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Terry Winograd
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Terry Winograd

Stanford professor who built SHRDLU and advised Google’s founders

24 February 1946 United States Verified by our editors
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80 yrs
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Terry Winograd is an American computer scientist who created SHRDLU, an early program that understood English commands in a block world. He later turned to human–computer interaction at Stanford, where he advised Larry Page during the work that led to Google.

Biography

SHRDLU

Winograd studied at Colorado College and earned his PhD at MIT. His SHRDLU program (1970) let users move virtual blocks by typing commands such as “pick up a big red block” and answered questions about them.

Changing views

With Fernando Flores he wrote Understanding Computers and Cognition (1986), arguing that true language understanding was beyond classical AI, and shifted to designing tools for people.

Stanford HCI

He co-founded Stanford’s human–computer interaction group and the d.school. He co-founded Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility.

Google

He advised Larry Page’s PhD work on the web’s link structure and spent time at Google in 2002.

Timeline

  1. 1946

    Born in Takoma Park, Maryland, United States

  2. 1970

    SHRDLU

  3. 1973

    Joins Stanford

  4. 1981

    Co-founds CPSR

  5. 1986

    Understanding Computers and Cognition

  6. 1996

    Advises Larry Page

  7. 2005

    Co-founds the Stanford d.school

Notable works

  • 1972

    Understanding Natural Language Book

  • 1986

    Understanding Computers and Cognition Book

    With Fernando Flores.

Awards and honours

  • ACM SIGCHI Lifetime Research Award

    2011

Did you know?

  1. 1

    The name SHRDLU comes from the order of letters on Linotype machines.

  2. 2

    The Winograd Schema Challenge, a test of common sense, is named after him.

  3. 3

    He taught at Stanford for more than 40 years.

Connections

Also born on 24 February

Frequently asked

Who is Terry Winograd?

Terry Winograd is an American computer scientist who created SHRDLU, an early program that understood English commands in a block world. He later turned to human–computer interaction at Stanford, where he advised Larry Page during the work that led to Google.

How old is Terry Winograd?

Terry Winograd is 80 years old, born on 24 February 1946 in Takoma Park, Maryland, United States.

Where is Terry Winograd from?

Terry Winograd was born in Takoma Park, Maryland, United States.

What is Terry Winograd known for?

Terry Winograd is best known for SHRDLU (1970); human–computer interaction; doctoral adviser of Larry Page.

What awards has Terry Winograd received?

Notable honours include ACM SIGCHI Lifetime Research Award (2011).

References

  1. Terry Winograd — Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
  2. Terry Winograd — Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
  3. Official website. profiles.stanford.edu. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
  4. Terry Winograd (Q92826) — structured data. Wikidata. Retrieved 4 November 2026.

Includes material from the Wikipedia article “Terry Winograd”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. That text is available under the same licence. Learn more

External links

Official website Website Wikipedia
Filed under Artificial intelligenceHuman–computer interactionStanford University Computer ScientistProfessor

About this profile

Cite this page

“Terry Winograd.” TrackFame, last updated 5 November 2026. https://trackfame.com/person/terry-winograd

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