Carl Petri

Name: Carl Adam Petri

Born: July 12, 1926, in Leipzig, Weimar Republic, Germany

Death: July 2, 2010 (Age: 84)

Computer-related contributions

• In August 1939, at the age of 13, he invented "Petri nets," directed graphs for the purpose of describing chemical processes.
• Significantly advanced the fields of parallel and distributed computing, and helped define the modern studies of complex systems and workflow management.

Honors and awards

• Cross of Merit, first class (1988).
• Konrad Zuse Medal (1993).
• Werner von Siemens Ring (1996).
• IEEE Computer Pioneer Award (2008).