Ken Olsen
Founder and President, Digital Equipment Corporation
The minicomputer, and the machines Unix was written on
Rating
86Impact score
Domains
MinicomputersPDPVAX
Scouting report
Founded DEC in 1957 and built computers people could put their hands on, at a time when a computer meant a room you booked time in. The PDP-7 and PDP-11 are where Unix and C were written; the VAX and VMS ran a generation of university and research computing. He also spent the 1980s dismissing the personal computer, and DEC was sold to Compaq six years after he left.
Curator’s note
Every Unix story starts on one of his machines. The PC story ended his company.
Portrait
Painted from a photograph of Ken Olsen by Rochester Institute of Technology, licensed Public domain.