Mike Hart

Michael Hart is credited with the creation of the first e-book. Mr. Hart was born in Tacoma, Washington on March 8, 1947.  He obtained his Bachelors in Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in 1973. As a student he was fascinated with how humans interact with technology. It was this deep interest that would lead him to creating the first eBook and the development of Project Gutenberg, which is recognized to this day as one of the earliest online literacy projects. His belief was that everyone should have equal access to information.
Michael Hart, while an undergraduate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign created the first eBook on July 4, 1971 when he typed the Declaration of Independence into the Xerox Sigma V computer in the Materials Research Laboratory on UIUC engineering campus. He was inspired by a free printed copy of the Declaration of Independence he had received. After discovering that the file was too large to send it to everyone on the network. He decided to upload it for users to download at their convenience, resulting in the creation of the first electronic e-book. This was not only the birth of the eBook but also the genesis of Project Gutenberg – one of the largest collections of free eBooks in the world.

Work Cited
Grimes, W. (2011, September 8). Michael Hart, a Pioneer of E-Books, Dies at 64. Retrieved December 11, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/09/business/michael-hart-a-pioneer-of-e-books-dies-at-64.html?pagewanted=all&_r=2&
Image of Michael Hart. (2011, September 8). Retrieved December 11, 2014, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/technology-obituaries/8750768/Michael-Hart.htm
Project Gutenberg. Retrieved December 11, 2014, from http://www.gutenberg.org

Marc Andreessen

Marc Andreessen, innovator and visionary, was born in Cedar Falls, Iowa on July 9, 1971.  As a child he was fascinated by technology and taught himself basic programing at the age of nine. This curiosity lead him to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), where he majored in Computer Science. While at UIUC the young entrepreneur became intrigued by the recent development of the World Wide Web and the sharing of information.
While an undergraduate, Andreessen and Eric Bina   worked at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) to develop a user friendly search browser with graphics that would work on a variety of computers. Their end result was the Mosaic web browser. Upon graduation from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Anderson partnered with James Clark, to launch Netscape in 1995. In 1999 AOL purchased Netscape and Anderson briefly served as chief technical officer at AOL. He would later go onto found Loud-Cloud, then CTO of Ning.
Netscape Navigator was the first true Internet browser and allowed the world to easily use the Internet. Ultimately, Microsoft bought a license for Mosaic from The University of Illinois and subsequently launched Microsoft Explorer.

If you want to know more you will find a list of sources below.

Archival Records:

- NCTE/Middle Level Section File (record series 15/72/4): contains minutes and agendas showcasing Mosaic at the NCTE annual convention (1997), box 1 (At ARC) - NCSA Clippings File (record series 7/5/10): contains news clippings on Marc
- Andreessen (At ARC) - Alumni and Faculty Biographical/Morgue File (record series 26/4/1) on Andreessen
- Stanley Inkberry General Correspondence File (record series 2/14/1): contains
correspondence on Mosaic in box 324     
- Original Mosaic program files (on NCSA site): ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Mosaic/

Work Cited:

Marc Andreessen. (2015). The Biography.com website. Retrieved 03:15, Feb 08, 2015, from http://www.biography.com/people/marc-andreessen-9542208.
Marc Andreessen. Retrieved February 8, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Andreessen
Image of Marc Andreessen
https://ws.engr.illinois.edu/blogs/viewphoto.aspx?id=8494

ILLIAC

One of the most successful of the early electronic computers built after World War II, ILLIAC (Illinois Automatic Computer) was born in the old Electrical Engineering Research Laboratory at Illinois through the collaboration of faculty in the Electrical Engineering, Physics, and Mathematics departments. ILLIAC progressed through five generations, securing Illinois’s reputation as the leader in the field of large scale, high-performance computing. Each new ILLIAC incorporated innovations in architecture, memory, logic, and software that spread throughout the computer world. Today the ILLIAC tradition continues at Illinois with Trusted ILLIAC, a 500-processor cluster combining high performance, transpar- ency, and security.



ILLIAC I (Source: Centennial History of the Department of ECE)

ILLIAC TIMELINE

ILLIAC's History and Influences: An interactive Mind Map

THE ILLIACS

ORDVAC and ILLIAC I
ILLIAC II
ILLIAC III
ILLIAC IV
CEDAR

Related Pages
Multiple versions of the ILLIAC line were used in pioneering the field of computer music.  The ILLIAC I was used by Lejaren Hiller to compose The ILLIAC Suite.  Hiller would go on to use the ILLIAC II as well.  Later, parts from ILLIAC II were used by Salvatore Martirano to create the Sal-Mar Construction; the first musical instrument to generate dynamic impovisatory electronic music.