Pioneers

Alan Kay

Computer Scientist

Citation Formats

General Reference

Computing Atlas. "Alan Kay." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://computing.interactiveatlas.org/pioneers/alan-kay.

APA Style

Computing Atlas. (n.d.). Alan Kay. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://computing.interactiveatlas.org/pioneers/alan-kay

BibTeX

@misc{computingatlas-alan-kay,
  author = {Computing Atlas},
  title = {Alan Kay},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://computing.interactiveatlas.org/pioneers/alan-kay},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Alan Curtis Kay is an American computer scientist who, at Xerox PARC, led the design and development of the first modern windowed computer desktop interface and of the influential object oriented programming language Smalltalk. He conceived the Dynabook, a key progenitor of laptop and tablet computers, and received the 2003 Turing Award.

Facts

Birth Year

1940 1

Birth Date

1940-05-17 1

Nationality

American 1

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Human Computer Interaction

Alan Kay led the Learning Research Group at Xerox PARC that developed the overlapping-window, icon and mouse-driven graphical interface on the Xerox Alto, foundational to the field of human-computer interaction.

Source Wikipedia: Alan Kay

Kay led the development at Xerox PARC; the language was created by the Learning Research Group, including Dan Ingalls and Adele Goldberg.

Source Wikipedia: Alan Kay

Sources

1. Wikipedia: Alan Kay

Wikimedia FoundationIntroduction and Early life and work sections

Quote, Introduction and Early life and work sections

At Xerox PARC he led the design and development of the first modern windowed computer desktop interface. There he also led the development of the influential object-oriented programming language Smalltalk

View the Source

1. Wikipedia: Alan Kay

Wikimedia FoundationEarly life and work section

Quote, Early life and work section