astronomy

Mark Weiser

Mark Weiser is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mark Weiser rather than just read about it. In short: Mark D. Weiser (July 23, 1952 – April 27, 1999) was an American computer scientist and chief technology officer (CTO) at Xerox PARC.

Key takeaways

Mark Weiser belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mark Weiser to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mark Weiser from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mark D. Weiser (July 23, 1952 – April 27, 1999) was an American computer scientist and chief technology officer (CTO) at Xerox PARC. Weiser is widely considered to be the father of ubiquitous computing, a term he coined in 1988. Within Silicon Valley, Weiser was broadly viewed as a visionary and computer pioneer, and his ideas have influenced many of the world's leading computer scientists.

Early life and education Weiser was born in Chicago, Illinois, to David and Audra Weiser. He grew up in Stony Brook, New York. He moved to Sarasota, Florida, to study philosophy at New College of Florida but dropped out in his second year when he ran out of money. He then moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he found a job as a computer programmer. While working as a computer programmer he began taking computer science classes and excelled to the point that he was directly admitted into a master's program at the University of Michigan. He studied Computer and Communication Science at the University of Michigan, receiving an M.A. in 1976, and a Ph.D. in 1979.

Career Weiser later taught computer science at the University of Maryland, College Park and became associate chairman of the department in 1986. Weiser joined PARC (then Xerox PARC) in 1987 and became manager of its computer science laboratory in 1988, the same year he pioneered the concept of ubiquitous computing. He became PARC's chief technology officer in 1996.

Honors In 2001, the Association for Computing Machinery's special interest group in operating systems (SIGOPS) established the Mark Weiser Award for individuals who innovate within operating systems research. The Mark D. Weiser Excellence in Computing Scholarship Fund at the University of California, Berkeley was also established in Weiser's memory.

Personal life In addition to his work in the field of computer science, Weiser was also the drummer for the avant-garde/experimental rock band, Severe Tire Damage, which was the first band to broadcast live over the Internet. On April 27, 1999, Weiser died of liver failure that was caused by cancer.

Ubiquitous computing and calm technology

During one of his talks, Weiser outlined a set of principles describing ubiquitous computing:

The purpose of a computer is to help you do something else. The best computer is a quiet, invisible servant. The more you can do by intuition the smarter you are; the computer should extend your unconscious. Technology should create calm. In Designing Calm Technology, Weiser and John Seely Brown describe calm technology as "that which informs but doesn't demand our focus or attention."

Low-powered portable computing Weiser advocated to look at performance in non traditional ways. Instead of measuring computational performance in MIPS, he focused on increasing the instructions per joule of energy, pushing the computer industry toward low-powered portable computing.

Works "The Computer for the 21st Century" - Scientific American Special Issue on Communications, Computers, and Networks, September, 1991

References

Further reading Tinnell, John (2023). The Philosopher of Palo Alto: Mark Weiser, Xerox PARC, and the Original Internet of Things. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226757209.

External links Tribute Site established at Stanford University "Designing Calm Technology"

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mark Weiser

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mark Weiser claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mark Weiser before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mark Weiser ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mark Weiser

In research: Mark Weiser appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mark Weiser in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mark Weiser is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1952 births, 1999 deaths, 20th-century American people, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mark Weiser outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mark Weiser in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mark Weiser means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mark Weiser out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mark Weiser in simple terms?

Mark D. Weiser (July 23, 1952 – April 27, 1999) was an American computer scientist and chief technology officer (CTO) at Xerox PARC.

Why does Mark Weiser matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mark Weiser?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mark Weiser.