# Urs Hölzle

> Swiss computer scientist

**Wikidata**: [Q7901133](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7901133)  
**Wikipedia**: [English](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urs_Hölzle)  
**Source**: https://4ort.xyz/entity/urs-holzle

## Summary
Urs Hölzle is a Swiss computer scientist affiliated with Google. He is known for influential publications on large-scale computing and data center design, including *Web search for a planet: the google cluster architecture* and *The Datacenter as a Computer*.

## Biography
- Nationality: Switzerland  
- Education: ETH Zurich; Stanford University  
- Known for: Research and writing on Google-scale cluster architecture and warehouse-scale (data center) computing  
- Employer(s): Google  
- Field(s): Computer science  

## Contributions
Urs Hölzle’s contributions are documented primarily through his published research and professional recognition in large-scale computing. His notable works include *Web search for a planet: the google cluster architecture*, which addresses Google’s cluster architecture for web search, and *The Datacenter as a Computer: An Introduction to the Design of Warehouse-Scale Machines* (including a second edition), a widely cited framing of the data center as a single computer and an introduction to warehouse-scale machine design.  

He also authored research on programming language implementation and optimization, including *Optimizing dynamically-typed object-oriented languages with polymorphic inline caches* and *Optimizing dynamically-dispatched calls with run-time type feedback*, focusing on performance techniques for dynamically typed and dynamically dispatched systems.  

Hölzle’s standing in the field is reflected in honors and affiliations: he was named an ACM Fellow (with the cited reason “for the design, engineering and operation of energy-efficient large-scale cloud computing systems,” with a 2009 point-in-time qualifier) and was recognized as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2017). His academic lineage includes doctoral advising by David Ungar and doctoral students Raimondas Lencevicius and Jeffrey George Bogda.

## FAQs
### Q: Who is Urs Hölzle?
A: Urs Hölzle is a Swiss computer scientist affiliated with Google. He is known for publications on Google-scale computing and data center (warehouse-scale) machine design.

### Q: What is Urs Hölzle known for writing?
A: He is associated with works including *Web search for a planet: the google cluster architecture* and *The Datacenter as a Computer: An Introduction to the Design of Warehouse-Scale Machines* (and its second edition). He also published on optimizing dynamically typed and dynamically dispatched programming language systems.

### Q: What awards and honors has Urs Hölzle received?
A: His listed honors include a Fulbright Scholarship (point in time: 1988), ACM Fellow (point in time: 2009), Google Fellow, and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (point in time: 2017).

### Q: Where did Urs Hölzle study?
A: He is listed as educated at ETH Zurich and Stanford University.

### Q: Who are Urs Hölzle’s academic advisor and students?
A: His doctoral advisor is David Ungar. His listed doctoral students include Raimondas Lencevicius and Jeffrey George Bogda.

## Why They Matter
Urs Hölzle matters for helping define and communicate how modern, large-scale computing systems are designed and understood. Through works such as *Web search for a planet: the google cluster architecture*, he is associated with articulating architectural ideas behind web-scale search infrastructure. Through *The Datacenter as a Computer*, he helped popularize the conceptual model that a warehouse-scale data center can be treated as a single computer—an idea that shapes how practitioners and researchers reason about performance, reliability, and system design at scale.  

His recognition as an ACM Fellow—cited for “the design, engineering and operation of energy-efficient large-scale cloud computing systems”—connects his impact to practical, operational concerns in cloud-scale infrastructure, including energy efficiency. His additional recognition as an AAAS Fellow (2017) further signals cross-disciplinary scientific impact. In academia, his placement in a mentorship lineage (doctoral advisor David Ungar; doctoral students including Raimondas Lencevicius and Jeffrey George Bogda) indicates influence through training and research direction as well as through publications.

## Notable For
- Author of *The Datacenter as a Computer: An Introduction to the Design of Warehouse-Scale Machines* (and a second edition)  
- Author of *Web search for a planet: the google cluster architecture*  
- Named an ACM Fellow (2009), cited “for the design, engineering and operation of energy-efficient large-scale cloud computing systems”  
- Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2017)  
- Doctoral advisor: David Ungar; doctoral students include Raimondas Lencevicius and Jeffrey George Bogda  

## Body
### Identity and Background
- Name: Urs Hölzle  
- Alias: Urs Hoelzle  
- Description: Swiss computer scientist  
- Citizenship: Switzerland  
- Sex or gender: male  

### Education
- Educated at:
  - ETH Zurich  
  - Stanford University  

### Affiliation and Employment
- Employer:
  - Google  

### Research and Publications (Selected)
- Large-scale systems and data centers:
  - *Web search for a planet: the google cluster architecture*
  - *The Datacenter as a Computer: An Introduction to the Design of Warehouse-Scale Machines*
  - *The Datacenter as a Computer: An Introduction to the Design of Warehouse-Scale Machines, Second edition*
- Programming languages and optimization:
  - *Optimizing dynamically-typed object-oriented languages with polymorphic inline caches*
  - *Optimizing dynamically-dispatched calls with run-time type feedback*

### Honors and Professional Recognition
- Fulbright Scholarship (point in time: 1988)  
- ACM Fellow (point in time: 2009; cited for energy-efficient large-scale cloud computing systems)  
- Google Fellow  
- Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (point in time: 2017)  
- Member of: Association for Computing Machinery (ACM Fellow qualifier start time: 2009-12-01)

### Academic Lineage
- Doctoral advisor: David Ungar  
- Doctoral students:
  - Raimondas Lencevicius  
  - Jeffrey George Bogda  

### Identifiers and Profiles
- ISNI: 0000000032079199  
- VIAF: 73098177  
- GND ID: 1117162346  
- Library of Congress authority ID: n95023520  
- DBLP author ID: h/UrsHolzle  
- Google Scholar author ID: 3ox8XlUAAAAJ  
- ACM Digital Library author ID: 81100400656  
- Mathematics Genealogy Project ID: 71522  
- Freebase ID: /m/0bznfm  
- Quora topic: Urs-Hölzle  
- Google+ ID: 100873628951632372330  

### Social Media
- Twitter/X handle: uhoelzle (start time qualifier: 2009-05-04)  
- Reported follower counts (Twitter/X, point-in-time qualifiers):
  - 13,133 (2021-01-07)
  - 23,909 (2022-02-27)
  - 27,943 (2023-02-07)

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## References

1. [Source](https://www.worldwildlife.org/leaders/urs-holzle--2)
2. Mathematics Genealogy Project
3. [Source](https://research.google/people/author79/)
4. [Source](https://www.acm.org/media-center/2009/december/acm-names-47-fellows-for-innovations-in-computing-information-technology)
5. [Source](https://www.aaas.org/news/2017-aaas-fellows-recognized-advancing-science)
6. Virtual International Authority File
7. Google Knowledge Graph
8. Quora
9. National Library of Israel Names and Subjects Authority File