Bob Frankston
American software engineer and businessman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robert M. Frankston (born June 14, 1949) is an American software engineer and businessman who co-created, with Dan Bricklin, the company Software Arts and the spreadsheet program VisiCalc, the latter being vended by VisiCorp.[1]
Bob Frankston | |
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| Born | June 14, 1949 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (SB, MEng) |
| Known for | Co-creator of VisiCalc |
Early life and education
Frankston was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from Stuyvesant High School in New York City in 1966. He earned a S.B. degree in computer science and mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, followed by a Master of Engineering degree in computer science, also from MIT.[2][3]
Career
After his work with Dan Bricklin, Frankston later worked for Lotus Development Corporation and Microsoft.[4]
Frankston became an advocate for reducing the role of telecommunications companies in the evolution of the Internet, particularly with respect to broadband and mobile communications.[5][6] He invented the term "Regulatorium" to describe what he considers collusion between telecommunication companies and their regulators that prevents change.[7][8]
Awards and recognition
- Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (1994) "for the invention of VisiCalc, a new metaphor for data manipulation that galvanized the personal computing industry".
- MIT William L. Stewart Award for co-founding the M.I.T. Student Information Processing Board (SIPB).
- The Association for Computing Machinery Software System Award (1985).
- The MIT LCS Industrial Achievement Award.
- The Washington Award (2001) from the Western Society of Engineers (with Dan Bricklin).
- In 2004, he was made a Fellow of the Computer History Museum "for advancing the utility of personal computers by developing the VisiCalc electronic spreadsheet".[9]
