Gordon Bell

Gordon Bell spent 23 years (1960-1983) at Digital Equipment Corporation as Vice President of Research and Development, where he was responsible for Digital's products. He was the architect of various mini- and time-sharing computers (e.g. the PDP-6) and led the development of DEC's VAX and the VAX Computing Environment. Bell has an SB and SM degree from MIT (1956-57), was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of New South Wales (1957-58),  Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at Carnegie-Mellon University (1966-72) and received an honorary D. Eng. from WPI (1993).

In 1986-1987 he was the first Assistant Director of the National Science Foundation's Computing Directorate. He led the National Research and Education Network (NREN) panel that became the NII/GII, and was an author of the first High Performance Computer and Communications Initiative.

Bell has authored books and papers about computer structures and start-up companies. In April 1991, Addison-Wesley published High Tech Ventures: The Guide to Entrepreneurial Success, which describes the Bell-Mason Diagnostic, for analyzing new ventures. His first book, Computer Structures, with Allen Newell was published in 1970 by McGraw-Hill. Dan Siewiorek, Bell, and Newell, Computer Structures, was published as the second version in 1982 .

He is a founding board member of The Computer History Museum  at 1401 Shoreline, Mountain View, CA, established in 1999. Bell is a member of various professional organizations including the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Fellow), American Association for the Advancement of Science (Fellow), ACM (Fellow), IEEE (Fellow and Computer Pioneer), and the National Academy of Engineering. His awards include: the IEEE Von Neumann Medal, Fellow of the Computer History Museum, the AEA Inventor Award for the greatest economic contribution to the New England region, the IEEE 2001 Vladamir Karapetoff Eminent Member's Award of Eta Kappa Nu, and The 1991 National Medal of Technology.

Gordon Bell is a senior researcher in Microsoft's Media Presence Research Group - a part of the Bay Area Research Center (BARC) maintaining an interest in startup ventures.