On September 16, Google engineer and data center pioneer Luiz André Barroso passed away at the age of 59. Barroso began working for Google in the early 2000s and is credited with revolutionizing the data center industry with his unconventional ideas. Barroso is also an accomplished guitarist and published author, has recorded music albums with legendary musicians, and co-authored the book "Data Centers as Computers" with Google researcher Urs Hölzle.
Born and raised in Brazil, Barroso earned a master's degree in electrical engineering from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro and pursued a PhD in computer engineering from the University of Southern California. He worked at Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1990s and joined Google in 2001. He is also a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai expressed condolences for Barroso's passing, praising the Brazilian-born engineer's achievements and remembering his glorious achievements. Pichai published an article on X (formerly Twitter), praising Barroso for his contribution to the birth of modern cloud computing and thanking him for leading Google's computing infrastructure design. Pichai also said that what he will miss most about Barroso is their chats about nature, music and football.
Barroso's friend and colleague Urs Hölzle also expressed condolences for his death. In a moving LinkedIn post, Holzler remembered Barroso for his contributions to public health during the pandemic and credited him with reaching consensus on Bluetooth-based contact tracing technology that saved thousands of lives. According to a Nature paper cited by Hölzle, Barroso's efforts saved as many as 10,000 lives in the UK alone.
Holtzler described Barroso as "much more than a computer scientist," noting Barroso's guitar prowess and passion for nature photography. He also told the story of Barroso waiting for hours to photograph a burrowing owl, and that he had recently completed an album with music legends Zeca Assumpção and Sergio Reze. He also described Barroso as a "humble" man who accomplished everything with "more grace and enthusiasm than almost anyone else."
For those who have never had the chance to know Barroso, Pichai and Holtzler's social media posts paint a true portrait of a true gentleman who was not only a groundbreaking computer scientist, but also a humble man whose skills extended far beyond computers. According to them, Barroso was a dignified, unassuming, self-effacing man who left a deep impression on those who were lucky enough to know him up close.