People in Software History

A Partial List of People Important to Software History


Here’s a list of people who made significant contributions to the creation and growth of the software products industry. We know it’s not complete and look forward to adding other names.

Please note that, for now, we’re focusing on people who contributed to the development of the industry prior to the advent of personal computers. That means people who were active in the mainframe and minicomputer software industry prior to 1985. A portion of this list was first published in Software Magazine, Vol 9., No. 4 (March Extra, 1989).

Some of the names on the list are followed by an asterisk (" * "). That means that we do not have current contact information for that person.


Charles Bachman
Invented database technology in the early 1960s

John Backus
Developed FORTRAN for IBM (1954)

Walt Bauer
Co-founded Informatics, the company which sold Mark IV, the first million dollar software product, in 1962

Bob Bemer
One of the developers of COBOL and the ASCII naming standard for IBM (1960s); inventor of the ESCape sequence, the universal switching mechanism for all computer-controlled communications; inventor of the Picture clause

Jack Berdy
Founded On-Line Software International in 1968; introduced first CICS test/debug tool

Mike Blair
Founded Cyborg Systems in 1974

Fred Brooks, Jr.
Managed the development of the 360 operating system software for IBM (1960s); wrote The Mythical Man-Month about software project management

Walter Brown
Co-founder of Atlantic Software (1968); principal contributor to Informatics accounting packages

Richard Carpenter
Founded Index Technology to deliver Case tools in 1983

Glenn Chatfield
Founded Duquesne Systems to provide productivity tools for IBM systems in 1970

Aubrey Chernick
Founded Candle Corp. in 1977; developed Omegamon, first realtime performance monitor for MVS

Dr. E. F. Codd
Inventor of relational database theory in the 1970s

Gerald Cohen
Designed early non-procedural language; founded Information Builders in 1975

Bruce Coleman
CEO or interim CEO of more than a dozen software companies, including Boole & Babbage (1971-1975 and 1985-1986) and Walker Interactive (1985)

Larry Constantine
Invented data flow diagrams, presented first paper on concepts of structured design in 1968

Bob Cook
Founded VM Software to develop software for IBM VM in 1981

Rick Crandall
Founded Comshare, one of the early time-sharing companies, in 1966; it later became a software company selling executive support software

John Cullinane
Founded Cullinane Corp., which sold the IDMS database system, in 1968; it was the first software product company to go public (in 1978)

Peter Cunningham
Founded INPUT, one of the first market research firms to focus on the software and software products market, in 1974

Robert Daniels
Founded PDSI which sold project management software in 1968

Tom DeMarco
Case methodology pioneer, author and consultant in the 1970s

Wilfred J. Dixon *
Managed the Health Sciences Computing Facility at UCLA which began distributing the BMD statistical software in 1962.

Frank Dodge
Co-founded McCormack & Dodge which sold accounting software in 1969

Sherman Drusin *
Established U.S. operations for CGI and Cap Gemini in the mid-1980s

David Duffield
Founded Integral Systems in 1972 and PeopleSoft in 1987.

Gary Durbin
Founded Tesseract in 1970; designed online, realtime personnel system

James Edenfield
Left MSA to form American Software, Inc. in 1970

Larry Ellison
Co-founded Oracle Corp in 1977; pioneered relational DBMS

Dave Ferguson *
Author, in the late 60's, of PI-Sort, the first software product successfully sold against a free IBM sort program

Werner Frank
Co-founded Informatics, the company which sold Mark IV, the first million dollar software product, in 1962

Marty Goetz
Co-founded Applied Data Research (ADR) in 1959; received the first software patent in 1968

Bernie Goldstein
Founded Broadview Associates (1970s), the first investment banking firm to focus on software industry mergers and acquisitions

Dr. James Goodnight
Co-founded SAS Institute in 1976; developer of the SAS System

Burt Grad
One of the members of the IBM team which developed the plan for unbundling software from hardware in 1969

Herb Grosch
Director in 1960 of the U.S. government’s Center for Computer Science and Technology (now called NIST, National Institute of Standards and Technology)

Dr. Larry Harris
Founded AICorp in 1975; developed AI-based natural language technology

Peter Harris
Founded ADPAC Corporation in 1963

Robert Head
Founded Software Resources Corporation in 1967 to repackage and market software developed by users

Harris Herman
Founded Software Module Marketing in 1974. It was the first acquisition made by Sterling Software.

Richard Hill *
Co-founded Informatics, the company which sold Mark IV, the first million dollar software product, in 1962

Grace Hopper (deceased)
Naval officer and computer scientist who developed FLOW-MATIC, the first business-oriented programming language; conceived the idea of a programming language based on English which led to the development of COBOL

Bill Hoover
President of Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) from 1964 to 1995. Founded in 1959, it ultimately became a multi-billion dollar company

Dr. Jean Ichbiah
Principal designer, Ada language (1977)

John Imlay
In 1971, became CEO of Management Science America (MSA), the first applications software supplier to exceed $100M in annual revenues

Ken Iverson
Invented APL in 1962

Doug Jerger
Co-founder of Fortex, started on 4/1/70 (April Fool's Day), an early accounting software products company targeting large companies with mainframe computers

Luanne James Johnson
Founded Argonaut Information Systems to sell payroll and accounts payable software in 1971

Fletcher Jones (deceased)
Co-founder of Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) in 1959; one of the initiators of SHARE and the SHARE Operating System (SOS)

Capers Jones
Developed first large-scale estimating package for IBM (1972)

Dr. Kirk Jones *
Pioneered business planning software; principal designer of IFPS (1975)

Peter Karmanos
Founded Compuware in 1973; developer of IBM systems software, along with Thomas Thewes,

Allen B. Cutting
David Katch (deceased)
Co-founded Boole & Babbage in 1967; pioneered performance management software

John Keane
Founded Keane, Inc. in 1965

Lee Keet
Co-founded turnkey systems, inc., which sold Taskmaster, one of the first telecommunications monitors, in 1967

John Kemeny (deceased)
Invented BASIC in 1964

Ken Kolence
Co-founded Boole & Babbage in 1967, the first systems software product company in Silicon Valley; pioneered performance management software; was one of the 50 people invited by NATO in 1968 to found the field of Software Engineering

Elmer Kubie (deceased)
Founded Computer Usage Company, the world’s first computer software company, with John W. Sheldon in March, 1955

Thomas Kurtz
Invented BASIC in 1964

Sandra Kurtzig
Founded Ask Computer Systems in 1971; introduced first multiterminal mini-based MRP system
John Landry Led McCormick & Dodge development team in release of Millennium environment (1983)

Senator Frank R. Lautenberg
One of the three founding partners of Automatic Data Processing, Inc.; served in the U.S. Senate (D-NJ) from 1982 to 2001

Dale Learn
Co-founded Information Science, Inc. (InSci), which sold payroll and human resources software, in 1965

Charles Lecht (deceased)
Pioneered compiler technology, founded Advanced Computer Techniques in 1962

Dave Lowry
Founded Data Design Associates to sell accounts payable software in 1973.

Mike Lyons
Software re-engineering pioneer; co-founded Catalyst Corp. in 1979

Carl Machover
Pioneer in graphics and image processing techniques and consultant to CAD and CAM companies

John Maguire
Founded Software AG in 1971; it sold the Adabas database system in the U.S.

Harry Markowitz
In the early 1960s, co-founded California Analysis Centers, Inc. (CACI) which developed Symscript, one of the earliest software products

James Martin
Founded Information Engineering approach

John McCarthy
Developed LISP language in 1958

Jim McCormack (deceased)
Co-founded, in 1969, McCormack & Dodge which sold accounting software

Dan McCracken
Early application programmer and author of numerous best-selling books on Fortran, COBOL and other languages

Dave McFarland *
Founded Ryan-McFarland in 1970; developed COBOL and Fortran tools

Ed McVaney
Co-founded J. D. Edwards in 1977

Thomas Merrill *
Founded Computer Corp. of America in 1965

Bob Miner (deceased)
Co-founded Oracle Corp. in 1977; pioneered relational DBMS

John J. Moores
Founded BMC Software in 1980

Gary Morgenthaler
Pioneered relational DBMS market in the 1970s; while at UC/Berkeley, developed Ingres; co-founded Relational Technology

Mario Morino
Founded Morino Associates (1973) which became Legent Corp.

Carole Morton
Software designer; led Dykalor information management system development team (1975)

Boyd Munro *
Co-founded SDI to market a spooling package for IBM DOS in 1968

Thomas Newberry *
Left MSA to form American Software, Inc. in 1970

Bill Newcomer
Founded Dylakor (1968) which sold an information management system for IBM mainframes

Bob Newman
Co-founded J.D. Edwards in 1977

Paul Newton *
Uccel development engineer, senior VP, Systems Development Division (1968-1987)

Norman Nie
Pioneered statistical analysis programming in 1965; founded SPSS (1975)

Tom Nies
Founded Cincom Systems, which sells the TOTAL database system, in 1968

Roy Nutt (deceased)
Co-founder of Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) in 1959

Tom O'Rourke (deceased)
Founded Tymshare, one of the earliest timesharing companies, in 1965

Ken Orr
Founded Ken Orr & Assoc.; developed Case methodology in the 1970s

Peter Pagé
Developed Software AG’s Natural, pioneered 4GLS (1979)

Joe Piscopo
Founded Pansophic Systems (1969) which sold the PANVALET, a source program and change management system, and EASYTRIEVE, a report writer and data retrieval product; both PANVALET and EASYTRIEVE were installed at more than 10,000 mainframe computer sites

Jim Porter
Executive at United Systems Int’l (1970) and then at Informatics for insurance applications and the MARK IV product line

John Postley
Developed Mark IV (1967), the first million dollar software product, for Informatics

Dr. Leon Presser
Founded Softool Corp. in 1977; developed source program management tool for IBM mainframes

Merle Proulx
Author of Uccel’s DB4 DBMS and UCC COBOL (1974)
Douglas Ross Developed Automatically Programmed Tools (1958), paving the way for computer-aided manufacturing

Ken Ross
Founded Ross Systems in 1972 to develop application software for DEC VAX systems

Dr. James B. Rothrie *
Developed distributed database technology at Computer Corp. of America (1976)

Lawrence Rowe
Pioneered relational DBMS market in the 1970s; while at UC/Berkeley, developed Ingres; co-founded Relational Technology

Don Ryan (deceased)
Founded Ryan-McFarland in 1970; developed COBOL and Fortran tools

John Sall
Co-founded SAS Institute in 1976; developer of the SAS System

Jean Sammet
Early language compiler programmer; author of outstanding book on history of computer languages

Oscar Schachter
Attorney for and then president of ACT, producers of major systems programs for various manufacturers

Peter Schnell *
Co-developed Software AG’s Adabas DBMS in 1969

Larry Schoenberg
Co-founder, in 1967, of AGS, a software professional services firm, which expanded into software products and distribution during the late 1970s and 1980s

Dr. Harold Schwenk, Jr. *
Founded BGS Systems in 1975; developed performance management, capacity planning tools

J. Gregory Siemon *
Father of DASD technology, wrote first DASD management program; founded Tower Systems International (1972)

Roger J. Sippl
Founded Informix in 1980; developed DBMS application tools

Michael Stonebraker
Pioneered relational DBMS market in the 1970s; while at UC/Berkeley, developed Ingres; co-founded Relational Technology

Aso Tavitian
Co-founded Syncsort in 1969

Dick Thatcher
Co-founded Atlantic Software (1968) which sold project management software

Jack van Kinsberger *
Member of IBM’s 360 operating system design team in 1967; technical VP at Boole & Babbage

Frank Wagner
Co-founded Informatics, the company which sold Mark IV, the first million dollar software product, in 1962

Jeff Walker
Founded Walker Interactive Systems in 1971

Charles Wang
Founded Computer Associates (1975), first software company to exceed $500M

Bill Watson *
Founded Software International to sell general ledger software (early 1970s)

Bob Weissman
President of National CSS when it was acquired by Dun & Bradstreet; subsequently became President of D&B

Larry Welke
Founded the ICP Quarterly, a catalog of software products, first published in January, 1967
Duane Whitlow Developed Syncsort in the late 1960s to compete with IBM's sort and other sort programs

Hugh Williams (deceased)
One of the members of the IBM team which developed the plan for unbundling software from hardware in 1969

Sterling Williams
Co-founded Sterling Software in 1981

Eugene Wong
Pioneered relational DBMS market in the 1970s; while at UC/Berkeley, developed Ingres; co-founded Relational Technology

Sam Wyly
Co-founded and financed Sterling Software in 1981

Ed Yourdon
Developed the concept of structured programming, Case methodologies (1976)

Charles Babbage

The Engines

Charles Babbage (1791-1871), computer pioneer, designed two classes of engine, Difference Engines, and Analytical Engines. Difference engines are so called because of the mathematical principle on which they are based, namely, the method of finite differences. The beauty of the method is that it uses only arithmetical addition and removes the need for multiplication and division which are more difficult to implement mechanically.

Difference engines are strictly calculators. They crunch numbers the only way they know how - by repeated addition according to the method of finite differences. They cannot be used for general arithmetical calculation. The Analytical Engine is much more than a calculator and marks the progression from the mechanized arithmetic of calculation to fully-fledged general-purpose computation. There were at least three designs at different stages of the evolution of his ideas. So it is strictly correct to refer to the Analytical Engines in the plural.
Binary, Decimal and Error Detection

Babbage's calculating engines are decimal digital machines. They are decimal in that they use the familiar ten numbers '0' to '9' and they are digital in the sense that only whole numbers are recognized as valid. Number values are represented by gear wheels and each digit of a number has its own wheel. If a wheel comes to rest in a position intermediate between whole number values, the value is regarded as indeterminate and the engine is designed to jam to indicate that the integrity of the calculation has been compromised. Jamming is a form of error-detection.

Babbage considered using number systems other than decimal including binary as well as number bases 3, 4, 5, 12, 16 and 100. He settled for decimal out of engineering efficiency - to reduce the number of moving parts - as well as for their everyday familiarity.
Difference Engine No. 1

Babbage began in 1821 with Difference Engine No. 1, designed to calculate and tabulate polynomial functions. The design describes a machine to calculate a series of values and print results automatically in a table. Integral to the concept of the design is a printing apparatus mechanically coupled to the calculating section and integral to it. Difference Engine No. 1 is the first complete design for an automatic calculating engine.

From time to time Babbage changed the capacity of the Engine. The 1830 design shows a machine calculating with sixteen digits and six orders of difference. The Engine called for some 25,000 parts shared equally between the calculating section and the printer. Had it been built it would have weighed an estimated fifteen tons and stood about eight feet high. Work was halted on the construction of the Engine in 1832 following a dispute with the engineer, Joseph Clement. Government funding was finally axed in 1842.
The Analytical Engine

With the construction project stalled, and freed from the nuts and bolts of detailed construction, Babbage conceived, in 1834, a more ambitious machine, later called Analytical Engine, a general-purpose programmable computing engine.

The Analytical Engine has many essential features found in the modern digital computer. It was programmable using punched cards, an idea borrowed from the Jacquard loom used for weaving complex patterns in textiles. The Engine had a 'Store' where numbers and intermediate results could be held, and a separate 'Mill' where the arithmetic processing was performed. It had an internal repertoire of the four arithmetical functions and could perform direct multiplication and division. It was also capable of functions for which we have modern names: conditional branching, looping (iteration), microprogramming, parallel processing, iteration, latching, polling, and pulse-shaping, amongst others, though Babbage nowhere used these terms. It had a variety of outputs including hardcopy printout, punched cards, graph plotting and the automatic production of stereotypes - trays of soft material into which results were impressed that could be used as molds for making printing plates.

The logical structure of the Analytical Engine was essentially the same as that which has dominated computer design in the electronic era - the separation of the memory (the 'Store') from the central processor (the 'Mill'), serial operation using a 'fetch-execute cycle', and facilities for inputting and outputting data and instructions. Calling Babbage 'the first computer pioneer' is not a casual tribute.
A New Difference Engine

With the groundbreaking work on the Analytical Engine largely complete by 1840, Babbage began to consider a new difference engine. Between 1847 and 1849 he completed the design of Difference Engine No. 2, an improved version of the original. This Engine calculates with numbers thirty-one digits long and can tabulate any polynomial up to the seventh order. The design was elegantly simple and required three times fewer parts than No. 1 for similar computing power.

Difference Engine No. 2 and the Analytical Engine share the same design for the printer - an output device with remarkable features. It not only produces hardcopy inked printout on paper as a checking copy, but also automatically stereotypes results, that is, impresses the results on soft material, Plaster of Paris for example, which could be used as a mold from which a printing plate could be made. The apparatus typesets results automatically and allows programmable formatting i.e. allows the operator to preset the layout of results on the page. User-alterable features include variable line height, variable numbers of columns, variable column margins, automatic line wrapping or column wrapping, and leaving blank lines every several lines for ease of reading.
Physical Legacy

Aside from a few partially complete mechanical assemblies and test models of small working sections, none of Babbage's designs was physically realized in its entirety in his lifetime. The major assembly he did complete was one-seventh of Difference Engine No. 1, a demonstration piece consisting of about 2,000 parts assembled in 1832. This works impeccably to this day and is the first successful automatic calculating device to embody mathematical rule in mechanism. A small experimental piece of the Analytical Engine was under construction at the time of Babbage's death in 1871. Many of the small experimental assemblies survived, as does a comprehensive archive of his drawings and notebooks.

The designs for Babbage's vast mechanical computing engines rank as one of the startling intellectual achievements of the 19th century. It is only in recent decades that his work has been studied in detail and that the extent of what he accomplished becomes increasingly evident.