Showing 1 - 25 of 86 results
Steve Wozniak
Personal Computer
Steve Wozniak invented the personal computer (PC) and founded Apple Computer Inc. with Steve Jobs. With the introduction of the Apple I and Apple II…
Ivan E. Sutherland
Display Windowing by Clipping
In 1963, Ivan Sutherland engineered a revolution in computer graphics with his highly-interactive program Sketchpad. It enabled users to design and…
Ken Thompson
UNIX Operating System
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Bell Labs colleagues Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie developed UNIX, a multi-tasking, multi-user operating…
Radia Perlman
Robust Network Routing and Bridging
Radia Perlman has played a major role in driving the growth and development of the internet. Her best-known contribution is the Spanning Tree…
Robert H. Dennard
Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM)
Robert Heath Dennard invented one-transistor Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), which significantly increased computer memory density while…
Kenneth H. Olsen
Magnetic Core Memory
Kenneth H. Olsen, described by Fortune magazine in 1986 as the "most successful entrepreneur in the history of American business," invented vital…
John Mauchly
ENIAC
John Mauchly co-invented the first practical electronic digital computer. ENIAC, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, was initially…
Luis von Ahn
reCAPTCHA
Computer scientist Luis von Ahn co-invented the website security program CAPTCHA, or Completely Automated Public Turing test for telling Computers…
Peter Wurman
Mobile Robotic Material Handling for Order Fulfillment
Peter Wurman, Mick Mountz and Raffaello D’Andrea created the Kiva system, a mobile robotic system for material handling in distribution centers that…
Evelyn Berezin
Computer Systems for Business Use
Evelyn Berezin was an expert in logic design and data transmission. She designed one of the earliest computer reservations systems for airlines and…
Seymour Cray
Supercomputer
Seymour Cray unveiled the CRAY-1 in 1976, considered the first supercomputer. Born in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, Cray was interested in chemistry and…
Steve Jobs
iPod User Interface®
Steve Jobs was just 21 in 1976 when he co-founded Apple Computer with his friend, NIHF Inductee Steve Wozniak. During his lifetime, he was a major…
Howard Aiken
Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (Mark I)
With the Mark I calculator, Howard Aiken showed that a computer could provide high-powered, speedy mathematical solutions to many problems. Aiken…
Dennis Ritchie
UNIX Operating System
Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson’s creation of the UNIX operating system and the C programming language were pivotal developments in the progress of…
Douglas Engelbart
Computer Mouse
Douglas Engelbart's patent for the mouse is only a representation of his pioneering work designing modern interactive computer environments.…
Stanley Mazor
Microprocessor
Stanley Mazor was instrumental in refining the architecture of the single-chip CPU. This first working microprocessor was smaller than a thumbnail…
Robert S. Ledley
CT Scan
Robert S. Ledley invented the whole-body CT (computerized tomographic) diagnostic X-ray scanner. Born in New York City, Ledley earned a D.D.S. from…
Dennis L. Moeller
Peripherals
Dennis Moeller and Mark Dean together created a microcomputer system with bus control means for peripheral processing devices. The bus serves as the…
Barbara Liskov
Programming Languages and System Design
Barbara Liskov is a pioneer in the design of computer programming languages, helping to make computer programs more reliable, secure, and easy to use…
George R. Stibitz
Digital Computer
George R. Stibitz is recognized as the father of the modern digital computer. Born in York, Pennsylvania, Stibitz attended Moraine Park, an…
Lynn Conway
Very Large-Scale Integration (VLSI)
Lynn Conway and NIHF Inductee Carver Mead invented VLSI, or Very Large-Scale Integration, which transformed the global microelectronics industry.…
Erna Schneider Hoover
Computerized Telephone Switching
Erna Schneider Hoover invented a computerized telephone switching system, changing how calls are connected. A key contribution to the system…
Robert E. Kahn
Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol
Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf created the architecture for the Internet and collaborated on the design of software known as the Transmission Control…
Donald Watts Davies
Digital Packet Switching
Donald Davies' crucial breakthrough of packet switching, which enables the efficient exchange of information between computers, makes modern computer…
Jay W. Forrester
Random Access Memory
Jay W. Forrester was a pioneer in early digital computer development and invented random-access, coincident-current magnetic storage, which became…