Postgres
/ˈpoʊst.ɡrɛs/ · Noun · Development · Origin: 1986
Definitions
PostgreSQL — an advanced open-source relational database system known for standards compliance, extensibility, and reliability. The database that doesn't make headlines because it just works. Originally 'Postgres' at Berkeley, then 'PostgreSQL' to signal SQL support, but everyone still calls it Postgres.
In plain English: A powerful, free, open-source database used by companies of all sizes — considered one of the most reliable databases in existence.
Etymology
- 1986
- Michael Stonebraker begins the POSTGRES project at UC Berkeley
- 1996
- Renamed to PostgreSQL when SQL support is added
Origin Story
The professor's database that conquered the world, twice
**PostgreSQL** (or just "Postgres") is named after its predecessor, **Ingres** (Interactive Graphics and Retrieval System). When UC Berkeley professor **Michael Stonebraker** started a new database project in 1986, he called it **POSTGRES** — literally "Post-Ingres," as in the successor to Ingres.
Stonebraker's Postgres research project ran from 1986 to 1994 at Berkeley. In 1996, a group of open-source developers added SQL support and renamed it **PostgreSQL** to reflect the SQL capability. The community continues to accept both "PostgreSQL" and "Postgres" as official names, though the pronunciation debate ("post-GRES-Q-L" vs. "post-GRES-quel" vs. just "Postgres") never quite resolved.
Stonebraker won the Turing Award in 2014 for his contributions to database systems. PostgreSQL itself went from an academic project to the world's most advanced open-source relational database, used by companies including Apple, Instagram, Spotify, and the International Space Station.
Coined by: Michael Stonebraker
Context: UC Berkeley, 1986
Fun fact: The Ingres that Postgres succeeded was itself hugely influential. Stonebraker and his students commercialized Ingres in the 1980s, and it inspired the creation of Sybase, which in turn was the foundation for Microsoft SQL Server. So Stonebraker's work is the ancestor of multiple major database systems.