Ed Roberts
Organization founder
1941 – 2010
Who was Ed Roberts?
Henry Edward "Ed" Roberts was an American engineer, entrepreneur and medical doctor who invented the first commercially successful personal computer in 1975. He is most often known as "the father of the personal computer". He founded Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems 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. The calculators were very successful and sales topped one million dollars in 1973.
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.
We need you!
Help us build the largest biographies collection on the web!
- Born
- Sep 13, 1941
Miami - Also known as
- Dr. Ed Roberts
- Spouses
- Nationality
- United States of America
- Profession
- Education
- University of Miami
- Oklahoma State University–Stillwater
- Mercer University
- Died
- Apr 1, 2010
Cochran
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
Citation
Use the citation below to add to a bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Ed Roberts." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 Apr. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/ed_roberts>.
Discuss this Ed Roberts biography with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In