Computer designer and computer science scholar Gordon Bell performed ground-breaking work in computer design for Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), during the 1960s and 1970s, a period of dramatic changes in the design of computers. During this time, computers evolved from machines filling entire rooms and selling for millions of dollars to continually smaller and less expensive models, making computer technology accessible to a whole new market of smaller businesses. Bell has remained an innovator at the forefront of his field throughout his career.

Chester Gordon Bell was born August 19, 1934, in Kirksville, Missouri, the son of Roy Chester and Lola Dolph Gordon Bell. At age six, Bell began working for his father, who ran an electrical contracting and appliance business, and was soon repairing appliances and even wiring houses. This early interest in electronics eventually led Bell to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he earned a B...