First Principles · People
People
The makers, the theorists, the ones who wrote it down.
5 written · 219 catalogued
Written
5 Gordon Moore American engineer (1929–2023), co-founder of Intel. Douglas Engelbart American engineer (1925–2013) and pioneer of human–computer interaction. Bill English American engineer (1929–2020) who co-invented the mouse with Engelbart and built the first prototype in 1964. Bill Paxton American researcher at SRI's Augmentation Research Center, one of the two remote faces in the 1968 demo. Jeff Rulifson American computer scientist, lead software architect of NLS and author of RFC 5.
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A–Z →Foundations of Mathematics & Logic 10
Euclidstub Greek mathematician (fl. c. 300 BC) whose Elements set the template for deductive proof. Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmistub Persian scholar (c. 780–850) whose name gave us the word algorithm. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnizstub German polymath (1646–1716), co-inventor of calculus and of binary arithmetic. George Boolestub English mathematician (1815–1864) who turned logic into algebra. Gottlob Fregestub German logician (1848–1925), founder of modern formal logic. Bertrand Russellstub British philosopher (1872–1970) who tried to ground mathematics in logic. David Hilbertstub German mathematician (1862–1943) whose program framed the questions Gödel and Turing answered. Kurt Gödelstub Austrian logician (1906–1978) who proved the limits of formal systems. Alonzo Churchstub American logician (1903–1995), inventor of the lambda calculus. Emil Poststub American mathematician (1897–1954), independent discoverer of computability limits.
Computing Foundations 17
Charles Babbagestub English inventor (1791–1871) who designed the first mechanical general-purpose computer. Ada Lovelacestub English mathematician (1815–1852), author of the first published algorithm for a machine. Alan Turingstub British mathematician (1912–1954) who defined computation and helped break Enigma. John von Neumannstub Hungarian-American polymath (1903–1957) whose architecture underlies nearly every computer. Claude Shannonstub American mathematician (1916–2001), founder of information theory. Grace Hopperstub American computer scientist (1906–1992) who built the first compiler. Donald Knuthstub American computer scientist (b. 1938), author of The Art of Computer Programming. Edsger W. Dijkstrastub Dutch computer scientist (1930–2002) and conscience of structured programming. John McCarthystub American computer scientist (1927–2011) who coined “artificial intelligence” and created LISP. Konrad Zusestub German engineer (1910–1995) who built the first programmable computer, the Z3. Presper Eckert & John Mauchlystub American engineers who built ENIAC and the first commercial computer, UNIVAC. Maurice Wilkesstub British computer scientist (1913–2010), builder of EDSAC and inventor of microcode. Tony Hoarestub British computer scientist (b. 1934), inventor of quicksort and the null reference. Barbara Liskovstub American computer scientist (b. 1939) who shaped data abstraction and distributed systems. Frances Allenstub American computer scientist (1932–2020), pioneer of optimizing compilers. Leslie Lamportstub American computer scientist (b. 1941), author of Paxos and LaTeX. Jim Graystub American computer scientist (1944–2007) who made database transactions reliable.
Semiconductor Revolution 21
Lee de Foreststub American inventor (1873–1961) of the triode vacuum tube. John Bardeenstub American physicist (1908–1991), twice a Nobel laureate, co-inventor of the transistor. Walter Brattainstub American physicist (1902–1987), co-inventor of the point-contact transistor. William Shockleystub American physicist (1910–1989) whose company seeded Silicon Valley — and whose management scattered it. Robert Noycestub American physicist (1927–1990), co-inventor of the integrated circuit and co-founder of Intel. Jack Kilbystub American engineer (1923–2005) who built the first integrated circuit at Texas Instruments. Jean Hoernistub Swiss-American physicist (1924–1997), inventor of the planar process. Gordon Moore American engineer (1929–2023), co-founder of Intel. Andrew Grovestub Hungarian-American executive (1936–2016) who turned Intel into a microprocessor company. Ted Hoffstub American engineer (b. 1937), architect of the first microprocessor. Federico Fagginstub Italian-American physicist (b. 1941) who designed the Intel 4004 and Z80. Masatoshi Shimastub Japanese engineer (b. 1943), co-designer of the 4004 and 8080. J. R. Nallstub Fairchild Semiconductor engineer who chaired Session VII at the 1960 ISSCC — the session in which Engelbart delivered the similitude paper. Carver Meadstub American engineer (b. 1934) who named Moore's law and founded VLSI design. Morris Changstub Taiwanese-American executive (b. 1931), founder of TSMC and the foundry model. Jerry Sandersstub American executive (b. 1936), founder of AMD. Irwin Jacobsstub American engineer (b. 1933), co-founder of Qualcomm. Sophie Wilson & Steve Furberstub British engineers who designed the ARM processor, now in nearly every phone. Jensen Huangstub Taiwanese-American executive (b. 1963), co-founder of NVIDIA. Lisa Sustub Taiwanese-American engineer (b. 1969) who rebuilt AMD. Eli Hararistub Israeli-American engineer (b. 1945), co-founder of SanDisk and flash-memory pioneer.
Human–Computer Interaction 21
Douglas Engelbart American engineer (1925–2013) and pioneer of human–computer interaction. Bill English American engineer (1929–2020) who co-invented the mouse with Engelbart and built the first prototype in 1964. Alan Kaystub American computer scientist (b. 1940), architect of the personal computer as we know it. Andries van Damstub Dutch-American computer scientist (b. 1938), a founder of hypertext research. Chuck Thackerstub American computer designer (1943–2017), a lead designer of the Xerox Alto — the first personal computer with a graphical interface. Bob Taylorstub American internet and computing pioneer (1932–2017). Adele Goldbergstub American computer scientist (b. 1945), co-creator of Smalltalk. Larry Teslerstub American computer scientist (1945–2020) who gave us cut, copy and paste. Butler Lampsonstub American computer scientist (b. 1943), co-designer of the Alto. Gary Starkweatherstub American engineer (1938–2019) who invented the laser printer at Xerox — the one PARC invention Xerox sold, and the one that paid for the lab. Jef Raskinstub American interface expert (1943–2005) who started the Macintosh project. Bill Atkinsonstub American programmer (1951–2025) behind QuickDraw and HyperCard. Andy Hertzfeldstub American programmer (b. 1953), a principal author of the original Mac system software. Susan Karestub American designer (b. 1954) who drew the Macintosh's icons and typefaces. Ivan Sutherlandstub American computer scientist (b. 1938), creator of Sketchpad and pioneer of computer graphics. Ted Nelsonstub American thinker (b. 1937) who coined “hypertext” and “hypermedia.” Vannevar Bushstub American engineer (1890–1974) who led U.S. wartime research and imagined the Memex. J.C.R. Lickliderstub American psychologist (1915–1990) who funded and foresaw interactive computing and networks. Don Normanstub American cognitive scientist (b. 1935), author of The Design of Everyday Things. Bill Paxton American researcher at SRI's Augmentation Research Center, one of the two remote faces in the 1968 demo. Jeff Rulifson American computer scientist, lead software architect of NLS and author of RFC 5.
Systems, Languages & Open Source 12
Ken Thompsonstub American computer scientist (b. 1943), co-creator of UNIX and B. Dennis Ritchiestub American computer scientist (1941–2011), creator of C and co-creator of UNIX. Brian Kernighanstub Canadian computer scientist (b. 1942), co-author of the book that taught the world C. Bjarne Stroustrupstub Danish computer scientist (b. 1950), creator of C++. Guido van Rossumstub Dutch programmer (b. 1956), creator of Python. James Goslingstub Canadian computer scientist (b. 1955), creator of Java. Linus Torvaldsstub Finnish-American programmer (b. 1969), creator of Linux and Git. Richard Stallmanstub American programmer (b. 1953), founder of the free software movement. John Backusstub American computer scientist (1924–2007), leader of the FORTRAN team. Niklaus Wirthstub Swiss computer scientist (1934–2024), creator of Pascal. Bill Joystub American computer scientist (b. 1954), co-founder of Sun and author of BSD utilities. Rob Pikestub Canadian computer scientist (b. 1956), co-creator of Plan 9, UTF-8 and Go.
Networking & Internet 14
Vint Cerfstub American computer scientist (b. 1943), co-designer of TCP/IP. Bob Kahnstub American engineer (b. 1938), co-designer of TCP/IP. Tim Berners-Leestub British computer scientist (b. 1955) who invented the World Wide Web. Marc Andreessenstub American entrepreneur (b. 1971), co-author of Mosaic and co-founder of Netscape. Jim Clarkstub American entrepreneur (b. 1944), founder of Silicon Graphics and Netscape. Paul Baranstub Polish-American engineer (1926–2011), independent inventor of packet switching. Donald Daviesstub Welsh computer scientist (1924–2000) who coined “packet switching.” Leonard Kleinrockstub American engineer (b. 1934) whose lab sent the first ARPANET message. Jon Postelstub American computer scientist (1943–1998), keeper of the internet's numbers and names. Bob Metcalfestub American engineer (b. 1946), co-inventor of Ethernet. Radia Perlmanstub American engineer (b. 1951), inventor of the spanning-tree protocol. Van Jacobsonstub American engineer (b. 1950) whose congestion-control fixes saved the early internet. Eric Binastub American programmer (b. 1964), co-author of the Mosaic browser. Robert Cailliaustub Belgian engineer (b. 1947), Berners-Lee's collaborator at CERN.
Cryptography & Security 6
Whitfield Diffiestub American cryptographer (b. 1944), co-inventor of public-key cryptography. Martin Hellmanstub American cryptographer (b. 1945), co-inventor of public-key cryptography. Rivest, Shamir & Adlemanstub The trio behind RSA, the algorithm that made secure commerce possible. Ralph Merklestub American cryptographer (b. 1952), inventor of the hash tree. Phil Zimmermannstub American cryptographer (b. 1954), author of PGP. Satoshi Nakamotostub Pseudonymous author of the Bitcoin white paper (2008); identity unknown.
Databases & Enterprise Software 8
Edgar F. Coddstub English computer scientist (1923–2003), inventor of the relational model. Michael Stonebrakerstub American computer scientist (b. 1943) behind Ingres, Postgres and much else. Larry Ellisonstub American entrepreneur (b. 1944), co-founder of Oracle. Marc Benioffstub American entrepreneur (b. 1964), founder of Salesforce and evangelist of SaaS. Diane Greenestub American entrepreneur (b. 1955), co-founder of VMware. Dan Bricklin & Bob Frankstonstub American programmers who wrote VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet. Mitch Kaporstub American entrepreneur (b. 1950), founder of Lotus. John Warnock & Charles Geschkestub PARC alumni who founded Adobe and invented PostScript.
Apple 11
Steve Jobsstub American entrepreneur (1955–2011), co-founder of Apple. Steve Wozniakstub American engineer (b. 1950) who designed the Apple I and II. Ronald Waynestub American draftsman (b. 1934), Apple's third founder for twelve days. Mike Markkulastub American investor (b. 1942) whose money and marketing plan made Apple a company. Jony Ivestub British designer (b. 1967) behind the iMac, iPod and iPhone. Tony Fadellstub American engineer (b. 1969), a father of the iPod and founder of Nest. Scott Forstallstub American software executive (b. 1969) who led iPhone software. Avie Tevanianstub American engineer (b. 1961), architect of Mac OS X's core. Bud Tribblestub American engineer (b. 1953), original Macintosh software manager. Bertrand Serletstub French engineer (b. 1960) who led Mac OS X engineering. Johny Sroujistub Israeli engineer (b. 1964) who built Apple's own silicon.
Microsoft 10
Bill Gatesstub American entrepreneur (b. 1955), co-founder of Microsoft. Paul Allenstub American entrepreneur (1953–2018), co-founder of Microsoft. Steve Ballmerstub American executive (b. 1956), Microsoft's second CEO. Charles Simonyistub Hungarian-American programmer (b. 1948), PARC alumnus and father of Word and Excel. Dave Cutlerstub American engineer (b. 1942), architect of VMS and Windows NT. Anders Hejlsbergstub Danish engineer (b. 1960), creator of Turbo Pascal, C# and TypeScript. Ray Ozziestub American programmer (b. 1955), creator of Lotus Notes and Microsoft's cloud strategist. Satya Nadellastub Indian-American executive (b. 1967), Microsoft's third CEO. Nathan Myhrvoldstub American scientist (b. 1959), founder of Microsoft Research. Jim Allchinstub American executive (b. 1951) who ran Windows through its dominant years.
Google 12
Larry Pagestub American entrepreneur (b. 1973), co-founder of Google and co-author of PageRank. Sergey Brinstub American entrepreneur (b. 1973), co-founder of Google. Eric Schmidtstub American executive (b. 1955), Google's CEO through its rise. Jeff Deanstub American computer scientist (b. 1968), architect of Google's infrastructure and Brain. Sanjay Ghemawatstub Indian-American computer scientist (b. 1966), Dean's longtime collaborator. Urs Hölzlestub Swiss engineer (b. 1964) who designed Google's data centers. Susan Wojcickistub American executive (1968–2024), YouTube's CEO and Google's first landlord. Andy Rubinstub American engineer (b. 1963), co-founder of Android. Sundar Pichaistub Indian-American executive (b. 1972), CEO of Google and Alphabet. Amit Singhalstub Indian-American engineer (b. 1968) who long owned Google's search ranking. Krishna Bharatstub Indian-American computer scientist, creator of Google News. Salar Kamangarstub American executive (b. 1977) who built Google's ad business.
Amazon 6
Jeff Bezosstub American entrepreneur (b. 1964), founder of Amazon. Shel Kaphanstub American programmer (b. 1953), Amazon's first employee and architect. Andy Jassystub American executive (b. 1968), founder of AWS and Amazon's second CEO. Werner Vogelsstub Dutch computer scientist (b. 1958), Amazon's CTO. James Hamiltonstub Canadian engineer, designer of AWS's hardware and data centers. Benjamin Black & Chris Pinkhamstub Engineers whose 2003 memo became EC2 and, with it, the cloud.
Consumer Internet & Platforms 12
Mark Zuckerbergstub American entrepreneur (b. 1984), founder of Facebook. Reed Hastingsstub American entrepreneur (b. 1960), co-founder of Netflix. Elon Muskstub South African-American entrepreneur (b. 1971) behind Tesla, SpaceX and xAI. Peter Thielstub American investor (b. 1967), co-founder of PayPal and Palantir. Jack Dorseystub American entrepreneur (b. 1976), co-founder of Twitter and Square. Evan Williamsstub American entrepreneur (b. 1972), co-founder of Blogger, Twitter and Medium. Brian Cheskystub American entrepreneur (b. 1981), co-founder of Airbnb. Travis Kalanickstub American entrepreneur (b. 1976), co-founder of Uber. Patrick & John Collisonstub Irish brothers who founded Stripe. Jerry Yang & David Filostub Stanford students whose directory became Yahoo. Pierre Omidyarstub French-American entrepreneur (b. 1967), founder of eBay. Jimmy Walesstub American entrepreneur (b. 1966), co-founder of Wikipedia.
Inventors & Precedents 1
Graphics, Games & Media 5
Ed Catmullstub American computer scientist (b. 1945), co-founder of Pixar. John Carmackstub American programmer (b. 1970) behind Doom, Quake and modern 3D engines. Nolan Bushnellstub American entrepreneur (b. 1943), founder of Atari. Shigeru Miyamotostub Japanese designer (b. 1952), creator of Mario and Zelda. Jim Blinnstub American computer graphics researcher (b. 1949) whose shading models are everywhere.
Artificial Intelligence — Foundations 12
Marvin Minskystub American cognitive scientist (1927–2016), co-founder of the MIT AI Lab. Allen Newellstub American researcher (1927–1992), co-author of the first AI programs. Herbert Simonstub American polymath (1916–2001), Nobel laureate and AI pioneer. Frank Rosenblattstub American psychologist (1928–1971), inventor of the perceptron. Seymour Papertstub South African mathematician (1928–2016), creator of Logo and constructionism. Joseph Weizenbaumstub German-American computer scientist (1923–2008), author of ELIZA and its first critic. Judea Pearlstub Israeli-American computer scientist (b. 1936), founder of causal inference. Karen Spärck Jonesstub British computer scientist (1935–2007) whose TF-IDF underpins search. John Hopfieldstub American physicist (b. 1933) whose networks revived neural computing. Jürgen Schmidhuber & Sepp Hochreiterstub German and Austrian researchers who invented the LSTM. Rich Suttonstub American computer scientist (b. 1978), father of modern reinforcement learning. Terry Winogradstub American computer scientist (b. 1946), of SHRDLU and, later, Larry Page's advisor.
Artificial Intelligence — Modern 27
Geoffrey Hintonstub British-Canadian scientist (b. 1947), a father of deep learning. Yann LeCunstub French computer scientist (b. 1960), inventor of convolutional networks. Yoshua Bengiostub Canadian computer scientist (b. 1964), deep learning pioneer. Fei-Fei Listub Chinese-American computer scientist (b. 1976), creator of ImageNet. Demis Hassabisstub British researcher (b. 1976), co-founder of DeepMind. Shane Leggstub New Zealand researcher (b. 1973), co-founder of DeepMind. Mustafa Suleymanstub British entrepreneur (b. 1984), co-founder of DeepMind and Inflection. David Silverstub British researcher (b. 1976), lead of AlphaGo. Sam Altmanstub American entrepreneur (b. 1985), CEO of OpenAI. Greg Brockmanstub American engineer (b. 1987), co-founder of OpenAI. Ilya Sutskeverstub Israeli-Canadian researcher (b. 1986), co-author of AlexNet and co-founder of OpenAI. John Schulmanstub American researcher (b. 1988), co-author of PPO and RLHF. Andrej Karpathystub Slovak-Canadian researcher (b. 1986), teacher and builder of neural nets. Alec Radfordstub American researcher behind GPT, CLIP and Whisper. Dario Amodeistub American researcher (b. 1983), co-founder and CEO of Anthropic. Daniela Amodeistub American executive (b. 1987), co-founder and president of Anthropic. Jared Kaplanstub American physicist, co-author of the neural scaling laws. Chris Olahstub Canadian researcher, pioneer of neural network interpretability. Andrew Ngstub British-American computer scientist (b. 1976), co-founder of Google Brain and Coursera. Ian Goodfellowstub American researcher (b. 1987), inventor of GANs. Ashish Vaswani & Noam Shazeerstub Lead authors of “Attention Is All You Need,” the transformer paper. Alex Krizhevskystub Ukrainian-Canadian researcher, author of AlexNet. Oriol Vinyalsstub Spanish researcher (b. 1982), of seq2seq and AlphaStar. Paul Christianostub American researcher, a father of RLHF and of alignment theory. Stuart Russellstub British computer scientist (b. 1962), author of the standard AI textbook. Nick Bostromstub Swedish philosopher (b. 1973), author of Superintelligence. Robin Rombachstub German researcher, lead author of latent diffusion — the basis of Stable Diffusion.
Venture Capital 10
Arthur Rockstub American investor (b. 1926) who financed Fairchild, Intel and Apple. Georges Doriotstub French-American financier (1899–1987), the father of venture capital. Eugene Kleinerstub Austrian-American engineer (1923–2003), Fairchild founder turned venture capitalist. Tom Perkinsstub American investor (1932–2016), co-founder of Kleiner Perkins. Don Valentinestub American investor (1932–2019), founder of Sequoia Capital. Michael Moritzstub Welsh investor (b. 1954), the journalist who backed Google and PayPal. John Doerrstub American investor (b. 1951) who funded Netscape, Amazon and Google. Vinod Khoslastub Indian-American investor (b. 1955), Sun co-founder turned venture capitalist. Paul Grahamstub English programmer (b. 1964), co-founder of Y Combinator. Masayoshi Sonstub Japanese investor (b. 1957), founder of SoftBank.
Chroniclers & Critics 4
John Markoffstub American journalist (b. 1949) who chronicled the personal computer's counterculture roots. Steven Levystub American technology journalist (b. 1951), author of Hackers. Stewart Brandstub American writer and editor (b. 1938) of the Whole Earth Catalog. Glenn Murphystub American engineering professor and author of “Similitude in Engineering” (The Ronald Press, 1950), the dimensional-analysis text that Engelbart's 1960 paper explicitly drew on — the source behind the source.