Gustav Tauschek

Developer of numerous improvements for punched card-based calculating machines, Tauschek was an Austrian pioneer of information technology who worked in this field from 1922 to 1945. During the years 1926–1930 he worked...

Nils Aall Barricelli

Pioneering in artificial life research, Barricelli conducted early computer-assisted experiments in symbiogenesis and evolution that are considered foundational to the field. Being independently wealthy, he held an unpaid residency at the Institute...

Herbert Franz Mataré

Co-developer of the first functional "European" transistor, Mataré made his landmark contribution alongside Heinrich Welker in the vicinity of Paris in 1948, at the same time and independently from the Bell Labs...

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...

William Gordon Welchman

One of four signatories to an influential letter delivered personally to Winston Churchill in October 1941 asking for more resources for the code-breaking work at Bletchley Park, and teacher of the first...

John (James) Clerk Maxwell

A Scottish physicist and mathematician, he was born in Edinburgh, to John Clerk and Frances Cay. His father was a man of comfortable means, of the Clerk family of Penicuik, Midlothian, holders...

Carl Hammer

A pioneer in many ways, he was foremost an organizer and a tireless promoter of computing, who gave of his time and talents so that others could learn about this new and...

Michael Faraday

A father of electromagnetism and electronics, Faraday studied the magnetic field around a conductor carrying a DC electric current. While conducting these studies, he established the basis for the electromagnetic field concept...

Harry Wexler

A pioneer in the use of computers for weather prediction and modification, Wexler was an American meteorologist who attended Harvard University, and in 1939 was awarded a Ph.D. in meteorology from the...

Victor Mayer Amédée Mannheim

Inventor of the modern slide rule, Mannheim standardized the design that remained in common use until pocket calculators took over. After graduating from the École d'Application in Metz, Mannheim became an officer of...

Emanuel Goldberg

Contributor of a wide range of theoretic and practical advances relating to light and media and inventor of a very early search engine, Goldberg was also the founding head of Zeiss Ikon,...

Shaun Wylie

A key member of Hut 8 at Bletchley Park, Wylie worked alongside Alan Turing on solving the Enigma machine as used by the German Navy. He was born in Oxford, England, the...

Gianello Toriano (aka Giovan)

Inventor of the Cristalino astronomical clock and a remarkably lifelike mandolin-playing lady automaton, Toriano was an Italo-Spanish inventor, clockmaker, engineer and mathematician born in Cremona, in northern Italy around 1500. His skill...

Klaus Samelson

A pioneer whose research led to a fundamental breakthrough in how computer systems are modeled and designed, Samelson also played a key role in the design of ALGOL 58 and ALGOL 60....

John (Jack) Clemens

Pioneer in the development of random access disk storage, Clemens was part of the IBM team that developed the RAMAC and is sometimes considered to be among those who "built" Silicon Valley....

Philip Stuart Milner-Barry

One of four leading codebreakers at Bletchley Park to petition Prime Minister Winston Churchill directly for more resources for their work, Milner-Barry was also a British chess player, chess writer, and civil...

Ruth Teitelbaum (née Lichterman)

One of the original programmers for the ENIAC computer, Teitelbaum played a pivotal role in the rise of computers. She graduated from Hunter College with a B.Sc. in Mathematics and was hired...

Vilhelm Friman Koren Bjerknes

His experiments with electric oscillations contributed much to the development of wireless telegraphy. Bjerknes was a Norwegian physicist and meteorologist who did much to found the modern practice of weather forecasting. He...

Hewitt D. Crane

Developer of an eye-movement tracking device and pen-input device for computers, Crane was an American engineer best known for his pioneering work at SRI International on ERMA (Electronic Recording Machine, Accounting), for...

John Napier

Renowned as the discoverer of the logarithm and inventor of "Napier's bones," Napier was a Scottish mathematician, physicist, astronomer, and astrologer, and also the 8th Laird of Merchiston. He was the son...