Adam Osborne was an entrepreneur most famously known for the first portable computer, but also was an author who made a successful move into publishing computer books and software.

Adam Osborne was born in Thailand March 6, 1939 to British parents where he spent most of his childhood in India. He attended school and graduated from the University of Birmingham in 1961 and received his PhD from the University of Delaware. Adam’s career started as a chemical engineer working for Shell Oil and then he left in the early 1970’s to pursue his interests in computers and technical writing.

Osborne Computer Corporation: In 1981 Adam introduced the first portable computer, the Osborne 1. The computer weighed 23.5 pounds and cost $1,795, just over half the cost of a computer from other manufacturers with comparable features. The computer ran the popular CP/M operating system and featured a full keyboard and a tiny 5″ built-in monochrome monitor. The company shipped over 10,000 computers a month and was considered a huge success, earning $6 million in 1981 and by the next year into the $68 million range. His final venture, in 1992, was to found the company Noetics Software, to work on artificial intelligence.