Edward H. Roberts is best known for his 1974 development and marketing of the MITS Altair 8800, widely regarded as the world's first personal computer.

Edward H. Roberts was born in Miami, Florida, in 1941. He was the eldest of two children. His father worked as an appliance repairman and his mother remained at home to raise the children. From an early age he had two main interests--electronics and medicine; the latter was seen when as a teenager he got a job as a scrub technician for heart surgeons in the Miami-based Jackson Memorial Hospital. Roberts went to the University of Miami to study electronic engineering. Unfortunately his academic career was cut short when, in his junior year, Roberts' first wife, Joan, became pregnant. Roberts had to leave his studies to support his new family. Roberts chose to join the Air Force, which saw the academic potential in him. He was...