Ed Roberts | |
|---|---|
&sq=Envato&lang=en&file=File:Ed_Roberts_2002_by_Spencer_Smith.jpg) Roberts in 2002 | |
| Born | Henry Edward Roberts September 13, 1941 |
| Died | April 1, 2010 (aged 68) Cochran, Georgia, U.S. |
| Education | University of Miami Oklahoma State University Mercer University |
| Occupation(s) | Electrical engineer Businessman Entrepreneur Farmer Medical doctor |
| Known for | Personal computer |
| Spouses | Joan Clark
(m. 1962; div. 1988)Donna Mauldin
(m. 1991; div. 1999)Rosa Cooper (m. 2000) |
| Children | 6 |
Henry Edward Roberts (September 13, 1941 – April 1, 2010) was an American engineer, entrepreneur and medical doctor who invented the first commercially successful personal computer in 1974.[1] He is most often known as "the father of the personal computer."[2]
Roberts founded Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) in 1970 to sell electronics kits to model rocketry hobbyists, but the first successful product was an electronic calculator kit that was featured on the cover of the November 1971 issue of Popular Electronics.[3] The calculators were very successful and sales topped one million dollars in 1973.[4] A brutal calculator price war left the company deeply in debt by 1974. Roberts then developed the Altair 8800 personal computer that used the new Intel 8080 microprocessor. This was featured on the cover of the January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics, and hobbyists flooded MITS with orders for this $397 computer kit.
Bill Gates and Paul Allen joined MITS to develop software and Altair BASIC was Microsoft's first product. Roberts sold MITS in 1977 and retired to Georgia where he farmed, studied medicine and eventually became a small-town doctor living in Cochran, Georgia.
- ^ Emerson, Bo (April 27, 1997). "Doctor of invention Computer pioneer keeping it personal as a small-town doc". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. p. M 01. The article gives his date of birth as September 13, 1941.
- ^ "Microsoft founders lead tributes to 'father of the PC'". BBC News. April 2, 2010. Archived from the original on April 4, 2012. Retrieved April 2, 2010.
- ^ Roberts, Ed (November 1971). "Electronic desk calculator you can build". Popular Electronics. Vol. 35, no. 5. pp. 27–32.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Albq Tribune April 1973was invoked but never defined (see the help page).