The inventor of the first personal computer was not Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, or even some mythic figure that people whisper or read about. Boldly speaking, Microsoft, Apple, and any personal computing company that is still surviving to this day would not have existed if they had not worked on or were influenced by his invention. The irony of it all is that this person did not spend the rest of his life working on computers or his invention, unlike what you would expect from any Nobel or Turing Award winner. His name is Ed Roberts (1941-2010). He was neither famous, not rich. [Surely, he would not be in Venice right now for that wedding]. Ed was an electronics hobbyist, who first saw the potential of the early computer chips for home computers in the early 70s, when everyone was into large bulky mainframes (and “mini” computers). Ed founded the computer company MITS and created the first personal computer, the Altair 8800. Bill Gates and Paul Allen first created the first programming software, Altair BASIC for the Altair, and triggered them to create Microsoft. Steve Jobs/Steve Wozniak first saw the Altair at the Homebrew Computer Club, then rushed to their home garage to create Apple 1. MITS encouraged open source and shared their schematics with everyone. It had a nice 5-year run until more companies sprung up and flooded the market with all sorts of computer hardware. One company later acquired MITS, and Ed retired. The interesting thing is that Ed did not go ahead and start a new computer company. (How often do you see on LinkedIn someone saying, ‘I sold my company for $X billion, and I am starting a new one with $Y billion valuation because I want to make the world a better place?’) Ed, an ordinary man but an extraordinary talent, decided that his next move was to become a farmer and a medical doctor. This is precisely what he did. He changed the world with his Altair computer and then moved on to do farming and practicing medicine!

Ed Roberts