Randy Pausch

Randy Pausch
Born
Randolph Frederick Pausch

(1960-10-23)October 23, 1960
DiedJuly 25, 2008(2008-07-25) (aged 47)
Cause of death
Pancreatic cancer
Alma materBrown University (BS)
Carnegie Mellon University (PhD)
Known forCreator of Alice software project
Cofounder of the Entertainment Technology Center
Virtual reality
The Last Lecture
SpouseJai Glasgow
Children3
AwardsKarl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award
ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education
Award for Outstanding Contributions to Computer Science Education
Fellow of the ACM
Time's Time 100
Scientific career
FieldsComputer science
Human–computer interaction
WorkplacesCarnegie Mellon University
University of Virginia
Alfred Spector
Doctoral students
Ken Hinckley, Desney Tan
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Randolph Frederick Pausch (/paʊʃ/) (October 23, 1960 – July 25, 2008) was an American educator, a professor of computer science, human–computer interaction, and design at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Pausch learned he had pancreatic cancer in September 2006. In August 2007, he was given a terminal diagnosis: "three to six months of good health left". He gave an upbeat lecture titled, "The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" on September 18, 2007 at Carnegie Mellon, which became a popular YouTube video and led to other media appearances. He co-authored a book of the same name, The Last Lecture, which became a New York Times best-seller.

Pausch's academic lectures reached a global audience after his diagnosis with a terminal illness in 2006. Pausch died of complications from pancreatic cancer on July 25, 2008, aged 47.