Charles Thacker was born in Pasadena, California on February 26 1943 and earned his Bachelor of Science degree in physics from the University of California Berkeley in 1967. He began his pioneering career with Project Genie at UC Berkeley where he contributed to the Berkeley Timesharing System before co-founding the Berkeley Computer Corporation. Thacker became a foundational figure at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in the early 1970s where he established himself as a leading hardware architect. His subsequent career included instrumental roles at Digital Equipment Corporation's Systems Research Center and Microsoft Research where he remained actively engaged until his passing.
Thacker pioneered the design and engineering of the Xerox Alto the first modern personal computer featuring a graphical user interface mouse and bit-mapped display which revolutionized human interaction with computing systems. He co-invented the Ethernet local area networking technology and made critical contributions to the development of the world's first laser printer during his transformative tenure at PARC. His hardware leadership established enduring paradigms for networked workstations that enabled the personal computing revolution. These innovations created the foundational infrastructure for contemporary digital environments influencing billions of users worldwide.
His groundbreaking contributions earned him the prestigious ACM A M Turing Award in 2009 recognizing his seminal role in creating the first modern personal computer and advancing networking and tablet computing technologies. Thacker's later work at Microsoft on the Tablet PC prototypes demonstrated his lifelong commitment to pioneering new computing paradigms across multiple decades. He mentored generations of engineers whose work continues to advance computer architecture and user interface design. The profound and ubiquitous impact of his innovations remains evident in the computing ecosystems that define modern digital life worldwide.
