Andrei Zary Broder

Co-inventor of the first practical test to prevent robots from masquerading as humans and accessing web sites — often referred to as CAPTCHA — Broder has served as a Distinguished Scientist at...

Betty Jean Bartik (née Jennings)

One of the original six programmers of the ENIAC computer, Betty Jean Jennings (later known as Jean Bartik) helped lay the groundwork for modern computing during a pioneering era in the field....

Heinz Zemanek

Austrian computer pioneer who built the first European all-transistor computer in 1955, Zemanek went on to found the IBM Laboratory Vienna in 1961. The IBM Laboratory Vienna (later known colloquially as the Vienna...

Monte M. Toole

Builder of the device testing lab at Fairchild Semiconductor, Toole went on to found Novellus Surface Integrity Group (aka GaSonics International Corporation) in March 1971, serving as its Chairman until April 1998,...

John (Jack) G. Herriot

Teacher of the first programming course at Stanford University, Herriot helped found the Computer Science Department and served as the first Director of the Stanford Computation Center, which later evolved to become...

Justin Rattner

Visionary of the Department of Energy ASCI Red System, the first computer to sustain one trillion operations per second (one teraFLOPS) and the fastest computer in the world between 1996 and 2000,...

Ben Shneiderman

Known for experimentation on the use of flowcharts and information visualization in programming, Shneiderman conducted experiments in his earlier work on studying programmers which suggested that flowcharts were not helpful for writing,...

Alan Cooper

Inventor of Visual Basic, Cooper is sometimes called "the father of Visual Basic," although much of the work on Visual Basic was done by Microsoft's internal development group. Cooper was the leading...

Donald Michie

Developer of the Machine Educable Noughts And Crosses Engine (MENACE), one of the first programs capable of learning to play a perfect game of Tic-Tac-Toe, Michie was a British researcher in artificial...

Frank Raleigh Lautenberg

Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Automatic Data Processing, Inc., Lautenberg also served as the senior United States Senator from New Jersey and a member of the Democratic Party. He...

James (Jim) F. Blinn

Creator of the pre-encounter animations for the Voyager project at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Blinn is one of the founders of the computer graphics industry. He has spent his career expanding industry...

Pieter Van den Abeele

Founder of the PowerPC version of Gentoo Linux, Van den Abeele spearheaded the Gentoo architectures and platforms effort together with Daniel Robbins. He received a scholarship from Apple Computer for founding Gentoo...

Lionel Kattner

Contributor to the development of the first planar integrated circuit and co-founder of Signetics Corporation, Kattner is recognized as a key figure in early semiconductor history. A graduate of Southwestern University in...

Calvin Northrup Mooers

Known for his work in information retrieval and for the programming language TRAC, Mooers was a native of Minneapolis, Minnesota. He attended the University of Minnesota and received a bachelor's degree in...

Scott Cook

Founder of Intuit, Cook launched the financial software company in 1983; it today offers software and online products to help individuals and small companies manage their finances. He started his career at Procter...

Werner Zorn

One of the fathers of networking in Germany, Zorn oversaw the first email link between Germany and the US CSNET in August 1984 and the spread of CSNET in Germany, while serving...

Donald Lester Bitzer

Co-inventor of the Plasma Display and sometimes called the "father of PLATO" (Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations), the first generalized computer-assisted instruction system, Bitzer was an American electrical engineer and computer...

Thomas John Watson, Jr.

CEO of IBM during its growth years from 1952 to 1971, Watson was the eldest son of Thomas J. Watson, IBM's first president. He was listed as one of TIME Magazine's 100...

Sergy Brin

Co-founder of Google, Inc., the world's largest Internet company based on its search engine and online advertising technology, Brin built the company alongside Larry Page. Together with Page, they are often referred...

Edwin Ronald Nixon

One of the most powerful influences in shaping British industry's response to the technological revolution, Nixon headed IBM's operations in the UK for an astonishing 25-year span from the 1960s to the...