| Ed Roberts (computers) |
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As a teenager, he created circuitry for Analog and Digital Computers . A member of the United States Air Force , he earned his Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering from Oklahoma State University , and was assigned to an Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas , where in his spare time he established two electronics companies, Reliance Engineering and Reliable Radio and TV. In 1968 , he was assigned to the research laboratory division of Kirtland Air Force base in New Mexico , where he met Forrest Mims III . Reunited with a college friend Stan Cagle and an officer Bob Zaller, the four established MITS to sell rocket telemetry systems for hobbyists. In the fall of 1970 , the company split up over a disagreement about the direction of the company, as Roberts wanted to start producing calculators, while Cagle and Mims wanted to create an infrared alarm system. Roberts and a friend bought out Cagle and Mims, although Mims would later return to write technical manuals. Roberts wrote a featured article in the November 1971 issue of '' Popular Electronics '' about the MITS 816 calculator kit, and the business began to earn a profit. By 1974 , however, competing companies were making the kits obsolete, so Roberts created the Altair 8800 and wrote a related article that was featured on the cover of the January 1975 issue of '' Popular Electronics ''. This article excited a Harvard University undergraduate named Bill Gates , and his good friend Paul Allen , and the duo contacted Roberts to write a BASIC interpreter for the machine. Roberts agreed to hire them, and Gates dropped out of Harvard. Later, Gates and Allen would leave MITS to begin a company called MicroSoft . The article would also inspire the creation of the Homebrew Computer Club by a group of Altair 8800 enthusiasts, and from this club emerged twenty-three computer companies, including a company called Apple Computer . In 1977 , MITS was bought by Pertec Computer Corporation , and Roberts entered medical school at Mercer University . He is now a country Doctor in the United States. |
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