Kurtz, Thomas (1928– )

Co-developer of the BASIC computer language. Kurtz joined Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, as an instructor in mathematics in 1956, and with John Kemeny developed the Dartmouth Time-Sharing System and, in 1964, BASIC (Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) to provide computer access to a wide range of undergraduate students. Kurtz said that if Fortran was the ‘lingua franca’ of computing, BASIC was the ‘lingua playpen’.