Photo: Luca Lucarini / CC BY-SA 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Dan Bricklin earned a permanent place in computing history by co-creating VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet program, and I genuinely think he changed what personal computers were for. Before VisiCalc the PC was a hobbyist's toy; after it, the machine became indispensable to business, and the entire spreadsheet lineage that runs through Excel traces back to his idea. What I admire most is that this Harvard-trained inventor chose to share the concept rather than lock it behind patents, an openness that helped a whole industry bloom. He remains active in technology decades later, and I rank him among the very few people who can claim to have actually rewired how the world works.
Overview
Daniel Singer Bricklin (born July 16, 1951) is an American businessman and engineer who is the co-creator, with Bob Frankston, of VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet program. He also founded Software Garden, Inc., of which he is currently president, and Trellix, which he left in 2004. He currently serves as the chief technology officer of Alpha Software.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Dan Bricklin
- Name (Japanese)
- ダン・ブリックリン
- Reading
- だん・ぶりっくりん
- Born
- July 16, 1951 (age 74)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Cancer / Rabbit
- Origin
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- computer scientist / entrepreneur / inventor / programmer / engineer
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Harvard University
Awards & achievements
- 1981 Grace Murray Hopper Award
- 2004 Computer History Museum Fellow
- 1985 ACM Software System Award
- 1994 ACM Fellow
- 2023 Computer Pioneer Award
- 2001 Washington Award
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
5. Works & records
| Category | Title | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notable work | VisiCalc | — |
6. Links
Computer scientist — see all → · Entrepreneur — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.