The story of Phong

Time Magazine tells us about The Vietnamese Computer Scientist Who Made Toy Story Possible:

You have probably already seen the work of Bùi Tường Phong. […] Bùi developed the Phong shading and reflection algorithms, which […] excelled at depicting plastics, and are one reason that the film Toy Story (1995), the first entirely computer-animated feature film, was about toys.

Developed in 1973, the Phong rendering algorithm allowed 3D rendering at the time were computers were not has powerfull as today.

After studying in France, Bùi Tường Phong obtained a PhD from the University of Utah where he developed, in 1973, the 3D rendering algorithm that would be named after him.

It should be noted that Bùi died in 1975 of leukemia, and Phong was actually his first (given) name, not his family name.

The University of Utah is the origin for many advances in 3D computer graphics, including Ed Catmul (Pixar), Jim Clark (SGI, and later Netscape), John Warnock (Adobe), and the origin of the now infamous Utah teapot.