Pier Giorgio Perotto

Pier Giorgio Perotto (Turin, December 24, 1930 – Genoa, January 23, 2002) was an Italian electrical engineer and inventor. Working for the manufacturer Olivetti, he led a design team that built the Programma 101, one of the world's first programmable calculators.

Career

Graduated at the Turin Polytechnic, Perotto taught for many years at the same University and published several books and articles regarding strategy, business organization and technology.

He began his career at Fiat and later on moved to the machine company Olivetti. Working as General Director of projects and research at the Ivrea’s company, he played a major role in the transformation of this multinational company from a mechanical to electronics and systems company.

In the 1970s, he designed other computers at Olivetti, e.g. the Olivetti P6060, the first personal computer with integrated floppy-disk drive, the Olivetti P6040 and the Olivetti P6066.

Together with Sergio Raimondi, Perotto launched FINSA Consulting in 1997, becoming the president since its foundation. After this moment he turned himself into a committed teacher and a prolific writer, writing with many essays (in Italian) about business management and future of computing.

In 1991, he earned the Leonardo da Vinci Award for having developed a ground-breaking machine, the Programma 101, an early programmable calculator.

The 12222 Perotto, a main belt asteroid, discovered in 1982 at the Osservatorio San Vittore in Bologna, is named after him.

Programma 101

The innovative calculator, also known as Perottina, named after its inventor, was one of the first electronic desktop calculators in history purposely designed to be programmable.