[ad_1] Allen was also instrumental to advancing women in technology. Apart from being one of the relatively few women participating in early work on computers (she joined IBM as a code instructor in 1957), she made a point to support women and served as a mentor. Half the experimental compiler group at IBM was made […]
Category: obituary
Computer mouse co-inventor William English dies at 91
[ad_1] One of the pioneers of the modern computer interface has passed away: the New York Times reports that William “Bill” English died on July 26th from respiratory failure at the age of 91. Alongside Douglas Englebart at the Stanford Research Institute, English helped develop the first computer mouse and put together a 1968 “Mother […]
Personal computer CPU pioneer Chuck Peddle dies at 82
[ad_1] The 6502 almost didn’t happen. Peddle wanted to design his more affordable chip at Motorola, which was struggling to sell its 6800 CPU design kits for a then-costly $300. When Motorola was unresponsive to the proposal (it saw the proposal as internal competition), Peddle and six team members jumped to MOS Technology. Even after […]
Online bulletin board inventor Randy Suess dies at 74
[ad_1] For the next couple of decades, these dial-up bulletin boards (BBSes for short) were the first taste of the online world for many people. They quickly grew to cover many of the features you expect from the modern internet, such as live chat, multiplayer games and, of course, social posts. It was just cruder […]
Computer password inventor Fernando Corbato dies at 93
[ad_1] It’s not Corbato’s only pioneering effort, either. CTSS’ simultaneous usage model reduced the wait time for computer responses from hours to second, making the technology far more practical. His Multics time-sharing system, meanwhile, paved the way for future operating systems like Linux with finer-grained privacy controls, a hierarchical file system and other features that […]