Arnold A. Cohen

Developer of selectively alterable digital storage on magnetic drums, Cohen held a patent that proved basic to the field. Born in Duluth, MN, he was a renowned physicist noted for his significant...

Aaron Hillel Swartz

Co-developer of RSS, Creative Commons, web.py, and Reddit, Swartz was an American computer programmer, writer, political organizer, and Internet activist. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Susan and Robert...

Percy Edwin Ludgate

Designer of an Analytical Engine, Ludgate helped advance calculators by expanding Charles Babbage's design for the first programmable computer. An Irish accountant working alone in Dublin, he was unaware of Charles Babbage's...

Robert (Bob) J. Frankenberg

Leader of the revival of HP's personal computer unit, Frankenberg is an American computer engineer and business executive. He spent much of his career at Hewlett-Packard (HP), starting there in 1969. While...

Paul Baran

Co-inventor of packet-switched networks, Baran transformed the foundations of modern digital communications. He was born in Grodno (then Poland) and his family moved to Philadelphia in 1928. Baran did undergraduate work at...

John Henry Patterson

Founder of the National Cash Register Company, Patterson was also famous for hiring and later firing Thomas Watson Sr., who went on to become General Manager, then President, of CTR — later...

Charles (Chuck) H. House

A Silicon Valley legend cited by the Smithsonian and the Computer History Museum as one of the top 200 Computer Wizards of America, House participated in creating twelve product lines at Hewlett-Packard...

Heike E. Riel

Major contributor to the development of the world's largest-ever (20") full-color amorphous-silicon active-matrix display based on organic light-emitting diodes, presented in May 2003, Riel has served as Manager of the Materials Integration...

Mary Lou Jepsen

Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of One Laptop per Child, Jepsen helped shape one of the most recognized nonprofit computing initiatives of its era. She also served as Chief Architect of that...

Harry Sello

Responsible for the transfer of silicon transistor technology to Societa Generale Semiconduttore in Italy, negotiating cultural and industrial boundaries, Sello is an American chemist born in Russia whose family emigrated to the...

Karl Kempf

Pioneer in applying advanced mathematics to industrial and engineering challenges, Kempf is best known for heading a group of mathematicians at Stanford University who built computer models allowing Intel to design financial...

David Ferrucci

Leader of the team that developed IBM's Watson computer system, Ferrucci served as the principal investigator who in 2007–2011 led a team of 25 IBM and academic researchers and engineers to create...

David Cannon Evans

Pioneer of computer generated imagery, Evans left an enduring mark on the history of computing. He attended the University of Utah and studied electrical engineering; he earned his doctorate degree in physics....

Frederick (Fred) Jacob Damerau

Pioneer in natural language processing and data mining, Damerau spent over four decades at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown, New York. Born in Parma, Ohio, son of the...

Abdal Mammad ibn M Khwrizm

Considered the founder of algebra, Khwrizm shared this credit with Diophantus. His Kitab al-Jabr wa-l-Muqabala presented the first systematic solution of linear and quadratic equations. In the twelfth century, Latin translations of...

Mark Eugene Russinovich

Co-developer of the website sysinternals.com, Russinovich wrote and published dozens of popular Windows administration and diagnostic utilities including Autoruns, Filemon, and RootkitRevealer. He has served as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Microsoft...

Charles (Chuck) Branscomb

Developer of the IBM 1401 Data Processing System and several other successful products, Branscomb spent 39 years at IBM, where he developed and managed successful products, including the IBM System/360 and several...

Michael Stern Hart

Inventor of the electronic book (or e-book) and founder of Project Gutenberg, Hart made e-books freely available via the Internet. An American author and inventor, he attended the University of Illinois, graduating...

Thomas Eugene Kurtz

Co-developer of the BASIC programming language, Kurtz transformed computing education for generations of users. In 1951, Dr. Kurtz's first experience with computing came at the Summer Session of the Institute for Numerical Analysis...

Yngvar Lundh

Developer of a new form of distributed, digital PBXs called hub technology, Lundh was a Norwegian engineer and scientist also known for bringing the Internet to Norway and developing some of the...