A vision of computing’s future
As Harvard celebrates its 375th anniversary, the Gazette is examining key moments and developments over the University’s broad and compelling history. These days, there’s a plaque in Room 108 of Aldrich Hall that commemorates the day, in the spring of 1978, when Dan Bricklin had an idea that would forever change the personal computer business. Then a first-year Harvard Business School (HBS) student, Bricklin watched as a professor sketched out a complex business model, and immediately saw the problem — changing a single parameter meant laboriously recalculating subsequent entries. It was then that inspiration struck. Why not let a computer do the tedious work for you? That inspiration eventually became VisiCalc, a pioneering electronic spreadsheet and a progenitor of programs like Miscrosoft Excel. Released in 1979, the program is widely credited for helping to transform the personal computer from a toy for hobbyists into an indispensable business tool. “After VisiCalc, it dawned on the...