Robert Fano, a former Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor whose work on personal computing enabled many technologies in use today, passed away on July 13 at the age of 98.

Fano worked as a professor of computer science and electrical engineering from 1947 to 1984.

An article from The Boston Herald notes Fano’s contribution to time-sharing systems in the 1960s. His work enabled multiple people to use a computer at one time. Fano and professor emeritus Fernando Corbató founded the Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS) at MIT in 1961.

He also developed data-compression techniques which lead to their use in today’s high-definition televisions and computer networks. MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) grew directly out of Project MAC, a computing center which Fano founded and directed thanks in part to the success of CTSS.

“Bob did pioneering work in computer science at a time when many people viewed the field as a curiosity rather than a rigorous academic discipline,” said Daniela Rus, current director of CSAIL. “None of our work here would have been possible without his passion, insight, and drive.”

He was also an advocate for open source content and treating computing as a public utility.

“One must consider the security of a system that may hold in its mass memory detailed information on individuals and organizations,” Fano said in a paper co-written with Corbató in 1966. “How will access to the utility be controlled? Who will regulate its use?”

Fano is survived by three daughters – Paola Nisonger, Linda Ryan, and Carol Fano – and five grandchildren.