Photo: heipei / CC BY-SA 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)

Clifford Stoll

クリフォード・ストール　/　くりふぉーど・すとーる

American astronomer

June 4, 1950 – 2024-05-00　・　Buffalo, New York, United States

New York
astronomer
computer scientist
writer

My Take

Clifford Stoll is a personal favorite of mine, because The Cuckoo's Egg is one of the few genuinely thrilling books about computer security. An astronomer who stumbled onto a 75-cent accounting error and pulled the thread all the way to a real spy is exactly the kind of accidental-detective story I love. What strikes me most is that he was a scientist first, not a security pro, and that outsider's curiosity is what cracked it. I've always seen him as a reminder that careful observation beats fancy tools. A real loss that he passed in 2024.

Overview

Clifford Paul "Cliff" Stoll (born June 4, 1950) is an American astronomer, author and teacher. He is best known for his investigation in 1986, while working as a system administrator at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, that led to the capture of hacker Markus Hess, and for Stoll's subsequent book The Cuckoo's Egg, in which he details the investigation.

Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

1. Profile

Name (English): Clifford Stoll
Name (Japanese): クリフォード・ストール
Reading: くりふぉーど・すとーる
Born: June 4, 1950 – 2024-05-00
Zodiac / Chinese zodiac: Gemini / Tiger
Origin: Buffalo, New York, United States
Blood type: Private
Height: Private
Agency: Private
Occupation: astronomer / computer scientist / writer / programmer / opinion journalist

2. Background

Elementary school: Private
Junior high: Private
High school: Hutchinson Central Technical High School
University: University of Arizona

3. Relationships

Spouse: Private
Children: Private
Parents: Private
Siblings: Private

4. Personality

Motto

Private

5. Works & records

Category	Title	Role	Year
Notable work	The Cuckoo's Egg	—

6. Links

Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%AF%E3%83%AA%E3%83%95%E3%82%A9%E3%83%BC%E3%83%89%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B9%E3%83%88%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB

Astronomer — see all →　·　Computer scientist — see all →　·　More people from United States →