Laptop inventor Bill Moggridge passes away

Bill Moggridge, the industrial designer who came up with the clamshell design for laptops, which has become the industry-standard over the past 30 years, has passed away aged 69 after a battle with cancer.
Moggridge was the man behind the Grid Compass, the piece of hardware that was introduced to the world in April 1982.

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According to BBC News, Moggridge was the man behind the Grid Compass, the first computer to attach a keyboard to a folding screen. The design went on to become a standard for laptop computers.

Moggridge was director of the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, and that organisation has set up a memorial fund for him.
"All of us at the Smithsonian mourn the loss of a great friend, leader and design mind," said Smithsonian Secretary Wayne Clough.
"In his two short years as director of Cooper-Hewitt, Bill transformed the museum into the Smithsonian's design lens on the world, and we are forever grateful for his extraordinary leadership and contributions."


In his book “Designing Interactions” (2006), Mr. Moggridge wrote: “I had the experience of a lifetime developing a design that was innovative in so many ways. I developed the way that the screen was hinged to fold down over the keyboard for carrying. This geometry accounted for only one of the 43 innovative features in the utility patent that we were awarded.

In 1991, Mr. Moggridge merged his own design firm with those owned by David Kelley, a Stanford professor, and Mike Nuttall, another British designer, to form IDEO. That company gained international renown by creating forms for technology as well as products ranging from portable heart defibrillators to the Palm V, a sleek hand-held personal digital assistant. IDEO’s clients over the years included Procter & Gamble, Apple, Microsoft and Eli Lilly.