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# Guido van Rossum

Guido van Rossum (born 31 January 1956) is a Dutch programmer best known as the creator of the
Python programming language. He was employed by Google from 2005 to 2012, and then by Dropbox
from 2013 to 2019. He joined Microsoft in 2020.

## Creator of Python

Van Rossum began developing Python at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) in December 1989.
He has said that he chose the name "Python" because he was in a slightly irreverent mood and
thought the name was short, unique, and slightly mysterious — plus he was a fan of Monty Python's
Flying Circus.

He served as Python's Benevolent Dictator For Life (BDFL) — a title given to him by the
Python community — until July 2018, when he stepped down. The BDFL had final say over all
Python Enhancement Proposals (PEPs) and the direction of the language.

## Career

| Period | Employer | Role |
|--------|----------|------|
| 1982–1995 | CWI (Netherlands) | Researcher; created Python |
| 1995–2000 | CNRI (Virginia, USA) | Python development |
| 2000–2003 | BeOpen.com then Zope Corp | Python lead |
| 2005–2012 | Google | Senior Staff Engineer |
| 2013–2019 | Dropbox | Principal Engineer |
| 2020–present | Microsoft | Distinguished Engineer |

## Recognition

Van Rossum has received numerous awards for his contributions to computing, including the Free
Software Foundation Award for the Advancement of Free Software (2001) and the NLUUG Award
(2003). He was named a Fellow of the ACM in 2020.

Python, his creation, consistently ranks as one of the most popular programming languages in
the world, topping the TIOBE Index for multiple years in the 2020s.
