Dr Mark Dean didn■t begin working for IBM until 1980 - 4 YEARS AFTER STEVE WOZNIAK & STEVE JOBS BEGAN SELLING THE APPLE I - so how can he possibly be credited with inventing the personal computer? Other than that the personal computer was a convergence of technologies of the time rather than a new invention. But if you are going to give credit for it■s invention to anyone the most obvious candidate is Steve Wozniak in 1976.

Both Mark Dean & Dennis Moeller DEVELOPED improvements in computer architecture in 1984 that allowed IBM and compatible PCs to use high performance software and to work in tandem with peripheral devices. Their work ENHANCED the PC by enabling components to communicate with each other in a high-speed, efficient manner. Not by any stretch of the imagination can this constitute inventing the Personal Computer!

Nobody is trying to deny African American inventions when such claims are legitimate but it appears a certain group of African Americans are distorting facts in order to claim inventions for fellow African Americans.

As for black kids being victims of the "Digital Divide" and failing school systems, why should knowing an African American invented the personal computer make black kids embrace technology with more enthusiasm? Do other ethnic minorities in the USA, like Indian or Chinese kids, need to be told a person from their race invented something before they embrace it with enthusiasm? No! Perhaps the more obvious answer is black kids need better role models as fathers, or at least fathers who are around sometimes.

You may not have heard of Dr. Mark Dean. And you aren't alone. But almost everything in your life has been affected by his work.

See, Dr. Mark Dean is a Ph.D. from Stanford University. He is in the National Hall of Inventors. He has more than 30 patents pending. He is a vice president with IBM. Oh, yeah. And he is also the architect of the modern-day personal computer. Dr. Dean holds three of the original nine patents on the computer that all PCs are based upon. And, Dr. Mark Dean is an African American.

So how is! it that we can celebrate the 20th anniversary of the IBM personal computer without reading or hearing a single word about him? Given all of the pressure mass media are under about negative portrayals of African Americans on television and in print, you would think it
would be a slam dunk to highlight someone like Dr. Dean.

Somehow, though, we have managed to miss the shot. History is cruel when it comes to telling the stories of African Americans. Dr. Dean isn't the first Black inventor to be overlooked Consider John Stanard, inventor of the refrigerator, George Sampson, creator of the clothes dryer,
Alexander Miles and his elevator, Lewis Latimer and the electric lamp.

All of these inventors share two things:

One, they changed the landscape of our society; and, two, society relegated them to the footnotes of history. Hopefully, Dr. Mark Dean won't go away as quietly as they did. He certainly shouldn't. Dr. Dean helped start a Digital Revolution that created people like Microsoft's Bill Gates and Dell Computer's Michael Dell. Millions of jobs in information technology can be traced back directly to ! Dr. Dean.

More important, stories like Dr. Mark Dean's should serve as inspiration for African-American children. Already victims of the "Digital Divide" and failing school systems, young, Black kids might embrace technology with more enthusiasm! if they knew someone like Dr. Dean already was leading the way.

Although technically Dr. Dean can't be credited with creating the computer -- that is left to Alan Turing, a pioneering 20th-century English mathematician, widely considered to be the father of modern computer science -- Dr. Dean rightly deserves to take a bow for the machine we use today. The computer really wasn't practical for home or small business use until he came along, leading a team that developed the interior architecture (ISA systems! bus) that enables multiple devices, such as modems and printers, to be connected to personal computers.

In other words, because of Dr. Dean, the PC became a part of our daily lives. For most of us, changing the face of society would have been enough. But not for Dr. Dean.. Still in his early fifties, he has! a lot of inventing left in him.

He recently made history again by leading the design team responsible for creating the first 1-gigahertz processor chip.. It's just another huge step in making computers faster and smaller. As the world congratulates itself for the new Digital Age brought on by the personal computer, we need to guarantee that the African-American story is part of the hoopla surrounding the most stunning technological advance the world has ever seen.. We cannot afford to let Dr. Mark Dean become a footnote in history. He is well worth his own history book.

(Did you read the answer? It clearly says that no one person invented the PC. And yes, Ye must be one of them people who want an instant, easy fix. Pity there isn't one. -PZ)

Piss poor effort from some of you, finding the easy way out, people like you really get on my nerves.

It's just typical of young teenage kids....

Yep Bill Gates sure is awesome (a word he invented by the way).

(Perhaps you're missing the point Cortney. The whole point of studying is to find things out for yourself. If we gave you the perfect, ready-made answer the teacher would spot it and fail you. As Les Bell said in his answer, there simply is no one person you can say "invented the PC". And by the way, has anyone ever told your parents the correct way to spell Courtney? -PZ)

(Try Wikipedia.org)

I read in a computer mag. about who made the computer chip but can't remember who or which mag. Can you please enlighten us all.

(Use Google. Look for something such as "history of integrated circuit" -PZ)