ALGOL 60 is a programming language developed in the early 1960s, primarily for scientific and mathematical computations. It was created by a committee of computer scientists from various countries, including John Backus and Peter Naur. ALGOL 60 introduced key programming concepts such as structured programming and block structure, influencing many later languages. One of its significant contributions was the use of Backus-Naur Form (BNF) for defining syntax, which is still used today. Although ALGOL 60 is not widely used now, it laid the groundwork for many modern programming languages, including C, Pascal, and Java.