GADGETS are all well and good but, in light of the country’s celebration of our heroes, Tech 5 wants to do the same. This week, TEENage gives you a glimpse into the minds behind the machines. Here are five of the greatest Tech Heroes of the 21st century and their magnificent contributions to the digital world that we live in.

Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce

The Dynamic Duo who invented the Silicon Chip (also known as the microchip) and, quite possibly, the modern age as we know and love it. The microchip is small electronic circuit held together by conductors to enable the flow of electricity. It is vitally necessary to almost all modern computing and electronics and only came fully into being through the combined efforts of these two men.

Seymour Cray

The grandfather of Supercomputing, Cray was the genius who was head of the design team that successfully created the first commercially popular, scientific computer. His inventions were first used first by military weapons designers and intelligence agencies until they were redesigned for more public tasks like searching for oil. Many later generations of computer techs have adopted and built upon his inventions.

Tim Berners-Lee

The man who created the Internet (and who is perhaps the REAL “world-boss”). Berners-Lee, a graduate of Oxford, wrote and programmed the first web client and server combination in history. Passionate about the sharing of information, Berners-Lee went on to define and build the concepts of URIs, HTTP and HTML. In 1994, he founded the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), a non-profit organisation which seeks to develop the web and maximise its full potential, free from individual biases or monopoly. He became Sir Tim Berners-Lee in 2004 when knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

William Bill Gates

The Mastermind, Chief Architect and Ruling Overlord of all things Microsoft… or well, at least he was. Gates founded Microsoft with his business partner Paul Allen and has, since then, been a regular staple on the Forbes List of the World’s Richest People. Over time, Gates began to gradually release the reins on what is arguably the world’s leading software company and has turned his efforts to focus more on his philanthropy, namely the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Steve Wozniak

Apple’s OTHER Steve. (Thought we were going to mention Steve Jobs again, didn’t you?). Too often many people forget that Jobs, mega mastermind as he was, was only half the brilliant equation that equalled Macintosh’s success. Wozniak is the co-creator of one of the largest Tech giants in this country and for that TEENage believes that he truly deserves an honourable mention.