William (Bill) David Mensch, Jr.,

A central person in the creation of the Motorola 6800 and MOS Technology 6502 families of microprocessor chips, Mensch is also recognized as the sole IC design engineer of the 6820/21 PIA,...

Morton M. Astrahan

Developer of the SAGE air-defense computer and a pioneer in relational database systems, Astrahan joined IBM in 1949 and spent his entire professional career there—first at the Endicott Laboratory and then later...

Nicholas Constantine Metropolis

Leader of the group that designed and built the MANIAC I computer in 1952 and MANIAC II in 1957, Metropolis was a Greek American physicist born in Chicago and a graduate of...

John Warner Backus

Leader of the team that invented FORTRAN, the first widely used high-level programming language, Backus also invented the Backus-Naur form (BNF), the almost universally used notation to define formal language syntax. He...

Aaron Marcus

Pioneer in computer-based design, Marcus founded Aaron Marcus and Associates, Inc. (AM+A) in 1982, one of the first independent, computer-based design firms in the world. An American user-interface and information-visualization designer, as well...

Bailey Whitfield Diffie

Pioneer of public-key cryptography, Diffie co-authored the landmark 1976 paper "New Directions in Cryptography," which introduced a radically new method of distributing cryptographic keys, going far toward solving one of the fundamental...

Padmasree Warrior

Recognized by Forbes as one of the 100 most powerful women in the world in 2014, Warrior is an Indian-American technology executive with a career spanning major roles in hardware, software, and...

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...

Philip S. Yu

Holder of over 300 U.S. patents in data mining, database systems, Internet applications and technologies, Yu is recognized as an IBM Master Inventor and one of the most prolific inventors in computing....

Anil K. Jain

Internationally recognized for contributions to pattern recognition, computer vision, and biometric recognition, Jain has served as a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering at Michigan State University...

Michael Oser Rabin

Author of the landmark joint paper "Finite Automata and Their Decision Problems," which introduced nondeterministic machines and had a lasting impact on automata theory, Rabin and co-author Dana S. Scott were cited...

Rolf Skår

Researcher on the second minicomputer in the world based on integrated circuits, Skår was also a co-founder of Norsk Data and served as CEO of the Norwegian Space Centre from 1997 to...

George F. Daly

Co-developer of the IBM 285 and 297 series accounting machines and co-inventor of the automatic multiplying machines known as Types 600 and 601, Daly was a pivotal figure in IBM's early engineering...

William Reddington Hewlett

Co-founder of Hewlett-Packard Company, Hewlett was an engineer who built one of the world's most influential technology companies alongside David Packard. He was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, but moved to Oak...

Philip Don Estridge

Known as "the father of the IBM PC," Estridge led development of the original IBM Personal Computer. His decisions dramatically changed the computer industry, resulting in a vast increase in the number...

Alfred Vaino Aho

Co-author of the AWK programming language and numerous landmark computer science textbooks, Aho is widely recognized as a foundational figure in programming languages and compiler design. He conducted research at Bell Labs...

Bill Atkinson

Creator of HyperCard and co-founder of General Magic, Atkinson was also part of the Apple Macintosh development team and creator of the ground-breaking MacPaint application, among others. He also designed and implemented...

Gary Durbin

Founder of a company in 1970 that introduced Secure, an early software security product, Durbin is a software pioneer and entrepreneur with over thirty-five years of experience. He began his career specializing...

Joseph (Joe) A. Piscopo

Founder of Pansophic Systems in 1969, Piscopo built the Lisle, Illinois software firm into a major enterprise before retiring as its Chairman and C.E.O. in 1987 after 18 years. Previously, he had...

Jie Liu

Leader of Microsoft Research's Sensing and Energy Research Group (SERG), Liu has conducted fundamental and applied research in sensing and energy-efficient computing with applications in sensor networks, data centers, and mobile computing....