The Origins of Scala
http://www.artima.com/scalazine/articles/origins_of_scala.html

A Conversation with Martin Odersky

Scala, a general-purpose, object-oriented, functional language for the JVM, is the brainchild of Martin Odersky, a professor at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). In the first part of a multi-part interview series, Martin Odersky discusses Scala's history and origins with Artima's Bill Venners.