Alan Turing

Father of modern computing. If code had a godfather, it’d be him.

1912-1954

Known for Cryptanalysis of the Enigma, Turing's proof, Turing machine, Turing test, unorganised machine, Turing pattern, Turing reduction, The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis, Turing paradox

Fields: Logic, mathematics, cryptanalysis, computer science, mathematical and theoretical biology

Awards: Smith's Prize (1936)

Ada Lovelace

The first computer programmer… in the 1800s. Time traveler? Maybe.

1815-1852

Known for Mathematics, computing

Fields: Mathematics

Grace Hopper

Created the first compiler. Also coined “debugging” (literally pulled a moth from a computer).

1906-1992

Known for FLOW-MATIC, COBOL

Fields: Computer science, Mathematics

Awards: Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal with two Hourglass Devices, Naval Reserve Medal, Presidential Medal of Freedom (posthumous)

John von Neumann

Architect of the modern computer design. Every CPU today says, “thanks, John.”

1903-1957

Known for Mathematical formulation of quantum mechanics, Game theory, Spectral theory, Ergodic theory, von Neumann algebras

Fields: Logic, mathematics, mathematical physics, theoretical physics, statistics, economics, computer science, theoretical biology, chemistry, computing

Awards: Bôcher Memorial Prize (1938), Navy Distinguished Civilian Service Award (1946), Medal for Merit (1946), Medal of Freedom (1956), Enrico Fermi Award (1956), Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal (1957)

Dennis Ritchie

Co-creator of Unix and C. Basically invented the software backbone of the planet.

1941-2011

Known for ALTRAN, B, BCPL, C, Multics, Unix

Fields: Computer science

Awards: IEEE Emanuel R. Piore Award (1982), Turing Award (1983), National Medal of Technology (1998), IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal (1990), Computer Pioneer Award (1994), Computer History Museum Fellow (1997), Harold Pender Award (2003), Japan Prize (2011)

Tim Berners-Lee

Invented the World Wide Web. The "http" guy.

b. 8 June 1955

Known for Invention of the World Wide Web

Fields: Computer science

Awards: Turing Award (2016), Queen Elizabeth Prize (2013), Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences (2009), Order of Merit (2007), ACM Software System Award (1995)

Linus Torvalds

Created Linux. Also gave us Git. Revered like a penguin deity in developer circles.

b. 28 December 1969

Known for Linux, Git

Fields: Computer science

Awards: 2012 Millennium Technology Prize, 2014 IEEE Computer Society Computer Pioneer Award, 2018 IEEE Masaru Ibuka Consumer Electronics Award

Steve Jobs

Made computing beautiful, personal, and hip. The black turtleneck maestro.

1955-2011

Known for Pioneer of the personal computer revolution with Steve Wozniak, Co-creator of the Apple II, Macintosh, iPod, iPhone, iPad, and first Apple Stores

Fields: Calligraphy, Philosophy & Eastern Religion, Electronics & Engineering

Awards: 1985: National Medal of Technology, 1987: Jefferson Award for Public Service, 1989: Entrepreneur of the Decade by Inc., 1991: Howard Vollum Award, 2007: inducted into the California Hall of Fame, 2012: Grammy Trustees Award, 2012: Edison Achievement Award, 2022: Presidential Medal of Freedom

Bill Gates

Brought computing to the masses and now gives malaria the middle finger.

b. 28 October 1955

Known for Pioneer of the personal computer revolution with Paul Allen, Co-founding of Microsoft and Gates Foundation

Fields: Mathematics, Computer science

Awards: Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (2005), Padma Bhushan (2015), Presidential Medal of Freedom (2016), Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (2020), Hilal-e-Pakistan (2022)

Mark Zuckerberg

Turned college procrastination into a multi-billion-dollar social empire.

b. 14 May 1984

Known for Meta Platforms and Facebook, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

Fields: Psychology, Computer science

Awards: Axel Springer Award (2016), Horatio Alger Award (2017), Double Helix Medal (2017), Global Recognition Award (2024), MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35

Geoffrey Hinton

Godfather of Deep Learning. Neural nets? That’s his playground.

b. 6 December 1947

Known for Applications of backpropagation, Boltzmann machine, Deep learning, Capsule neural networks

Fields: Machine learning, Psychology, Artificial intelligence, Cognitive science, Computer science

Awards: Rumelhart Prize (2001), Turing Award (2018), Dickson Prize (2021), Princess of Asturias Award (2022), Nobel Prize in Physics (2024), VinFuture Prize (2024), Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering (2025)

Yann LeCun

Pioneered convolutional neural networks. Image recognition owes him a debt.

b. 8 July 1960

Known for Deep learning

Fields: Computer science

Awards: Turing Award (2018), AAAI Fellow (2019), Legion of Honour (2023), VinFuture Prize (2024), Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering (2025)

Demis Hassabis

Founder of DeepMind. AlphaGo, AlphaFold, AlphaEverything.

b. 27 July 1976

Known for DeepMind, AlphaGo, AlphaFold

Fields: Neuroscience, Computer science, Artificial intelligence

Awards: The Asian Awards (2017), Dan David Prize (2020), BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award (2022), Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (2023), Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (2023), Canada Gairdner International Award (2023), Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2024)

Fei-Fei Li

Computer vision expert and AI ethics advocate. Co-created ImageNet.

b. 3 July 1976

Known for Computer vision, Machine learning, Artificial intelligence, AI in healthcare, Cognitive neuroscience, ImageNet

Fields: Electrical engineering

Awards: Elected to National Academy of Engineering (2020), National Academy of Medicine (2020), American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2021), ACM Fellow (2018), VinFuture Prize (2024), Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering (2025)

Dario Amodei

CEO of Anthropic, ex-OpenAI. Thinks about AI so you don’t have to (but maybe should).

b. 1983

Known for Anthropic

Fields: Artificial intelligence

Awards: Time 100 (2025)

Elon Musk

Co-founded OpenAI, Neuralink, and wants your brain to tweet. Also rockets.

b. 28 June 1971

Known for Tesla, SpaceX, xAI, Boring Company, X Corp, Neuralink, OpenAI, Zip2, X.com (part of PayPal), Musk Foundation

Fields: Physics, Economics

Awards: Inc. magazine Entrepreneur of the Year 2007, 2007 Index Design award, Global Green 2006 product design award, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics George Low award 2007/2008, National Wildlife Federation 2008 National Conservation Achievement award, National Space Society's Von Braun Trophy in 2008/2009, President's award for Exploration and Technology of the Explorers Club 2014

Satya Nadella

Revived Microsoft like a phoenix (a very enterprise-friendly one).

b. 19 August 1967

Known for CEO of Microsoft

Fields: Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Business Administration

Awards: Padma Bhushan (2022)

Jensen Huang

CEO of NVIDIA. Turned gaming GPUs into AI gold mines.

b. 17 February 1963

Known for Co-founding Nvidia

Fields: Electrical Engineering

Awards: IEEE Founders Medal (2020), VinFuture Prize (2024), Edison Award (2024), Primetime Engineering Award (2024), Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering (2025)

Susan Wojcicki

Helped build Google Ads and led YouTube. Internet monetization MVP.

1968-2024

Known for AdSense, Google Ads, CEO of YouTube

Fields: History, Literature, Economics, Business

Awards: Free Expression Award (2021), John E. Anderson Distinguished Alumni Award (2023),Google Founders' Award

Parag Agrawal

Former Twitter CEO, and part of the new generation of tech leadership.

b. 21 May 1984

Known for Former CEO, Twitter, Inc.

Fields: Computer Science, Data Mining, Engineering

Awards: International Physics Olympiad (2001), Institute Merit Scholarship (2011–2012), Young Alumni Achiever Award (2019), CIO of the Year Award (2021), Top CFO Awards 2025, Best Finance Strategy Execution Award (2024)

Alexandr Wang

CEO of Scale AI. Billionaire under 25. Builds AI infrastructure like Lego bricks.

b. 1997

Known for Scale AI

Fields: Computer science, Mathematics

Awards: WTF Innovators Award (2023)

Daniel Gross

Co-founder of Pioneer. Funds ideas from garages that’ll run the world.

b. 1991

Known for Cue (search engine), AI Grant, Andromeda

Fields: Computer science and programming

Awards: TIME100 AI (2023)

Tobi Lütke

Founder of Shopify. Gave indie e-commerce a platform (and cool swag).

b. 1980

Known for Shopify

Fields: Computer Programming, Software Engineering, E-Commerce Development

Awards: Meritorious Service Cross (2018)

Melanie Perkins

Co-founder of Canva. Democratized design like no one else.

b. 1987

Known for Canva

Fields: Communications, Psychology, Commerce

Awards: NSW Technology Entrepreneur of the Year (2015), Global Fred Award (2025)

Leah Culver

Protocol engineer, entrepreneur, and one of the early voices in podcast tech.

b. 5 November 1982

Known for Pownce, Convore, Breaker

Fields: Computer Science

Awards: 2008 MIT Technology Review, 2008/2019 Fast Company, 2019 Girl Geek X