For advancing the utility of personal computers by developing the VisiCalc electronic spreadsheet.

Dan Bricklin is currently president of Software Garden, Inc., a small developer of software applications that he founded in 1985.

Throughout his career, Mr. Bricklin has created innovative, cutting-edge products. Bricklin is best known for codeveloping VisiCalc, the first electronic spreadsheet, while he was a student at the Harvard Business School. VisiCalc is widely credited for fueling the rapid growth of the personal computer industry.

In late 1995, Dan founded Trellix Corporation, a provider of website publishing technology. In early 2003, Trellix was acquired by Interland, Inc., a supplier of web hosting solutions for small and medium sized businesses. Dan served as Interland's CTO through early 2004 when he returned to Software Garden to do software product development and consulting.

From 1985 through 1989, Mr. Bricklin served as president of Software Garden, Inc., where he developed a variety of software programs, including Dan Bricklin's Demo Program. The program, used for prototyping and simulating other pieces of software, won the 1986 and 1987 Software Publishers Association Award for Best Programming Tool. In 1990, Mr. Bricklin cofounded Slate Corporation to develop application software for pen computers.

Mr. Bricklin also founded Software Arts, where he served as chairman of the board and executive vice president from 1979 until 1985. Prior to forming Software Arts, he had been a market researcher for Prime Computer Inc., a senior systems programmer for FasFax Corporation, and a senior software engineer for Digital Equipment Corporation. At Digital, he was project leader of the WPS-8 word processing software, where he helped to specify and develop one of the first standalone word processing systems.

Mr. Bricklin is a founding trustee of the Massachusetts Software and Internet Council and has served on the boards of the Software Publishers Association and the Boston Computer Society. Mr. Bricklin has received many honors for his contributions to the computer industry, including the IEEE Computer Society's Computer Entrepreneur Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Software Publishers Association. Along with VisiCalc co-creator Bob Frankston, he received the 2001 Washington Award from the Western Society of Engineers. Mr. Bricklin holds a BS in Electrical Engineering/Computer Science from MIT and an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. He received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Newbury College, and was elected to be a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

Hall of Fellows