Thomas E. Osborne
HALL OF FAME CLASS OF 1998
B.S.E.E. 1957
Following graduation from the University of Wyoming, Thomas E. Osborne, a native of Meeteetse, WY, fulfilled a ROTC obligation as a meteorologist with the Strategic Air Command. Mr. Osborne earned an M.S.E.E. degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1962. In 1964, working from his home, he designed and constructed the world's first scientific desktop computer, the "Green Machine." Patent rights were transferred to Hewlett Packard with whom he cooperated to develop a broad range of programmable calculators. He was intimately involved in developing the HP 35, the hand-held scientific calculator that obsoleted the slide rule.
The University of Wyoming has earned its Research Level 1 (R1) status from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, placing Wyoming's only four-year university with the top research universities in the United States.