The HP-35 development team from left to right: Rich Marconi, France Rode, Lew Terman, Dave Cochran, Donna Whitney (representing husband, Tom Whitney), Tom Osborne, Ken Peterson, Chung Tung, Dick Osgood, Bill Misson. Not shown: David Yen, representing his father Chu Yen
If you stop and think about it, the technology most of us use on a daily basis is truly mind boggling. Consider the casual way we use technologies such as email, websites, touch interfaces, cell phones, and portable music devices – the list of innovations we take for granted is long and impressive. This world we enjoy exists only because a few pioneers pushed innovation forward when technology belonged more to sci-fi writers than it did to the average American.
Last week, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers honored the team that created the world’s first hand-held scientific calculator with a Milestone award, one of a mere 85 awards presented since the program’s introduction in 1983.
Dave Cochran, one of the honored members of the HP development team, shared an anecdote at the IEEE event about the inception of the HP-35, named after the number of keys in its keyboard. According to Dave, Bill Hewlett conceived of the idea of a hand-held scientific calculator, and encouraged his team to move forward on designing a prototype before the technology even existed. And once they achieved their goal, the team put the calculator through the HP “next bench test”, which meant if the engineer at the next bench over wanted whatever product you thought up, it would probably sell. Clearly, they were right. HP expected to sell about 10,000 units, however, in its first year unit sales exceeded 100,000.
It was this kind of vision and innovation that not only made the handheld scientific calculator a reality, but greatly impacted the era of computing and completely redefined the way people use computers, from touch and gesture technology to notebooks, smart phones and PDAs.
I’m proud of the fact that this groundbreaking product was developed by my colleagues from an earlier generation. Lew Terman, the President of the IEEE quoted Sir Isaac Newton in his dedication of the Milestone: “If I can see so far, it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants.” As a member of the HP community, I do feel gratitude and an affinity to the pioneers in this industry and this company. They laid the groundwork for current innovators and visionaries, and there is much we can learn from their work even today.
Congratulations to the HP-35 development team for this prestigious award: Bill Misson, Chu Yen, Chung Tung, Dave Cochran, Dick Osgood, France Rode, Ken Peterson, Paul Stoft, Rich Marconi, Tom Osborne and Tom Whitney.
You can find more information about the HP 35 here: www.hp.com/go/35celebration.
