Home › Technology & Building
Technology & Building
Inventors, engineers and architects who built the machines, networks and skylines.
116 people
Howard Aiken 1900–1973Technology & BuildingPhysicist and engineer who designed the Harvard Mark I, an early electromechanical computer.Frances Allen 1932–2020Technology & BuildingPioneered compiler optimization at IBM and was the first woman to receive the Turing Award.Paul Allen 1953–2018Technology & BuildingCo-founder of Microsoft who later invested in space, sports, and scientific research through the Allen Institute.Sam Altman b. 1985Technology & BuildingTechnology executive and investor whose leadership in generative artificial intelligence has had major but still-unsettled historical consequences.Othmar Ammann 1879–1965Technology & BuildingSwiss-American structural engineer who designed the George Washington Bridge and other major spans.Marc Andreessen b. 1971Technology & BuildingCo-author of the first web browser and co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz, a leading venture capital firm.Edwin Howard Armstrong 1890–1954Technology & BuildingInvented the regenerative and superheterodyne circuits and frequency modulation radio.John Atanasoff 1903–1995Technology & BuildingPhysicist who built the first electronic digital computer, the Atanasoff-Berry Computer.John Backus 1924–2007Technology & BuildingLed the IBM team that created FORTRAN and co-developed Backus-Naur notation.Alexander Graham Bell 1847–1922Technology & BuildingInventor of the telephone and founder of AT&T, transforming global communication.Tim Berners-Lee b. 1955Technology & BuildingBritish-American computer scientist who invented the World Wide Web, revolutionizing global information sharing.Clifford Berry 1918–1963Technology & BuildingCo-inventor of the Atanasoff-Berry Computer, the first electronic digital computing device.Sergey Brin b. 1973Technology & BuildingCo-founder of Google who helped develop the PageRank algorithm and expanded into AI and autonomous vehicles.Daniel Burnham 1846–1912Technology & BuildingArchitect and planner whose City Beautiful vision shaped downtowns, civic centers, and urban planning.Vannevar Bush 1890–1974Technology & BuildingBuilt the differential analyzer and directed U.S. wartime research while proposing the Memex concept.Chester Carlson 1906–1968Technology & BuildingPhysicist who invented xerography, the technology behind the modern photocopier.Willis Carrier 1876–1950Technology & BuildingEngineer who invented modern air conditioning, transforming industry, architecture, and daily life.Safra Catz b. 1961Technology & BuildingCEO of Oracle who has steered one of the world's largest enterprise software companies.Vint Cerf b. 1943Technology & BuildingCo-designer of the TCP/IP protocols that form the foundation of the internet.Brian Chesky b. 1981Technology & BuildingCo-founder of Airbnb who created the global home-sharing marketplace that disrupted the hotel industry.Samuel Colt 1814–1862Technology & BuildingIndustrialist who popularized the revolver and pioneered interchangeable parts in manufacturing.Tim Cook b. 1960Technology & BuildingCEO of Apple who steered the company to become the world's most valuable after Steve Jobs's death.Lee de Forest 1873–1961Technology & BuildingInvented the Audion triode tube that enabled electronic signal amplification and early radio broadcasting.Jack Dorsey b. 1976Technology & BuildingCo-founder of Twitter and Square who shaped social media and mobile payments.J. Presper Eckert 1919–1995Technology & BuildingCo-inventor of ENIAC and pioneer of electronic computing alongside John Mauchly.Thomas Edison 1847–1931Technology & BuildingInventor and scientist whose research laboratory model and electrical innovations transformed modern life.Douglas Engelbart 1925–2013Technology & BuildingEngineer who invented the computer mouse and demonstrated interactive computing in 1968.John Ericsson 1803–1889Technology & BuildingSwedish-American engineer who designed the ironclad USS Monitor, revolutionizing naval warfare.Federico Faggin b. 1941Technology & BuildingLed design of the Intel 4004 microprocessor and later co-founded Zilog.Philo Farnsworth 1906–1971Technology & BuildingDemonstrated the first fully electronic television system using his image dissector tube.Buckminster Fuller 1895–1983Technology & BuildingPopularized the geodesic dome and promoted resource-efficient structural design.R. Buckminster Fuller 1895–1983Technology & BuildingDesigner and inventor who developed the geodesic dome and promoted sustainable design principles.Robert Fulton 1765–1815Technology & BuildingEngineer and inventor whose steamboat Clermont revolutionized American river transportation.Bill Gates b. 1955Technology & BuildingCo-founder of Microsoft who, through the Gates Foundation, has donated billions to global health and education.Frank Gehry 1929–2025Technology & BuildingDeveloped a sculptural architectural language seen in the Walt Disney Concert Hall and other landmarks.Robert Goddard 1882–1945Technology & BuildingPhysicist and engineer who built the first liquid-fueled rocket, laying the foundation for space exploration.Robert H. Goddard 1882–1945Technology & BuildingBuilt and launched the first liquid-fueled rocket and patented foundational rocket propulsion methods.Charles Goodyear 1800–1860Technology & BuildingSelf-taught chemist who discovered the vulcanization process that made rubber commercially viable.Margaret Hamilton b. 1936Technology & BuildingDirected development of the Apollo onboard flight software and popularized the term software engineering.Reed Hastings b. 1960Technology & BuildingCo-founder of Netflix who disrupted the entertainment industry by pioneering streaming video.Reid Hoffman b. 1967Technology & BuildingCo-founder of LinkedIn and influential venture capitalist who helped build Silicon Valley's startup ecosystem.Herman Hollerith 1860–1929Technology & BuildingInvented punched-card tabulating machines used in the 1890 census and founded a corporate predecessor of IBM.Grace Hopper 1906–1992Technology & BuildingComputer scientist and Navy rear admiral who helped develop early programming languages and computing.Drew Houston b. 1983Technology & BuildingCo-founder of Dropbox who made cloud file storage simple and ubiquitous for millions.Elias Howe 1819–1867Technology & BuildingInventor who developed the first practical lockstitch sewing machine, revolutionizing the garment industry.Jensen Huang b. 1963Technology & BuildingCo-founder and CEO of NVIDIA whose GPUs became the engine of the AI revolution.Jane Jacobs 1916–2006Technology & BuildingWriter and activist whose defense of mixed, walkable neighborhoods transformed urban planning.William Le Baron Jenney 1832–1907Technology & BuildingArchitect and engineer who designed the first skyscraper, the Home Insurance Building in Chicago.Steve Jobs 1955–2011Technology & BuildingCo-founder of Apple who revolutionized personal computing, music, and mobile communications.Kelly Johnson 1910–1990Technology & BuildingLed Lockheed's Skunk Works and designed the U-2 and SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft.Bill Joy b. 1954Technology & BuildingPrincipal author of Berkeley Unix and co-founder and chief scientist of Sun Microsystems.Bob Kahn b. 1938Technology & BuildingCo-inventor of the TCP/IP protocols alongside Vint Cerf, enabling modern digital communication.Travis Kalanick b. 1976Technology & BuildingCo-founder of Uber who popularized the gig economy and transformed urban transportation worldwide.Dean Kamen b. 1951Technology & BuildingInventor of the Segway, insulin pump, and water purification systems for the developing world.Alan Kay b. 1940Technology & BuildingLed Smalltalk development at Xerox PARC and advanced graphical interfaces and personal computing concepts.Fazlur Rahman Khan 1929–1982Technology & BuildingDeveloped tubular structural systems that made the Sears Tower and John Hancock Center possible.Jack Kilby 1923–2005Technology & BuildingCo-inventor of the integrated circuit, a foundational innovation that made modern electronics possible.Donald Knuth b. 1938Technology & BuildingWrote The Art of Computer Programming and created the TeX typesetting system.Hedy Lamarr 1914–2000Technology & BuildingActress and inventor who co-developed frequency-hopping spread spectrum technology, the basis for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.Edwin Land 1909–1991Technology & BuildingScientist and co-founder of Polaroid who invented instant photography.Lewis Latimer 1848–1928Technology & BuildingAfrican American inventor who improved the light bulb and drafted patents for Alexander Graham Bell.Lewis Howard Latimer 1848–1928Technology & BuildingPatented a durable carbon filament process and drafted key electrical patents for Bell and Edison.Maya Lin b. 1959Technology & BuildingDesigner of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial whose work transformed American memorial architecture.Barbara Liskov b. 1939Technology & BuildingDeveloped data abstraction in the CLU language and formulated the Liskov substitution principle.John Mauchly 1907–1980Technology & BuildingCo-inventor of ENIAC, the first general-purpose electronic digital computer.Marissa Mayer b. 1975Technology & BuildingFormer Yahoo CEO and early Google engineer who was one of Silicon Valley's most prominent female executives.John McCarthy 1927–2011Technology & BuildingCoined the term artificial intelligence and created the Lisp programming language.Cyrus McCormick 1809–1884Technology & BuildingInventor of the mechanical reaper that transformed agriculture and fed a growing nation.Robert Metcalfe b. 1946Technology & BuildingCo-invented Ethernet at Xerox PARC and founded 3Com to commercialize local area networking.Ralph Modjeski 1861–1940Technology & BuildingPolish-American bridge engineer who designed major spans including the Bay Bridge and Benjamin Franklin Bridge.Gordon Moore 1929–2023Technology & BuildingCo-founder of Intel whose observation became Moore's Law, driving decades of semiconductor progress.Garrett Morgan 1877–1963Technology & BuildingInventor who created the traffic signal and gas mask, saving countless lives.Julia Morgan 1872–1957Technology & BuildingFirst woman licensed as an architect in California and designer of Hearst Castle.Samuel Morse 1791–1872Technology & BuildingPainter and inventor who developed the telegraph and Morse code, enabling instant long-distance communication.Robert Moses 1888–1981Technology & BuildingMaster builder whose roads, parks, and public works reshaped metropolitan New York while displacing communities and entrenching car dependence.Elon Musk b. 1971Technology & BuildingEngineer and entrepreneur whose companies have advanced electric vehicles, reusable rockets, and neural interfaces.Satya Nadella b. 1967Technology & BuildingCEO of Microsoft who pivoted the company toward cloud computing and AI, driving massive growth.Robert Noyce 1927–1990Technology & BuildingCo-inventor of the integrated circuit and co-founder of Intel, earning him the title Mayor of Silicon Valley.Alexis Ohanian b. 1983Technology & BuildingCo-founder of Reddit and venture capitalist who has championed open internet and paternity leave.Frederick Law Olmsted 1822–1903Technology & BuildingLandscape architect who designed Central Park and established public parks as essential American civic infrastructure.Larry Page b. 1973Technology & BuildingCo-founder of Google whose search algorithm became the foundation of the modern internet economy.I. M. Pei 1917–2019Technology & BuildingArchitect whose monumental modern buildings reshaped American civic and cultural architecture.Radia Perlman b. 1951Technology & BuildingDesigned the spanning tree protocol that made large bridged Ethernet networks practical.Sundar Pichai b. 1972Technology & BuildingCEO of Alphabet and Google who oversees the world's dominant search engine and AI research.Dennis Ritchie 1941–2011Technology & BuildingCreated the C programming language and co-developed Unix at Bell Labs.John Roebling 1806–1869Technology & BuildingCivil engineer who designed the Brooklyn Bridge, a landmark of 19th-century engineering.John A. Roebling 1806–1869Technology & BuildingDeveloped wire-rope suspension bridge design and planned the Brooklyn Bridge.Washington Roebling 1837–1926Technology & BuildingEngineer who oversaw the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge after his father's death.Eero Saarinen 1910–1961Technology & BuildingArchitect whose expressive buildings and furniture became icons of postwar American modernism.Sheryl Sandberg b. 1969Technology & BuildingFormer COO of Meta who wrote Lean In and became a prominent voice on women in leadership.Claude Shannon 1916–2001Technology & BuildingMathematician and engineer who founded information theory, the basis of all digital communication.William Shockley 1910–1989Technology & BuildingCo-inventor of the transistor at Bell Labs, earning the Nobel Prize and launching the semiconductor age.Elmer Sperry 1860–1930Technology & BuildingInventor and engineer who developed gyroscopic stabilizers for ships and aircraft.Evan Spiegel b. 1990Technology & BuildingCo-founder of Snapchat who pioneered ephemeral messaging and augmented reality social media.Charles Proteus Steinmetz 1865–1923Technology & BuildingElectrical engineer whose work on alternating current systems powered the electrification of America.Joseph Strauss 1870–1938Technology & BuildingChief engineer of the Golden Gate Bridge, one of the most photographed structures in the world.Lisa Su b. 1969Technology & BuildingCEO of AMD who transformed the semiconductor company into a major competitor to Intel and NVIDIA.Louis Sullivan 1856–1924Technology & BuildingArchitect whose skyscraper designs and “form follows function” principle helped define modern architecture.Aaron Swartz 1986–2013Technology & BuildingInternet activist and Reddit co-founder whose work on open access and web standards left a lasting legacy.Gustavus Franklin Swift 1839–1903Technology & BuildingMeatpacking pioneer who developed the refrigerated rail car, transforming the food industry.Frederick Winslow Taylor 1856–1915Technology & BuildingMechanical engineer who pioneered scientific management, reshaping industrial efficiency worldwide.Nikola Tesla 1856–1943Technology & BuildingSerbian-American inventor who developed alternating current electrical systems and numerous electrical innovations.Peter Thiel b. 1967Technology & BuildingPayPal co-founder and first outside investor in Facebook whose contrarian views shaped Silicon Valley culture.Ken Thompson b. 1943Technology & BuildingCo-created Unix at Bell Labs and later co-designed the Go programming language.Ludwig Mies van der Rohe 1886–1969Technology & BuildingDirected architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology and defined American modernist steel-and-glass buildings.Wernher von Braun 1912–1977Technology & BuildingGerman-American aerospace engineer who led the development of the Saturn V rocket that took humans to the Moon.George Westinghouse 1846–1914Technology & BuildingEngineer and industrialist who championed alternating current and founded the Westinghouse Electric Company.Meg Whitman b. 1956Technology & BuildingFormer CEO of eBay and HP who helped build e-commerce and enterprise technology giants.Eli Whitney 1765–1825Technology & BuildingInventor of the cotton gin, which revolutionized Southern agriculture and had profound economic impacts.Susan Wojcicki 1968–2024Technology & BuildingFormer CEO of YouTube who helped build Google and oversaw the video platform's explosive growth.Granville Woods 1856–1910Technology & BuildingPatented induction telegraph and electrical systems that improved railway communication and safety.Steve Wozniak b. 1950Technology & BuildingCo-founder of Apple who designed the Apple I and Apple II computers, sparking the personal computer revolution.Frank Lloyd Wright 1867–1959Technology & BuildingArchitect and engineer whose organic architecture, including Fallingwater, reshaped the built environment.Orville Wright 1871–1948Technology & BuildingCo-inventor of the first successful powered airplane, achieving human flight at Kitty Hawk in 1903.Wilbur Wright 1867–1912Technology & BuildingCo-inventor of the first successful powered airplane and pioneer of aeronautical engineering.Mark Zuckerberg b. 1984Technology & BuildingCo-founder of Facebook who built the world's largest social media platform and reshaped global communication.