A tribute to SRI’s pioneering computer scientist, whose life’s work defined the field of computing risk.
Peter G. Neumann, former Principal Scientist in SRI’s Computer Science Laboratory, passed away this week after decades as one of computing’s most principled and far-sighted voices. He joined SRI as a computer scientist in 1971.
Dr. Neumann dedicated his career to the challenges that matter most: computer security, reliability, privacy, safety, and the integrity of democratic computing systems. Holding doctorates from Harvard and Darmstadt, he brought both intellectual rigor and a deep moral seriousness to questions the field often preferred to ignore. He moderated the ACM Risks Forum, chaired the ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy, and co-founded People for Internet Responsibility. His book, Computer-Related Risks, remains a landmark in the field.
Neumann was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the IEEE, served on advisory bodies including the National Science Foundation’s CISE board, and received the Computer Research Association’s Distinguished Service Award in 2013. SRI named him an SRI Fellow in 2001.
He will be remembered as a conscience of the computing community — tireless, witty, and unwilling to look away from hard truths.
Read his full obituary in The New York Times.
