David Laidlaw
American computer scientist
David Hales Laidlaw is an American computer scientist. He is currently Professor of Computer Science at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. In 2014 he became a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for contributions to data visualization and analytics. In 2019, he was named to the IEEE Visualization Academy.
Laidlaw earned a Bachelor of Science in computer science from Brown University in 1983. He earned a Master of Science in computer science at Brown in 1985 and another masters degree at the California Institute of Technology in 1992. He completed his doctorate at Caltech in 1995 under the direction of Alan Howard Barr.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “David Laidlaw” is american computer scientist. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through David, Laidlaw and American, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “american computer scientist” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q29357167. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2014, 2019, 1983 and 1985.
Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “David Laidlaw”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow David Laidlaw primary sources, David Laidlaw archive and David research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “David Laidlaw”?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “David Laidlaw” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.