Who Was Alive

Were Dennis M. Ritchie and Barack Obama alive at the same time?

Yes. Dennis M. Ritchie and Barack Obama were alive at the same time for 50 years, from 1961 to 2011.

Dennis M. Ritchie was 19 when Barack Obama was born.

Barack Obama was 50 when Dennis M. Ritchie died, aged 70.

Dennis M. Ritchie

American computer scientist, co-inventor of the Unix operating system and the C programming language

Born 9 September 1941 · died 12 October 2011, aged 70

Barack Obama

44th President of the United States

Born 4 August 1961 · living, 65 as of September 2026

  1. Albert Einstein
  2. Adolf Hitler
  3. Ronald Reagan
  4. Nelson Mandela
  5. Dennis M. Ritchie
  6. Donald Trump
  7. Vladimir Putin
  8. Michael Jackson
  9. Barack Obama
Dennis M. Ritchie and Barack Obama in bold, with some of their best-known contemporaries. Drag across to see the age each reached in any year. Faded ends mark uncertain dates.