  The PhD gives us time and resources to become a researcher; it is actually a quite useful experience. If we can get the time/resources another way, great! I personally would have been lost on my own; I met people in my program who really set my path. If you are young and inexperienced, it is also getting more difficult to get your foot in the door of a research institution without a PhD from a TOP program. Sure, there are other ways up, but getting the PhD is probably a reasonable way to approach things.
  - noelwelsh 14y ago
    I agree. I have a PhD. While the process wasn't 100% sunshine and rainbows I enjoyed most of it, learned a heck of a lot, and I understand the utility of doing a PhD for most people who are interested in doing further research.
    - seanmcdirmid 14y ago
      Well, your name is familiar :)
- eli_gottlieb 14y ago
  Help, I'm trapped in a research paper factory. If you can read this, send help to: Taub Building Technion City Haifa, Israel 32000
  - wyclif 14y ago
    I met my wife in Haifa. I know where that building is...
aortega 14y ago
All credentials including PhDs are designed for getting into a job (I.E. research position, postdoc, etc.), and they are a very effective tool at it. In scientific articles (At least from IEEE) notice there are no titles associated with authors. It's a common misconception that you need a PhD to publish an article, there are many papers with authors in high-school.
- seanmcdirmid 14y ago
  > All credentials including PhDs are designed for getting into a job I don't think PhDs are designed for getting a job actually. Sure, you can get some jobs easier with them, but the value of the PhD is really about the close apprenticeship you have with your advisers and other professors/grad students in your orbit. When you actually finish your PhD, its like...what am I supposed to do next? Your circle can advise you, but you've hardly been preparing for this at all during the 4-8 years you've been inside. You could be in middle school and publish an article. You are even allowed to make up an institution, the PC won't care at all. Heck, many conferences do double-blind reviewing now, and you know its possible to accept a paper from someone in prison (who might get disqualified b/c they can't present it, but still...).
- dlo 14y ago
  Are there papers in top-tier journals and conferences whose primary authors are still in high school? I would be curious to read these! EDIT: spelling
  - aortega 14y ago
    Nature: http://www.english.rfi.fr/node/142835 http://www.english.rfi.fr/node/142835 That was a very public case. I'm sure there are other not so public.

fijal 14y ago

you mean "the best known researcher employed by a university as a professor"? Because a lot of VM researchers don't have a PhD.

noelwelsh 14y ago
I was simply sharing with HN what I thought might be an interesting anecdote about SPJ within the context of this post. Feel free to split whichever hairs are of interest to you.

lkozma 14y ago

Another well known CS researcher without PhD was Robert (Bob) Floyd, of graph algorithms fame: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Floyd http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Floyd

mark_h 14y ago

Robin Milner is another notable CS research without a PhD, but with a Turing award.

mafribe 14y ago
Tony Hoare, another Turing award winner, also doesn't have a PhD.