Ken Olsen

Kenneth Harry Olsen served in the U.S. Navy and earned bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from MIT. While at MIT's Digital Computer Laboratory, he helped develop magnetic core memory and the Whirlwind computer.

In 1957, Olsen co-founded DEC in an old woolen mill in Maynard, Massachusetts. DEC introduced the PDP-1 and PDP-8 (the first commercially successful minicomputer), followed by the legendary VAX systems. Olsen's engineering culture favored hands-on interactive computing, flat management, and rigorous engineering ethics, making DEC the world's second-largest computer company.