ENGINEER

Gordon Bell

1934 - 2024

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Chester Gordon Bell (August 19, 1934 – May 17, 2024) was an American electrical engineer and manager. An early employee of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), from 1960 to 1966, Bell designed several of their PDP machines and later served as the company's Vice President of Engineering from 1972 to 1983, overseeing development of the VAX computer systems. Bell's later career included roles as an entrepreneur, investor, founding Assistant Director of NSF's Computing and Information Science and Engineering Directorate from 1986 to 1987, and researcher emeritus at Microsoft Research from 1995 to 2015. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Gordon Bell is the 321st most popular engineer (up from 353rd in 2019), the 8,958th most popular biography from United States (up from 11,326th in 2019) and the 37th most popular American Engineer.

Gordon Bell is best known as a pioneering computer engineer who led the design and development of several highly influential minicomputers and time-sharing operating systems at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in the 1960s and 1970s. His work played a crucial role in the transition from large, expensive mainframe computers to smaller, more affordable minicomputers that helped make computing more accessible.

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Among ENGINEERS

Among engineers, Gordon Bell ranks 321 out of 389. Before him are Geoffrey de Havilland, Peter Chen, Sidney Darlington, Charles Combes, Preston Tucker, and Yuri Artsutanov. After him are Arthur E. Kennelly, Pavel Solovyov, Mario Theissen, Louis Armand, Leon O. Chua, and Franciszek Rychnowski.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1934, Gordon Bell ranks 443. Before him are David Burke, Jackie Pretorius, Diana Der Hovanessian, Pierre Darmon, Alan A'Court, and Leon Rotman. After him are Östen Warnerbring, Robert Siatka, Timothy West, Gerry Hitchens, Stanley Turrentine, and Bengt Nilsson. Among people deceased in 2024, Gordon Bell ranks 404. Before him are Toumani Diabaté, Charles Cyphers, Bernard Baudoux, Lance Larson, David Walker, and Ilke Wyludda. After him are Martin Mull, Bob Love, Chita Rivera, Timothy West, Laurent Cantet, and Anastasia Zavorotnyuk.

Others Born in 1934

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Gordon Bell ranks 8,960 out of 20,380. Before him are Ramblin' Jack Elliott (1931), Carl Johnson (1898), Dale Earnhardt (1951), William C. deMille (1878), Mel Tormé (1925), and Armin Shimerman (1949). After him are Elliott Smith (1969), Cathy Ferguson (1948), Traylor Howard (1966), Celia Weston (1951), Dennis Christopher (1955), and Paula Strasberg (1909).

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Among ENGINEERS In United States

Among engineers born in United States, Gordon Bell ranks 37. Before him are Alan Shugart (1930), Kenneth Nichols (1907), Robert H. Dennard (1932), K. Eric Drexler (1955), Sidney Darlington (1906), and Preston Tucker (1903). After him are Beatrice Hicks (1919), Hugh Latimer Dryden (1898), T. Keith Glennan (1905), Chuck Peddle (1937), Robert R. Gilruth (1913), and Tom Dowd (1925).

American born Engineers

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