Daniel Singer Bricklin was the principle designer of the VisiCalc spreadsheet program, founder of Software Arts and, subsequently, Software Garden, Inc. This work earned him the unofficial title, "The Father of the Spreadsheet."

Daniel Bricklin enrolled in a B.S. program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1969, graduating in 1973. Initially Bricklin had embarked upon a major in mathematics, but he soon abandoned this in favor of a degree in computing science, a change that returned him to an old love. While in high school Bricklin had produced a project extending FORTRAN as an entry in a science fair.

Bricklin worked in the Laboratory for Computer Science during his time at MIT and it was there that he met his future business partner Bob Franskton. After graduating from MIT Bricklin started working for the Digital Equipment Corporation where he was project leader on the development of the...