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Igelshieb, Heinrich (1814-1879)
Isaacson, Portia (1942- )
Iverson, Kenneth (1920- ) Igelshieb, Heinrich (1814-1879)
A rarely used name for Heinrich Geissler, born in the German village of Igelshieb. See Geissler, Johann Heinrich Wilhelm. Back to top
Isaacson, Portia (1942- )
Portia Isaacson (today she often works under her married name, Isaacson Bass), Ph.D., worked with the earliest microprocessors in building small computers and operating systems. Portia Isaacson was also one of the earliest personal computer enthusiasts. She bought one of the first MITS Altair kits, attended the First World Altair Convention, and, on the flight back to Dallas, penciled the business plan of a computer store. The Micro Store opened in March 1976 across the freeway from Texas Instruments, marking the debut of one of the very first computer stores in the world.
Portia Isaacson In 1976, she was responsible for one of the first computer stores in the world. | During 1975 and 1976, Dr. Isaacson, as the chair, was planning the 1977 National Computer Conference, which was then the largest and most prestigious computer conference in the world. Dr. Isaacson's vision was to feature a personal computer subshow at which the traditional computer industry would meet and better understand the enormous opportunities the personal computer category offered, which was then commonly viewed as a toy. It was at this conference that Bill Gates gave his first-ever speech to an overflow crowd. The NCC PC show featured 300 tiny companies, such as Apple and Commodore, exhibiting on tabletops. Numerous companies received much needed funding because of the respect and visibility generated at that NCC.
Dr. Isaacson continued to spread her vision of personal computers through her efforts in holding the first national meetings of computer stores; creating PC and microcomputer special interest groups in the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery); in her work as Principal Technical Editor of IEEE Computer; her chairmanship of IEEE COMPCON; the first column on personal computing in a traditional computer industry publication (Datamation); and through many speeches on personal computing in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. It was during this era that JEIDA (Japan Electronic Industry Development Association) invited her to Japan to keynote JEIDA's Microcomputer Conference. She was the first woman so honored.
In mid-1980, Portia Isaacson started Future Computing, which grew to be the PC industry's leading market tracking and consulting firm. (McGraw-Hill acquired the company in 1984.) Her early clients included TI, Sony, Sears, and IBM. She influenced IBM's product plan and distribution strategy for the first PC and did the product strategy for the Sear Business Systems Centers, which were one of two retailers that first sold the IBM PC. While they were TI employees, Compaq's founders were Dr. Isaacson's clients. When TI declined to build an IBM-compatible PC, the team left and founded Compaq Computer. Dr. Isaacson introduced the Compaq team to Sevin-Rosen Ventures, which provided lead funding.
After resigning as Future Computing's CEO in 1986, Dr. Isaacson designed and built the most advanced electronic home that had ever been built to that date. She also served two years on Microsoft's board of directors during its IPO. She has continued to consult and publish analyses of emerging digital technologies such as personal computing, pen computing, wireless telephone, and the Web.
Today, Dr. Portia Isaacson Bass is CEO of Bass Economics, which provides training, consulting, and software tools for creators and users of market and technology forecasts (http://www.basseconomics.com). She is also adjunct professor of marketing at the University of Texas at Dallas where she, with her husband, Professor Frank M. Bass, is engaged in research on the economics of digital products and services. Dr. Bass holds a Ph.D., M.S., and M.A.S. in computer science (Computer Architecture and Operating Systems) and a B.S. in physics and mathematics. Back to top
Iverson, Kenneth (1920- )
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, a time when programming was done with punch cards or tape, Harvard mathematics professor Dr. Kenneth Iverson devised a new programming notation system, originally called "Iverson Notation," that could not only be entered via a typewriter but also allowed for a higher level of abstraction that previous programming languages. Iverson detailed his new system in a book called "A Programming Language," which John Wiley and Sons published in 1962. From the volume's title came the popular name for the language: APL.
In 1960, Iverson left Harvard to take up a research position with IBM. Big Blue made Iverson an IBM Fellow in 1970 in recognition for his efforts with APL. APL was designed to be a sort of shorthand for communicating complex mathematical operations. What made the language revolutionary in computing, however, was that not only was it interactive (answers were returned immediately), but it was also extremely concise, powerful, and more time-efficient to write and debug than any other language of the time. APL comprises a set of letters, numbers, punctuation, and other shapes, which approximately 100 different operations manipulate. APL operations are analogous to the special function keys on a handheld calculator. The language is so terse that one line of APL can perform functions that require pages of instructions in other languages.
APL can be used for applications ranging from accounting to graphics, but most APL programming is used in tasks emphasizing number processing; engineering is a good example. The advantage of using a symbol-based system such as APL was that, like algebra, it made communicating processes between users with different spoken languages a much easier affair.
In the summer of 1989, Iverson turned his attentions to creating an even more accessible, powerful form of APL: a language that eventually went under the simple name of J. It offers all of the functionality of APL but is constructed purely in standard ASCII characters. The new language was designed in Windows but can operate within a Java interface or even as an ActiveX control. J is also compatible with Windows CE, Mac OS, Linux, and UNIX.
Today, Dr. Kenneth Iverson is still active in programming. He now focuses his efforts into developing J, working with Jsoftware (http://www.jsoftware.com) in his home city of Toronto. Back to top
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