Harlan E. Anderson (October 15, 1929 - January 30, 2019) was an American engineer and entrepreneur, best known as the co-founder of

Digital Equipment Corporation Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC ), using the trademark Digital, was a major American company in the computer industry from the 1960s to the 1990s. The company was co-founded by Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson in 1957. Olsen was president until ...

(DEC), which later became the second largest computer company in the world. Other notable entities that Anderson has been associated with include

Lincoln Laboratory The MIT Lincoln Laboratory, located in Lexington, Massachusetts, is a United States Department of Defense federally funded research and development center chartered to apply advanced technology to problems of national security. Research and dev ...

at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

, where he was a member of the technical staff. He served as Director of Technology for Time, Inc., where he spearheaded their evaluation of the future of the printed word during the explosion of television, long before the Internet existed. Anderson participated in early stage financing for over 20 small technology companies. He was a trustee of

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (; RPI) is a private university, private research university in Troy, New York, United States. It is the oldest technological university in the English-speaking world and the Western Hemisphere. It was establishe ...

(RPI) for 16 years. He was a member of the Board of Advisors of the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois, and a trustee of the

Boston Symphony Orchestra The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five (orchestras), Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in ...

. Anderson was the author of the autobiography entitled, ''Learn, Earn & Return: My Life as a Computer Pioneer''.

Education

Anderson earned both a B.S. and M.S. in Physics from the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

in the early 1950s, where he became interested in computers. He took programming courses for the ILLIAC I computer, which was under construction at this time. The courses were taught by the computer pioneer, David Wheeler of the

University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory The Department of Computer Science and Technology, formerly the Computer Laboratory, is the computer science department of the University of Cambridge. it employed 56 faculty members, 45 support staff, 105 research staff, and about 205 researc ...

. He received a B.S. degree in

Engineering Physics Engineering physics (EP), sometimes engineering science, is the field of study combining pure science disciplines (such as physics, mathematics, chemistry or biology) and engineering disciplines (computer, nuclear, electrical, aerospace, medic ...

and a master's in

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

in 1951 and 1952 respectively., Board of Trustees,

, USA.

Digital Equipment Corporation

In 1957, Anderson and Ken Olsen, his boss at Lincoln Laboratory, decided to start their own firm. They approached American Research and Development Corporation, an early venture capital firm, which had been founded by

Georges Doriot Georges Frédéric Doriot (September 24, 1899 – June 2, 1987) was a French-American known for his prolific careers in military, academics, business and education. An émigré from France, Doriot became a professor of Industrial Management at H ...

, and founded Digital Equipment Corporation after receiving $70,000 for a 70% share. They rented space in what had been a woolen mill building in Maynard, Massachusetts. Anderson was employee #2. He departed DEC in 1966 after a dispute with Olsen about the management structure of the company.

References

External links

The Demise of Digital Equipment Corporation: What made the difference at DEC?

The Mouse That Roared: PDP-1 Celebration Event
panel, 15 May 2006.

Boston Globe, October 22, 2009
"A Personal Take on the Rise and Fall of Digital"
Boston Globe, October 26, 2009 1929 births 2019 deaths Digital Equipment Corporation people 21st-century American engineers Grainger College of Engineering alumni MIT Lincoln Laboratory people {{US-compu-bio-stub