Mark Dean

Who He Was

Mark Dean is a computer scientist and engineer who was part of the original team at IBM that designed and built the personal computer, one of the most consequential inventions of the twentieth century. Born in Tennessee in 1957, Dean showed an early aptitude for building things and went on to earn a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Tennessee, followed by graduate degrees from Florida Atlantic University and Stanford. He holds three of the original nine patents on the IBM PC, including patents on the system bus, which enabled the computer to connect to printers, monitors, and other devices. He later led the team that developed the first one-gigahertz processor chip. In 1995, he became the first Black vice president in IBM's history.

Why He Matters

Mark Dean helped build the machine that changed how the world works. The personal computer made computing accessible to individuals, small businesses, schools, and homes, and the architecture Dean helped design became the standard that the entire industry built on for decades. His work on the system bus is the reason a computer can communicate with the devices around it, a concept so fundamental that it is easy to forget someone had to invent it. Dean has also spent significant energy mentoring young engineers and advocating for diversity in technology, understanding that the field is stronger when it reflects a broader range of perspectives and experiences.