Luiz André Barroso

Luiz André Barroso (June 30, 1964 – September 16, 2023) was a Brazilian computer engineer. While working for Google, he pioneered the design of the modern data center. Born in Rio de Janeiro, Barroso worked at Digital Equipment Corporation prior to joining Google.

He joined Google in 2001 and was tasked with managing the design of the data center. Barroso is credited with redesigning Google's data centers and servers to be significantly more energy and cost-efficient. He also helped forge a consensus around Bluetooth contact tracing, which is estimated to have saved 10,000 lives in the UK. Barroso has served as the Vice President of Engineering for Google's Geo Platform team, which collects geographical data for services such as Google Maps.

Barroso was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Association for Computing Machinery. He was also a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. He was awarded the ACM - IEEE CS Eckert–Mauchly Award in 2020. Barroso earned a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Pontifícia Universidade Católica in Rio de Janeiro. He also earned a Ph.D. at University of Southern California.