Robert W Taylor, who was instrumental in creating the internet and the modern personal computer, has died in California.
His son, Kurt, says Taylor was 85 when he died Thursday in Woodside.
Taylor funded researchers or led teams of scientists that are responsible for some of the most important technologies of the modern world.
They include the computer mouse and computers that use graphics such as icons and windows - the kind of command system that is universal on modern devices.
In 1966, when Taylor worked for the Pentagon, he oversaw creation of a single computer communications network to link researchers around the country. It was called ARPANET and evolved into the internet.
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Taylor later shepherded a team at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Centre that developed the Alto personal computer.
