Ken Olsen

Kenneth Harry " Ken " Olsen ( born February 20, 1926 in Stratford, Connecticut; † 6 February 2011) was an American engineer who founded the computer company Digital Equipment Corporation ( DEC) in 1957. Until he left the band in 1992 he was president of the company.

History

Olsen began after the war, serving in the U.S. Navy in 1946 to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the subject of electrical engineering, he also completed at this university. In 1957, Olsen along with his fellow students, Harlan Anderson, the Digital Equipment Corporation, the first logical components and later minicomputers produced, which in 1970, the PDP-11 series was one of the most successful minicomputer at all.

Olsen received different awards for his work, among them the MCI Communications Information Technology Leadership Award and the Founder's Medal of the IEEE. In 1986, Olsen was chosen by Fortune Magazine as the most successful businessman of U.S. history.

Together with the DEC Development Manager Gordon Bell founded Olsen - first in the " Mill " at the company's headquarters in Maynard - the first computer museum in the world. Later, the DEC collection was relocated to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View ( California).

Olsen was six decades with Eeva -Liisa Aulikki Olsen married, who died in 2009. After this incision, he was reclusive. The technology pioneer bequeathed his fortune to a Christian college. Built so that the " Ken Olsen Science Center " in Wenham, Massachusetts.

Curiosities

Olsen's statement from 1977: "There is no reason that someone wanted to have a computer at home " is repeatedly named as a prime example of how difficult it had not deceived in the second half of the 20th century in computer technology. In fact, he had at home computer itself, referring to "Computer" in his testimony to the central computer, keeping house.