VI · Distributed-systems pioneers
Eric Brewer
1967–
UC Berkeley · ex-Google VP · CAP theorem
Gave us
The CAP theorem (2000 keynote, formalised by Gilbert & Lynch in 2002). Founded Inktomi (early search engine). Engineering leadership for Google's infrastructure, including the Bigtable / Spanner lineage.
The story
Brewer's "Towards Robust Distributed Systems" PODC talk introduced the CAP trilemma — pick any two of consistency, availability, partition tolerance. The later 12-years-later retrospective ("CAP Twelve Years Later") is a more nuanced version of the original claim and required reading.