Top tech influencers (Wish I can be one someday)

An article from BBC

The top tech influencers
Darren Waters
29 Jan 08, 09:28 GMT
The results are in, the votes have been counted and I can now reveal the top 45 most influential figures in technology over the last 150 years.
But before I do, I should point out that I was part of the panel that helped compile the list. And when I say “panel”, I mean I was invited to cast my votes alongside other tech journalists, including hacks from IT Pro and The Inquirer, ZDNet, among others.
We didn’t vote en masse, we all have individual votes from a long list of about 70 names, which contracted and swelled as we immediately struck out some names – eg Richard Branson – and added others, such as Don Estridge, who led the team behind the original IBM PC. We all gathered to discuss the names, but in truth there was minimal debate and I have no idea how the others voted.
Here’s the top 10:
Tim Berners-Lee – Founder of the modern-day World Wide WebSergey Brin – Co-founder of GoogleLarry Page – Co-founder of GoogleGuglielmo Marconi – Inventor of the Radiotelegraph systemJack Kilby – Inventor of the Integrated Circuit and CalculatorGordon Moore – Co-founder of IntelAlan Turing – played a major role in deciphering German Code in WWIIRobert Noyce – Co-founder of IntelWilliam Shockley – Co-Inventor of the TransistorDon Estridge – Led the development of the IBM computer
So who’s in and who’s out?
Microsoft’s Bill Gates is in. “Of course he is,” you say. But on the night there was a strong lobby from some journalists that his influence has not been that great on the technology industry. But he is not as high up in the list as Steve Jobs, for example. Right or wrong? And Mr Jobs is much higher in the list than his Apple partner Steve Wozniak, the engineering brains behind the first Apple computers.
Tim Berners-Lee is top of the pile – but was this more a reflection of a British voting panel? Certainly, he was the favoured candidate among dot.life readers when I first blogged about the poll.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is out. So what? Well, he made the long list.
There’s no Clive Sinclair, the British home computer pioneer.
George Boole, the father of modern computer arithmetic, is in. How many people would have thought of him immediately?
The inventor of the transistor, William Shockley, is at number 9 while Jack Kilby, the inventor of the integrated circuit is at number 5.
Interestingly, the inventor of Ethernet poll, Robert Mecalfe, polls higher than Vint Cerf, the co-creator of TCP/IP, the underlying architecture of the net.
Shawn Fanning, creator of Napster, makes the cut, and Philip Rosedale, creator of Second Life, doesn’t.
The whole exercise was organised by Intel. And two of the firm’s co-founders made the top 10 - Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce. And the whole list has been put in front of Sean Maloney, who passed comment.
"It’s fitting that the people who have influenced the internet turn up in the top three of the list,” said Sean Maloney, executive vice president of Intel. “This emphasises the way the world is heading and that the internet is our industry’s demand driver.”
Here’s the full list. Remember don’t blame me: I was just one of the judges!
The 45 most influential people in technology:1. Tim Berners-Lee2. Sergey Brin3. Larry Page4. Guglielmo Marconi5. Jack Kilby6. Gordon Moore7. Alan Turing8. Robert Noyce9. William Shockley10. Don Estridge11. Doug Engelbert12. Robert Metcalfe13. Vint Cerf14. Steve Jobs15. Andrew Grove16. Seymour Cray17. Pierre Omidyar18. Shawn Fanning19. Dennis Ritchie20. Ted Hoff21. Linus Torvalds22. Shuji Nakamura23. Dave Packard24. Jean Hoerni25. William Hewlett26. John Logie Baird27. George Boole28. Martin Cooper29. John Pinkerton30. Grace Hopper31. Bill Gates32. Herman Hollerith33. Thomas Watson34. Jeff Bezos35. Meg Whitman36. Ada Lovelace37. Nolan Bushnell38. Claude Shannon39. Charles Babbage40. John Chambers41. Philo Farnsworth42. Steve Wozniak43. Larry Ellison44. Michael Dell45. Maurice Wilkes