Dec 27, 2024
Dec 27, 2024
Here's a list of the world's most awesome 25 people who have made their respective contributions to technology.
0. Steven Jobs
Lawrence Joseph Ellison
Larry is the co-founder and CEO of Oracle Corporation, one of the world's leading enterprise software companies. As of 2012, he is the third wealthiest American citizen, with an estimated worth of $36 billion.
Armas Clifford "Mike" Markkula, Jr.
Angel investor and second CEO of Apple Computer. After his stint at Apple Computer, he continued on to found Echelon Corporation, ACM Aviation, San Jose Jet Center and Rana Creek Habitat Restoration and to endow the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, where he now chairs the Board.
John Sculley
He was president of PepsiCo until he became CEO of Apple clashing and ousting Steve Jobs on April 8, 1983, a position he held until leaving in 1993. In May 1987, Sculley was named Silicon Valley's top-paid executive, with an annual salary of US$2.2M.
William Henry "Bill" Gates
One of the wealthiest people in the world, Gates is former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft. Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution. Gates has been criticized for his business tactics, which have been considered anti-competitive, an opinion which has in some cases been upheld by the courts.
Lawrence "Larry" Page
Thirty-nine old internet entrepreneur, co-founder and current CEO of Google.
Eric Schmidt
Current executive chairman of Google. Additionally, Schmidt was a former member on the board of directors for Apple Inc. and sat on the boards of trustees for both Carnegie Mellon University and Princeton University.
David Packard
Co-founder of Hewlett-Packard (with Bill Hewlett), serving as President, CEO, and a member of the board, he also served as U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense from 1969–1971 during the Nixon administration. Packard was the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1988 and is noted for many technological innovations and philanthropic endeavors.
Stephen Gary Wozniak
Woz helped create the Apple I and Apple II computers in the mid-1970s, which contributed significantly to the microcomputer revolution of that era. He co-founded Wheels of Zeus (WoZ), to create wireless GPS technology to "help everyday people find everyday things." He also published his autobiography, iWoz.
Lee Clow
Advertising wizard, best known for co-creating — along with Steve Hayden — Apple Computer's 1984 commercial which launched the Apple Macintosh and the "Think Different" slogan. He’s currently the Chairman and Global Director of TBWAWorldwide. Advertising Age referred to him as "advertising's art director guru".
Mike Lesk
He worked at Bell Labs, in the group that built Unix. Lesk wrote Unix tools for word processing, compiling, and networking. Lesk worked on specific information systems applications, mostly with geography (a system for driving directions) and dictionaries (a system for disambiguating words in context), as well as running a research group at Bellcore.
Sergey Mikhaylovich Brin
Co-founder of Google. He earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Maryland, following in his father's and grandfather's footsteps by studying mathematics, as well as computer science. After graduation, he moved to Stanford University to acquire a Ph.D in computer science
Allan Alcorn
Alcorn was the designer of the video arcade game Pong, creating it under the direction of Bushnell and Dabney. He also hired Jobs at Atari. Pong was a hit in the 1970s. After Alcorn left Atari in 1981, he consulted to many fledging companies in Silicon Valley, especially involved in the startups of Catalyst Technologies, one of the first technology company incubators, created by Nolan Bushnell and other ex-Atari leaders.
Paul Gardner Allen
Co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates and is the 48th richest person. He is the founder and chairman of Vulcan Inc., which manages his business and philanthropic efforts. Allen also owns two professional sports teams, the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL), and the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Bill Fernandez
User interface architect who was Apple Computer's first employee when they incorporated in 1977. He was assigned employee number 4. He worked on both the Apple I and Apple II personal computers, and in the 1980s was a member of the Apple Macintosh development team.
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg
He is best known for co-creating the social networking site Facebook, of which he is chief executive. As of 2011, his personal wealth was estimated to be $17.5 billion making him one of the world's youngest billionaires.
Tim Cook
Current CEO of Apple, Cook spent six months at Compaq as VP for Corporate Materials before he was hired by Steve Jobs to join Apple in 1998. He initially served as Senior Vice President for Worldwide Operations. Cook also serves on the board of directors of Nike.
Anthony M. Fadell
He was known for being the Senior Vice President of the iPod Division at Apple Inc., having succeeded Jon Rubinstein in 2006. In 2010, he founded Nest, a company which announced its first product, a learning thermostat, in October 2011.
Andy Hertzfeld
After buying an Apple II in January 1978, he went to work for Apple Computer from August 1979 until March 1984, where he was a designer for the Macintosh system software. Since leaving Apple, he has co-founded three companies: Radius, General Magic and Eazel in 1999. Hertzfeld joined Google in 2005, and in 2011 was the key designer of the Circles user interface in Google+.
Jonathan J. Rubinstein
He played an instrumental role in the development of the iPod. He has been elected to serve as a member of the National Academy of Engineering and is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Vinod Khosla
Khosla was one of the co-founders of Sun Microsystems, where he served as its first CEO and Chairman in the early 1980s. In 1986, he became a general partner of the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, where he remained through the early 2000s.
Burrell Carver Smith
While working at Apple Computer, designed the motherboard (digital circuit board) for the original Macintosh. He also designed the motherboard for Apple's LaserWriter, and designed a low cost version of the Apple II that eventually became the Apple IIe, using the same innovative design techniques that he pioneered with the Mac. He was later a co-founder of Radius Corp.