> by Rob Pike and Ken Thompson

Why does everyone always forget Robert Griesemer? He might not be as involved with the public as Rob Pike, but he's the guy that made gofmt and godoc (and I'm pretty sure he's also at least partially to thank for the language being specified in such a way that it is "gofmt"-able in the first place, considering he maintains the spec). That alone counts as a pretty big positive influence on the language.