Michael Stonebraker
Database researcher behind Ingres and Postgres
- Age
- 83 yrs
- Birthday in 340 days
- Works listed
- 2
- Database system
- Honours
- 3
- Most recent 2014
- Profile views
- 0
- 0 followers
Michael Stonebraker is an American computer scientist who built the Ingres and Postgres database systems at Berkeley. Postgres became PostgreSQL, one of the world’s most popular open-source databases. He has founded many database companies and received the Turing Award in 2014.
Biography
Education
Stonebraker studied at Princeton and earned his PhD at the University of Michigan in 1971 before joining the University of California, Berkeley.
Ingres
In the 1970s, with Eugene Wong, he built Ingres, one of the first working relational databases. Its code and former students seeded companies such as Sybase and, indirectly, Microsoft SQL Server.
Postgres
In the mid-1980s he started Postgres, which added support for complex data types and rules. Released as open source and renamed PostgreSQL, it is used by companies around the world.
Start-ups
Stonebraker has co-founded around a dozen companies, including Ingres Corporation, Illustra, Vertica, VoltDB and Tamr, often pursuing the idea that “one size does not fit all” in databases. He moved to MIT in 2001 and received the Turing Award in 2014.
Timeline
-
1943
Born in Milton, New Hampshire, United States
-
1971
PhD from Michigan; joins Berkeley
-
1974
Ingres project
-
1986
Postgres project begins
-
1996
PostgreSQL name adopted
-
2001
Moves to MIT
-
2005
Co-founds Vertica
-
2014
Turing Award
Notable works
-
1974
Ingres Database system
With Eugene Wong.
-
1986
Postgres Database system
Awards and honours
-
ACM Software System Award
1988
-
IEEE John von Neumann Medal
2005
-
Turing Award
2014
Did you know?
-
1
He rode a bicycle across the United States to raise money for charity.
-
2
Postgres stands for “post-Ingres”.
-
3
He has been critical of “one-size-fits-all” database products.
Connections
Related people
Also born on 11 October
-
Amitabh Bachchan
Film & TV · Actor, film producer and host of Kaun Banega Crorepati
1942
-
Peter Thiel
Technology · PayPal co-founder, Palantir co-founder and first outside investor in Facebook
1967
-
Jayaprakash Narayan
Politics & Leadership · Freedom fighter who led the movement against the Emergency
1902
-
Dana Scott
Science · Logician who gave programming languages a mathematical meaning
1932
Frequently asked
Who is Michael Stonebraker?
Michael Stonebraker is an American computer scientist who built the Ingres and Postgres database systems at Berkeley. Postgres became PostgreSQL, one of the world’s most popular open-source databases. He has founded many database companies and received the Turing Award in 2014.
How old is Michael Stonebraker?
Michael Stonebraker is 83 years old, born on 11 October 1943 in Milton, New Hampshire, United States.
Where is Michael Stonebraker from?
Michael Stonebraker was born in Milton, New Hampshire, United States.
What is Michael Stonebraker known for?
Michael Stonebraker is best known for Ingres; Postgres (PostgreSQL); column stores; database start-ups; Turing Award 2014.
What awards has Michael Stonebraker received?
Notable honours include ACM Software System Award (1988), IEEE John von Neumann Medal (2005), Turing Award (2014).
References
- Michael Stonebraker — Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Michael Stonebraker — Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Official website. db.lcs.mit.edu. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Michael Stonebraker (Q92758) — structured data. Wikidata. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
Includes material from the Wikipedia article “Michael Stonebraker”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. That text is available under the same licence. Learn more
External links
About this profile
- Researched by the TrackFame editorial team; reviewed by Sanjay Sokal under our editorial policy
- First published 4 November 2026
- Last updated
Cite this page
“Michael Stonebraker.” TrackFame, last updated 4 November 2026. https://trackfame.com/person/michael-stonebraker
Discussion 0
Sign in or create an account to join the discussion.
No comments yet — be the first.
More in Science
Science
Jeff Hawkins
Inventor of the PalmPilot and neuroscientist of intelligence
Born 1957
Science
Sebastian Thrun
German-American roboticist who led Google’s self-driving car project and founded Udacity
Born 1967
Science
Cleve Moler
Mathematician who created MATLAB and co-founded MathWorks
1939 – 2026
Science
Yuri Milner
Investor behind DST Global and the Breakthrough Prizes
Born 1961
Science
Amnon Shashua
Israeli computer scientist who co-founded Mobileye
Born 1960
Science
Chen Tianqiao
Founder of Shanda, China’s online-gaming pioneer, and brain-science philanthropist