John Warnock, a computer scientist who co-founded Adobe and helped invent the PDF, died this past weekend at the age of 82.
Adobe reports that Warnock passed away on Saturday, surrounded by his family. No cause of death was given.
Back in 1982, Warnock teamed up with Charles Geschke to found the San Jose-based Adobe Systems, which would become a giant in computer graphics and publishing software. But the company had humble beginnings and first started off in Warnock’s garage. The name Adobe is also a reference to the Adobe Creek in Los Altos, California, that ran behind his home.
Before starting Adobe, Warnock and Geschke worked at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, a pioneering institution that developed many early computing technologies, including the first laser printer. The two decided to leave after Xerox refused to commercialize a protocol they had developed that enabled Xerox printers to communicate with computers.
“They decided that they weren’t going to adopt what we had worked on, [and] they weren’t going to let the world know about it,” Warnock told his alma mater, the University of Utah. “We thought that was crazy.”
Warnock and Geschke built on InterPress to create PostScript, a programming language that paved the way for desktop printing. In 1985, Apple’s LaserWriter was the first printer to ship with the PostScript language, which many other printers and software applications would also adopt.
Along with PostScript, Warnock also helped invent the PDF, which arose out of Adobe’s “project Camelot" in the early 1990s. The goal was to create a new file format that could be used across operating systems. The result led to Adobe Acrobat, which could open the new PDF format.
On Warnock’s career, Adobe’s current CEO, Shantanu Narayen, said: “His vision and passion enabled Adobe to deliver groundbreaking innovations such as Illustrator, the ubiquitous PDF file format and Acrobat, Photoshop, and Premiere Pro, defining the desktop era and unleashing creativity and opportunity for millions of people.”
For his contributions to technology, Warnock received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation from President Obama in 2009. Warnock is survived by his wife and three children.