American computer scientist who invented object-oriented programming, the Dynabook concept (the first laptop/tablet vision), and Smalltalk at Xerox PARC — one of the most visionary computer scientists in history, whose ideas about personal computing and education shaped the next 50 years of the field.
Invented object-oriented programming and the personal computer for children — the Dynabook concept (1972) was the first vision of a personal portable computer for learning; Smalltalk's OOP paradigm became the foundation of modern software engineering; and Kay's insistence that computers are for thinking (not just calculation) inspired generations.
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