Alan Kay is a pioneering American computer scientist born on May 17, 1940, in Springfield, Massachusetts. He is renowned for his foundational contributions to object-oriented programming and personal computing. At Xerox PARC, Kay led the development of the Smalltalk programming language and the first modern graphical user interface, introducing concepts like windows, icons, and the desktop metaphor. He also envisioned the "Dynabook," a portable personal computer that prefigured modern laptops and tablets. Kay received the 2003 ACM Turing Award for his transformative work in computing. He currently serves as president of the Viewpoints Research Institute.