Computer scientist, inventor of the GIF. He lead the engineering team that developed the GIF (graphics interchange format) image file format in 1987. He also helped to develop web chat software in the 1990s. He retired from AOL in 2001 as the company's Chief Architect. In 2013 he received a Webby Lifetime Achievement Award.
Originally developed as a means to save computer memory while displaying color images, GIFS have become popular in a wide range of uses across the Internet. Meanwhile, the pronunciation of "GIF" has been long debated, with staunch adherents to pronunciations with both a soft and a hard G sound. In 2012, Oxford American Dictionaries recognized GIF as its Word of the Year. "The Oxford English Dictionary accepts both pronunciations," Wilhite told The New York Times in 2013. "They are wrong. It is a soft G, pronounced ‘jif.' End of story."
He was the only son of Anna Lou (Dorsey), a nurse, and Clarence Earl Wilhite, a factory worker, though they also had four daughters. His first marriage ended in divorce after the couple had one son. He remarried in 2010 and had several stepchildren, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
Originally developed as a means to save computer memory while displaying color images, GIFS have become popular in a wide range of uses across the Internet. Meanwhile, the pronunciation of "GIF" has been long debated, with staunch adherents to pronunciations with both a soft and a hard G sound. In 2012, Oxford American Dictionaries recognized GIF as its Word of the Year. "The Oxford English Dictionary accepts both pronunciations," Wilhite told The New York Times in 2013. "They are wrong. It is a soft G, pronounced ‘jif.' End of story."
He was the only son of Anna Lou (Dorsey), a nurse, and Clarence Earl Wilhite, a factory worker, though they also had four daughters. His first marriage ended in divorce after the couple had one son. He remarried in 2010 and had several stepchildren, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
Computer scientist, inventor of the GIF. He lead the engineering team that developed the GIF (graphics interchange format) image file format in 1987. He also helped to develop web chat software in the 1990s. He retired from AOL in 2001 as the company's Chief Architect. In 2013 he received a Webby Lifetime Achievement Award.
Originally developed as a means to save computer memory while displaying color images, GIFS have become popular in a wide range of uses across the Internet. Meanwhile, the pronunciation of "GIF" has been long debated, with staunch adherents to pronunciations with both a soft and a hard G sound. In 2012, Oxford American Dictionaries recognized GIF as its Word of the Year. "The Oxford English Dictionary accepts both pronunciations," Wilhite told The New York Times in 2013. "They are wrong. It is a soft G, pronounced ‘jif.' End of story."
He was the only son of Anna Lou (Dorsey), a nurse, and Clarence Earl Wilhite, a factory worker, though they also had four daughters. His first marriage ended in divorce after the couple had one son. He remarried in 2010 and had several stepchildren, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
Originally developed as a means to save computer memory while displaying color images, GIFS have become popular in a wide range of uses across the Internet. Meanwhile, the pronunciation of "GIF" has been long debated, with staunch adherents to pronunciations with both a soft and a hard G sound. In 2012, Oxford American Dictionaries recognized GIF as its Word of the Year. "The Oxford English Dictionary accepts both pronunciations," Wilhite told The New York Times in 2013. "They are wrong. It is a soft G, pronounced ‘jif.' End of story."
He was the only son of Anna Lou (Dorsey), a nurse, and Clarence Earl Wilhite, a factory worker, though they also had four daughters. His first marriage ended in divorce after the couple had one son. He remarried in 2010 and had several stepchildren, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
Bio by: HH
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