Bell was also the chief architect of the PDP-4 and PDP-6—the first timesharing computer. Later on, he headed DEC’s efforts to develop the PDP-8, the world’s first minicomputer. “The PDP-6 and PDP-8 were the mainstreams of DEC for quite a number of years,” Bell recalls.
In 1966, Bell left DEC to teach computer science at Carnegie-Mellon University. He describes this experience as his “sabbatical.” Bell returned to DEC in 1972 to head up production of the company’s next-generation VAX series as well as to lead the company toward chip-based computing technology.
Near the end of his DEC career, with the company facing increasing competition from the surging microcomputer industry, Bell launched a group to focus on large-scale integration (LSI) technology. After Bell’s departure, this group developed the powerful and flexible DEC Alpha. Offering the fastest CPU of its time, the 64-bit RISC-based Alpha could also be scaled down to provide high-performance workstations.
After DEC
Bell left DEC in 1983 after suffering a heart attack, but soon showed the world that he wasn’t ready to retire. His next move in July 1983 was to cofound Encore Computer Corp., a company created to build a new generation of small computers and help new startup companies.
In 1986, Bell joined the National Science Foundation (NSF). As the first assistant director for computing there, he directed funding for U.S. computer science efforts. He also led the National Research Network panel that became the National Information Infrastructure (NII) and the Global Information Infrastructure (GII), and he helped write the High-Performance Computer and Communications Initiative. During this period, Bell also co-wrote a book on venture capital called High Tech Ventures: The Guide for Entrepreneurial Success.
By the early 1990s, with the technology industry soaring to new heights, Bell became involved with a number of tech startups. He was chief scientist at Stardent Computer in 1990 and vice president of research and development at Ardent Corp. the following year. He was also a director of the Bell-Mason Group, which programmed computers to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of new businesses.
During this period, Bell began advising Microsoft on various technology issues and helped create the company’s first research laboratory. In August 1995, Bell became a Microsoft principal researcher, a position he holds to this day.
While Bell was helping to create the modern computer industry, he also took time to honor its roots by establishing, with his wife, the Computer Museum in Boston. He is also a founding board member of the Computer Museum’s successor, the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif. Bell views this work as his greatest lasting contribution to the technology industry.
“In terms of lasting stuff, it’s probably that,” he says.
Over the years Bell has received many awards for his contributions to the computer industry, including the National Medal of Technology in 1991 and the Eckert-Mauchly award in 1982, named after the ENIAC and UNIVAC developers. Earlier this year, Bell received an honorary doctorate of science and technology degree from Carnegie-Mellon.
Today and Tomorrow
Bell is unique among active technology visionaries in that he is virtually the only one to have also been a leader in the 1960s minicomputer era as well as the 1970s/80s microcomputer movement. In fact, he was already an influential figure when most people referred to computers as “electronic brains,” teletypewriters were the most common “data processing” output device, and phone calls were placed by spinning a dial.
As a futurist, Bell remains an optimist. “The future to me, technologically, looks as bright as ever,” he says. “Another two or three turns of Moore’s law and... it’s fantastic.”
In his role as a Microsoft principal researcher, Bell continues to probe technology’s sharpest and most interesting edges. He has spent the past several years leveraging advances in processing, storage, display, mobility, and networking technologies to create MyLifeBits—a lifetime store of everything of nearly everything he’s ever done or experienced in the form of tens of thousands of media snippets, including photos, phone calls, e-mails, and instant messages.
Bell views the project as the fulfillment of Vannevar Bush’s 1945 Memex vision—a life super-index that includes full-text searching, text/audio annotations, and hyperlinks. Given his track record, he is probably on to something the rest of us won’t be able to appreciate for at least several more years.