Steve (Slug) Russell

Chief developer of Spacewar!, one of the earliest videogames, Russell is an American video game designer, programmer, and computer scientist. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, his family later moved to a small farm...

Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander, CMG, CBE

One of the key workers on breaking the Enigma machine, Alexander made vital contributions to British codebreaking during World War II. An Irish-born British cryptanalyst, chess player, and chess writer, he was...

William (Bill) Millard

Considered the "father" of modern computer retailing, Millard founded IMS Associates, makers of the IMSAI series of computers, and the electronics retailer ComputerLand. Millard worked for IBM and, later, as the head...

Garth Gibson

Co-developer of the RAID taxonomy of redundant data storage systems, Gibson is a Computer Scientist from Carnegie Mellon University, born in Aurora, Ontario. He holds a Ph.D. and an MSc in Computer...

David Lorge Parnas

Originator of the concept of information hiding in modular programming, Parnas is a Canadian early pioneer of software engineering whose work became a foundational element of object-oriented programming. He has also been...

William Oughtred

Credited as the inventor of the slide rule in 1622, Oughtred was the first to use two logarithmic scales sliding by one another to perform direct multiplication and division. Oughtred also introduced the...

Alex Morrow

Instrumental in establishing an international standard for the APL language and the ACIS 4.2 operating system for IBM's first workstations, Morrow has been recognized as both an IBM Fellow and a Lotus...

Mary Tsingou

One of the first programmers on the MANIAC computer at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Tsingou is best known for coding the celebrated computer experiment conducted with Enrico Fermi, John Pasta, and Stanislaw...

Tom Gilb

Developer of software metrics, software inspection, and evolutionary processes, Gilb is an American systems engineer, consultant, and author known for bringing quantitative measurement approaches to software development. Since quantitative measurements are essential...

Monroe (Monty) Newborn

Co-author of the computer chess program Ostrich, which competed in five world championships through the 1970s and 1980s and nearly won in 1974, Newborn has also served as Chairman and principal organizer...

Randy Eisenman

Founder and CEO of Handango, which he positioned as the global leader in the smartphone content market, Eisenman drove the company's strategy and built a world-class team after founding the company in...

Russell Lincoln Ackoff

Recognized as the "Father of Operations Research" for helping establish one of the world's first Departments of Operations Research, Ackoff is also celebrated internationally as a pragmatic academic, systems thinker, and prolific...

Martin (John) M. Atalla

Co-inventor of the MOSFET and considered the "Father of the PIN," Atalla distinguished himself as an engineer, innovator, entrepreneur, and visionary in the fields of semiconductor fabrication and computer data security. Born...

Alan Jay Perlis

A pioneer in advanced programming techniques and compiler construction, Perlis was the first recipient of the ACM Turing Award in 1966, sometimes called the "Nobel Prize of Computing." Perlis was born on April...

Thomas John Watson, Sr.

Former CEO of IBM who oversaw the company's growth into an international force from 1914 to 1956, Watson developed IBM's renowned management style and corporate culture, and turned the company into one...

Nicholas (Nick) Shelness

Contributor to Lotus' e-mail and collaboration products including Notes, Domino and cc:Mail, Shelness is a world-class expert on messaging and groupware. A 1999 IBM Fellow — the highest honor a scientist, engineer,...

Brenda L. Dietrich

Leader of the emerging technologies team in the IBM Watson group, Dietrich has brought a business perspective to projects at the forefront of applied mathematics. She has served as Vice President of...

Tak H. Ning

Co-inventor and developer of the polysilicon-emitter self-aligned bipolar transistor, which is the basis of all modern bipolar transistor technology, Ning has made foundational contributions to semiconductor device physics. He received his Ph.D....

Gary K. Starkweather

Inventor of the laser printer, Starkweather invented it at Xerox's Webster research center in 1969, and collaborated on the first fully functional laser printing system at Xerox PARC in 1971. At Apple Computer...

Valerie Landau

Developer of a multi-touch interface for chorded text entry, Landau filed two patents with her colleague and mentor Douglas Engelbart. Their most recent patent (filed April 2010) describes a multitouch interface for...