 harold "hal" abelson (born april 26, 1947) is a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at mit, a fellow of the ieee, and a founding director of both creative commons and the free software foundation. ==education== abelson holds an ab degree from princeton university and obtained a phd degree in mathematics from mit under the tutelage of mathematician dennis sullivan. == work == ===computer science education=== abelson has a longstanding interest in using computation as a conceptual framework in teaching. he directed the first implementation of logo for the apple ii, which made the language widely available on personal computers beginning in 1981; and published a widely selling book on logo in 1982. his book turtle geometry, written with andrea disessa in 1981, presented a computational approach to geometry which has been cited as "the first step in a revolutionary change in the entire teaching/learning process." together with gerald jay sussman, abelson developed mit's introductory computer science subject, structure and interpretation of computer programs, a subject organized around the notion that a computer language is primarily a formal medium for expressing ideas about methodology, rather than just a way to get a computer to perform operations. this work, through the textbook of the same name, videotapes of their 
1947_births 20th-century_American_mathematicians 21st-century_American_mathematicians American_computer_scientists American_educators American_electrical_engineers Artificial_intelligence_researchers Fellow_Members_of_the_IEEE Free_software_programmers GNU_people Google_employees Lisp_people Living_people Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology_alumni Massachusetts_Institute_of_Technology_faculty Members_of_the_Creative_Commons_Board_of_Directors Members_of_the_Free_Software_Foundation_board_of_directors Princeton_University_alumni Programming_language_designers