George E. Collins

George Edwin Collins
Born(1928-01-10)January 10, 1928
DiedNovember 21, 2017(2017-11-21) (aged 89)
Alma materCornell University
Known forGarbage collection (computer science)
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison, Ohio State University, RISC-Linz, University of Delaware, North Carolina State University
Doctoral advisorJ. Barkley Rosser
Doctoral studentsEllis Horowitz

George E. Collins (born on January 10, 1928 in Stuart, Iowa – and died on November 21, 2017 in Madison, Wisconsin) was an American mathematician and computer scientist. He is the inventor of garbage collection by reference counting[G60] and of the method of quantifier elimination by cylindrical algebraic decomposition.[G75]

He received his PhD from Cornell University in 1955. He worked at IBM, the University of Wisconsin–Madison (1966–1986) Ohio State University, RISC-Linz, University of Delaware, and North Carolina State University.