Photo: Spencer Smith / CC BY 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
I keep coming back to how Ed Roberts is the rare engineer whose biggest legacy was handing the spotlight to other people. The Altair 8800 in 1974 is what lured Bill Gates and Paul Allen into writing software, and you can draw a straight line from that machine to the personal computer era. What gets me is the second act: he walked away from the industry he helped start, went to medical school, and spent his later years as a country doctor in Georgia. A Florida kid who became the father of the PC and then quietly chose to heal people instead. That arc tells you a lot about what he actually valued.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Ed Roberts
- Name (Japanese)
- エド・ロバーツ
- Reading
- えど・ろばーつ
- Born
- September 13, 1941 – April 1, 2010
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Virgo / Snake
- Origin
- Miami, Florida, United States
- Occupation
- physician / military officer / inventor / computer scientist / businessperson
2. Background
- High school
- Miami High School
- University
- Oklahoma State University
4. Personality
Motto
Private
5. Works & records
| Category | Title | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notable work | Altair 8800 | — |
6. Links
Frequently asked questions
When was Ed Roberts born?
September 13, 1941 – April 1, 2010.
Where is Ed Roberts from?
Ed Roberts is from Miami, Florida, United States.
What does Ed Roberts do?
Ed Roberts works as physician, military officer, inventor, computer scientist, businessperson.
What is Ed Roberts known for?
Notable works include Altair 8800.
Physician — see all → · Military officer — 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 or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.