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Name your top tech heroes

Graeme Wearden ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 23 Aug 2002 11:56 BST

Following this week's news that Charles Babbage, Alan Turing and Tim Berners-Lee have all been voted onto a list of the top 100 "Greatest Britons", ZDNet UK would like to hear who your all time technology greats are.

Which five people do you think did the most to make the computing world of today possible?

There's little argument that Babbage's work on the Difference Engine and the Analytical engine -- which he designed to carry out complex calculations -- is an important event in the history of computing.

Turing is commonly referred to as the founder of computer science, and Tim Berners-Lee's achievement of inventing the World Wide Web was recognised last year when he was awarded fellowship of the Royal Society.

But a great many other people have also made important contributions to the field of computing.

Perhaps Edsger Wybe Dijkstra, one of the creators of the art and science of computer programming, who died earlier this month, would be in your top five. Or John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry, who built the first electronic computer, or Seymour Cray, for his work on supercomputers.

Maybe you feel Linus Torvalds should be included. Or Apple founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. And what about Bill Gates?

Please send your top five heroes of computing to mailroomuk@zdnet.com, with the subject line 'Tech Greats'. Feel free to include the reasons behind your choices.

Have your say instantly, and see what others have said. Go to the ZDNet news forum.