Robert Morris, Man Who Helped Develop Unix Dead At 78

It’s a sad day in the world of computer operating systems as Robert Morris, a cryptographer who helped develop Unix died this week at 78-years-old.

Morris started working on the OS in 1970 while an employee at AT&T Bell Laboratories where he helped create the Unix math library, password structure and encryption functions.

In the late 1970s Morris worked on an encryption tool that was picked up by the NSA for fear that it would alter security in a negative manner for the agency. Soon after the NSA intervened Morris went to work for the organization and much of his work to this very day is still classified.

Some sources believe Morris may have helped cripple Saddam Hussein’s control capabilities during the Gulf War in 1991, quite possibly meaning he was involved in the first act of cyber warfare.

Morris retired from the agency in 1994 and is survived by his wife and three children.

We can’t possibly begin to explain the importance Robert Morris had on the world of computing, he will truly be missed.

[Photo via New York Times]