Henry Edward Roberts was an American engineer, entrepreneur and medical doctor who invented the first commercially successful microcomputer in 1974. He is most often known as "the father of the person
Roberts in 2002
June 1972 advertisement for MITS Model 1440 Calculator
May 1975 advertisement for the Altair 8800 computer kit
Altair 8800 Computer with 8-inch floppy disk system
Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems, Inc., was an American electronics company founded in Albuquerque, New Mexico that began manufacturing electronic calculators in 1971 and personal computers
Ed Roberts (computer engineer)
…who invented the first commercially successful microcomputer in 1974. He is most often known as "the father of the personal computer". Roberts founded Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) in 1970 to sell electronics kits to model rocketry hobbyists, but the first successful product was an electronic calculator kit that was featured…
Transistorized tracking light for model rockets. The product that launched MITS
Sales had reached $100,000 per month when this advertisement ran in March 1973.
Many companies made boards that could plug into the Altair / S-100 bus.