Pioneering Apple engineer Invoice Atkinson dies at 74

Invoice Atkinson, an engineer who performed a key function within the growth of the Macintosh and different landmark Apple merchandise, has died of pancreatic most cancers. 

After Atkinson’s household introduced his passing on Fb, Wired’s Steven Levy offered an summary of Atkinson’s many accomplishments as Apple worker quantity 51 . Along with the Macintosh, the Apple initiatives he both created or contributed to incorporate the Lisa laptop, QuickDraw, the Magic Slate (a precursor of the iPad), and HyperCard (a precursor to the World Extensive Internet).

Atkinson, who was 74, ultimately turned obsessed with nature images and, when he was recognized with most cancers final 12 months, wrote on Fb that he had “already led a tremendous and great life.”

In a put up on X, Apple CEO Tim Prepare dinner described Atkinson as “a real visionary whose creativity, coronary heart, and groundbreaking work on the Mac will without end encourage us.” And Daring Fireball’s John Gruber wrote that “with no hyperbole,” Atkinson “might properly have been the most effective laptop programmer who ever lived.”