The creator of one of the most well-known modes of modern communication has passed away. Stephen Wilhite, the computer programmer who invented the GIF and demanded that users say it with a soft “g,” died at the age of 74.
On March 14, his wife, Kathaleen, notified The Associated Press that he died of COVID.
According to a 2013 interview with The New York Times, Wilhite created the GIF, or Graphics Interchange Format, in 1987 while working for CompuServe. In the period of sluggish dial-up internet and massive picture files, the online service provider was looking for ways to present material like color weather maps. GIFs loop small video sequences indefinitely.
Wilhite told the New York Times, “I saw the format I wanted in my brain and then I started programming.”
The GIF has become ingrained in computer culture as a popular method of internet communication 35 years later.
Wilhite received a lifetime achievement award from The Webby Awards in 2013, which honors outstanding achievements on the internet.
The GIF remains a standard among image formats used to transmit news and information, despite advances in moving image and animation technologies on the Web, according to a statement from The Webby Awards.
