Wikinventia — Atlas of discoveries and inventions · Global Age

Programma 101 — first commercial personal computer — Pier Giorgio Perotto / Olivetti

1964 AD · Transmission: Silenced
TechnologyInventionItalian

Pier Giorgio Perotto designs the Programma 101 (P101) for Olivetti, presented at the New York World's Fair in October 1964 and sold from 1965 for $3,200. It is the first programmable desktop computer with internal memory, magnetic-card storage, and the ability to print results, conceived for individual, non-technical use — the functional definition of the personal computer. NASA acquired 10 units for the Apollo program. IBM presented the IBM 5100 in 1975; the Apple II in 1977. The P101 precedes them by more than a decade. Hewlett-Packard paid Olivetti an out-of-court settlement over similarities with its HP 9100A (1968). The Anglophone canonical narrative of the PC rarely mentions the P101.

InstitutionOlivetti, Ivrea (Piedmont)
Historical regionItaly (Piedmont)
Primary sourcePerotto, P.G. — Programma 101: L'invenzione del personal computer (1995, Sperling & Kupfer); presentation record at the New York World's Fair, October 1964
Secondary sourceBritannica — computer history; Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia, Milan — Olivetti Programma 101
Original languageItalian / English
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