Tom Knight

By robgrasham@gmail.com

  • 1964

    At age 14, Knight begins attending MIT, taking courses in computer programming and organic chemistry.

  • 1967

    Develops the original kernel for the Incompatible Timesharing System (ITS) at MIT.

  • 1968

    Designs and supervises the construction of the first PDP-10 ARPANET interfaces with Bob Metcalfe

  • 1972

    1972
    Creates one of the first semiconductor memory-based bitmap displays, influencing modern graphical interfaces.

  • 1974

    1974
    Designs and implements the prototype version of the MIT Lisp Machine processor

  • 1975

    1975
    Collaborates with Jack Holloway to design and implement Chaosnet, MIT's first local area network

  • 1980

    1980
    Participates in developing the Connection Machine architecture, advancing parallel processing.

  • 1990

    1990
    Shifts focus to biology, establishing a molecular biology lab within MIT's Computer Science department

  • 1996

    1996
    Leads a DARPA-funded study on cellular computing, merging computational and biological sciences.

  • 2002

    2002
    Introduces BioBricks, standardized DNA sequences facilitating genetic engineering.

  • 2004

    2004
    Co-founds the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition, promoting synthetic biology education.

  • 2008

    Co-founds Ginkgo Bioworks, focusing on designing custom organisms for various applications.

  • 2016

    Ginkgo Bioworks secures significant funding to expand its organism design platform.

  • 2021

    2021
    Ginkgo Bioworks goes public, trading under the ticker symbol "DNA."

  • 2024

    2024
    Knight continues to influence synthetic biology through his work at Ginkgo Bioworks and contributions to iGEM.