This is sort of old news already, but Dennis Ritchie died recently. He is best known for designing C, which is probably the most widely used system programming language, and for working on the original version of Unix. His effect on technology has been enormous, influencing nearly every modern computer system and piece of software.
Here's a picture of him receiving a medal which I stole from wikipedia:
Here's a picture of him receiving a medal which I stole from wikipedia: