John Blankenbaker is credited for the design and invention of the world’s first personal computer in 1971. Named the Kenbak-1, this machine looked nothing like modern computers – but in the 70s, a machine offering 256 bytes of memory, a wide variety of operations and a speed equivalent to nearly 1MHz was ground-breaking. Couldn’t run Crysis yet though.

However, it was MITS co-founder Ed Roberts who coined the term “personal computer” in 1974 with his invention of the Altair 8800. By 1977, the PC industry had taken off, with the introduction of three mass-produced models: The Apple II, the Tandy Radio Shack TRS-80 and the Commodore Business Machines Personal Electronic Transactor.