Our Wall of Heroes
We’re inspired by the historic development and triumph of technology. Our Wall of Heroes lets you meet some of our biggest inspirations, technological advancements, inventors, and innovators that have brought us to where we are today.
1833
Ada Lovelace
Ada was a pioneer of computing science. She took part in writing the first published program and was a computing visionary, recognizing for the first time that computer could do much more than just calculations.
1837
Charles Babbage
Charles was considered to be the father of computing
after his invention and concept of the Analytical
Engine. The Analytical Engine contained an Arithmetic
Logic Unit, basic flow control, and integrated memory;
hailed as the first general-purpose computer concept.
1932
John Von Neuman
Neuman was a mathematician, physicist, computer scientist, engineer and polymath. He was generally
regarded as the foremost mathematician of his time.
His book "The Mathematical Foundation of Quantum
Mechanics" established a strong framework for
quantum physics.
1937
John V. Atanasoff
Atanasoff, a mathematics and physics professor,
invented the first electronic digital computer; his
invention has come to be called the Atanasoff-Berry
Computer and was designed to solve systems of linear equations.
1942
Alan Turning
Turning is often called the father of modern computing.
A brillian mathematician and logician, he developed
the idea of the modern computer and articial
intelligence. During WWII, he developed a machine
that helped break the German Enigma code.
1944
Howard Aiken
Aiken was a physicist and a pioneer in computing. He
was the original conceptual designer behind IBM's
Harver Mark 1 computer, designed to solve advanced
mathematical physics problems encountered in his research.
1945
Vannevar Bush
Bush was an engineer, inventor and acience
administrator, who many consider to be the Godfather
of the wired age. His 1945 essay, "As We May Think"
received great attention. In his article, Bush described
a theoretical machine he called a "memex" which was
to enhance human memory by allowing the user to
store and retrieve documents linked by associations.
1946
John Mauchly and John Eckert
Scientists Mauchly and Eckert are credited with the
invention of the first general-purpose electronic digital
computer; the Electronic Numerical Integrater and
Computer.
1946
ENIAC
ENIAC was the first electronic general-purpose digital
computer. It could churn 5,000 addition problems in
one second, far faster than any device yet invented.
1947
William Shockley, John Bardeen, and Walter Brattain
At Bell Telephone Laboratories, Shockley headed the
trio team including Bardeen and Brattain; the team
formed was an almost perfect conjunction of different
skills, all essential for the success of a project of this
type.
1948
Claude Shannon
Shannon, an American mathematician, electrical
engineer, and cryptoprapher is known as "the father of
information theory". He is noted for having founded
information theory with a landmark paper, "A
Mathematical Theory of Communication".
1951
UNIVAC 1
The UNIVAC 1 was the world's first commercially
produced electronic digital computer design for
business application. These giant computers, which
used thousands of vacuum tubes for computation,
were the forerunners of today's digital computers.
1951
John Eckert and Walter Cronkite
The UNIVAC 1 was designed principally by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, the inventors of the ENIAC.
1952
Grace Hopper
Hopper was a computer scientist and United States
Navy rear admiral. One of the first programmers of the
Harvard Mark 1 computer, she was a pioneer of
computer programming who invented one of the first
linkers. She and her team created the first compiler for computer languages.
1956
Thomas J. Watson
Watson was names IBM's CEO in 1956. He was a
pioneer in the development of accounting and
computing equiptment used today by business,
government, science, and industry.
1958
Jack St. Clair Kibly
Kibly was an electrical engineer who is best known for
his invention of the monolithic integrated circuit, also known as the microchip, in 1958.
1959
Robert Noyce
Noyce, nicknamed "the Mayor of Silicon Valley," was a
physicist who is credited with the invention of the first monolithic integrated circuit chip.
1960
Joseph Licklider
Licklider has been called "computing's Johnny
Appleseed", for planting the seeds of computing in the digital age. He was instrumental in conceiving, funding and managing the research that led to modern
personal computers and the Internet. .
1964
Douglas Engelbart
Engelbart is best known as the inventor of the
computer mouse. During his lifetime, he made
numerous groundbreaking contributions to the
computing industry, paving the way for
videoconferencing, hyperlinks, text editing, and other technologies we use daily.
1969
Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie
Long-time colleagues Ritchie and Thompson created
the C programming language, the Unix operating system, and B programming language.
1972
Nolan Bushnell
As the inventor of Pong and founder of Atari, Inc.,
Bushnell is considered by many to be the "father of
electronic gaming."
1973
Xerox Alto
The Xerox Alto is the first computer designed from its
inception to support an operating system based on a
graphical user interface. The first machines were
introduced in March 1973, a decade before massmarket GUI machines became available.
1974
Vint Cerf
Cerf is widely known as a "Father of the Internet," he is the co-designer of the TCP/IP protocols and the
architecture of the Internet.
1976
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak
In partnership, Jobs and Wozniak invented the Apple 1
computer. They are also known for their
conceptualization of classic arcade game Breakout.
The pair also founded Apply Computers in 1976 with Ronald Wayne, releasing some of the first personal computers on the market.
1976
Steve Jobs
Jobs invented Apple Computers in 1976. There are a
total of 313 patents under his name, covering
everything from packaging to user interfaces. He
transformed Apple Inc. into a world leader in
telecommunications, focused on creating products that inspired love.
1978
Microsoft's first 11 employees
This iconic portrait of Microsoft's first 11 employees
dates back to 1978. The picture was a radio show
price after employee Bob Greenberg called in and
guessed the name of an assassinated president. The
group gathered together, and an American business
legend was made.
1984
MacIntosh's Original Team
The original macintosh team featured Andy Hertzfeld,
Bill Atkinson, Burrell Smith, Steve Jobs, Susan Kare,
and Jef Raskin. This iconic team portrait was taken
during a photoshoot for Rolling Stone Magazine in
January 1984.
1985
Richard Stallman
Stallman is a computer programmer and free-software
advocate who founded the Free Software Foundation
in 1975. He is known for inventing and popularizing the
concept of copyleft, a legal mechanism to protect the
modification and redistribution rights for free software.
1991
Linus Torvalds
Torvalds is a software engineer who is the creator and,
historically, the principal developer of the Linux kernal,
which is the kernel for GNU/Linux operating systems
and other operating systems such as Android and Chrome OS.