Alexey Leonidovich Pajitnov

Creator of Tetris, Pajitnov developed the iconic game with the help of Dmitry Pavlovsky and Vadim Gerasimov in 1985. The game, first available in the Soviet Union, appeared in the West in...

Shigeru (Steve) Nakayama

Key player in introducing U.S. semiconductor equipment technology to Japan, Nakayama has made lasting contributions to the international semiconductor industry. Born in Chicago, he grew up in Palo Alto, CA, where he attended...

William (Will) Ralph Wright

Creator of SimCity, one of the most influential computer games ever made, Wright is an American video game designer and co-founder of the game development company Maxis, now part of Electronic Arts...

Heinz Nixdorf

German computer entrepreneur, Nixdorf founded and led Nixdorf Computer AG. He developed and marketed low-end commercial computers mainly within Europe between 1965 and 1985. He had production facilities in Germany, Ireland, Spain,...

James L. Fergason

Inventor of an improved liquid crystal display, Fergason made his seminal discovery of the twisted nematic cell — a low-power, field-operated LC display — in 1969 while at the Liquid Crystal Institute...

Fei-Fei Li

Best known for establishing ImageNet, the dataset that enabled rapid advances in computer vision in the 2010s, Li is a professor of computer science at Stanford University whose research spans artificial intelligence,...

Robert (Bob) Alan Iannucci

Led Nokia's Research Center (NRC) labs and lablets to deliver fundamental contributions to the worldwide Long Term Evolution for 3G (LTE) standard, Iannucci is a computer scientist who has served as Director...

Cheryl L. Shavers

Appointed Under Secretary of Commerce for Technology in the Clinton Administration, Shavers served in that role from 1999 to 2001, representing one of the most senior positions in U.S. technology policy. Her...

Bert E. Forbes

Co-architect of the HP 3000 minicomputer and designer of HP's first 16-bit microprocessor, Forbes is an innovator, accomplished business executive, and visionary philanthropist whose passion for serving his profession and his community...

Charlie Bass

Co-founder of Ungermann-Bass (UB), the first large networking company independent of any computer manufacturer, Bass helped commercialize Ethernet, oversaw a successful IPO, and then saw the company purchased by Tandem Computers. In...

Anne-Marie Kermarrec

Founder of Mediego, a startup focused on real-time online content personalization, Kermarrec was a French computer scientist and professor at EPFL in Switzerland. There she headed the Scalable Computing Systems Laboratory in...

John Theurer Diebold

An early champion of widespread use of computing and automated technology, Diebold helped shape how businesses understood and adopted automation. Diebold was born in Weehawken, New Jersey. He graduated from Swarthmore College in...

Isaac L Auerbach

Founder of Auerbach Associates and publisher of the influential Auerbach Reports on computer issues, Auerbach was a leading figure in the information processing industry. Isaac Auerbach earned a BS at Drexel University in...

Federico Faggin

Co-designer of the world's first microprocessor, Faggin is recognized as a foundational figure in modern computing. After obtaining his university degree, he worked at SGS Fairchild in Italy, where he developed SGS's...

Gwendowlyn K Bell

Founding President and Co-founder of The Computer Museum and Co-founder of the Computer History Museum, Bell has also served as President of the ACM.

James (Jim) T. Healy

A career leader in building success for U.S.-based and international companies in the semiconductor space, Healy has served as General Manager of Sony LSI Design Inc., a provider of turnkey services for...

Nathaniel S. Borenstein

One of the original designers of the MIME protocol for formatting multimedia Internet electronic mail, Borenstein has served as Chief Scientist at email management company Mimecast and founded NetPOS.com and First Virtual...

Steve Chen

Principal designer of the Cray X-MP and Cray Y-MP multiprocessor supercomputers, Chen is a computer engineering pioneer. He has served as founder and CEO of Galactic Computing, a developer of supercomputing blade...

Reid Hoffman

Founder of LinkedIn, the world's largest professional network, Hoffman is sometimes called the "Oracle of Silicon Valley" for his track record of identifying transformative technology trends early. Hoffman was born on August 5,...

Mitchell David Kapor

Founder of Lotus Development Corporation and designer of Lotus 1-2-3, Kapor co-founded the company in 1982 with Jonathan Sachs, who was responsible for technical architecture and implementation. He served as the President...