The First Desktop Computer: The History of the Olivetti Programma 101

The Olivetti Programma 101 designed in the mid-60s and conceived by Pier Giorgio Perotto engineer of Olivetti Company in Ivrea Italy, was the first desktop personal computer in the world, ahead of its time compared to the computer revolution of the 70s. The Olivetti Programma 101 was a programmable, elegant and compact computer used even by NASA for the Apollo 11 mission. His history, summarized in this contribution, has represented a missed opportunity for Italian industry, which failed to fully exploit its technological primacy in the transition from office automation based on electromechanical systems to mass computing.