Subject areaArtificial intelligence
Also known asPerottinaP101Olivetti Programma 101
The Programma 101, nicknamed Perottina or P101, is the first personal computer in history: a programmable desktop calculator, used by one person at their own desk, designed by Olivetti between 1962 and 1964 and manufactured from 1965 to 1971.
The project was led by the engineer Pier Giorgio Perotto, who gave the machine its nickname, chosen to echo the pascaline, the calculating machine built by Blaise Pascal in 1642. The team also included Giovanni De Sandre, Gastone Garziera, Giancarlo Toppi and Giuliano Gaiti; the casing was drawn by the designer Mario Bellini.
What made it new compared with the technologies of intelligence that came before it:
- the stored program: instructions and data are saved in an internal memory and on a magnetic card, and reloaded when needed;
- logical conditions: the machine performs conditional jumps, choosing its next step on the basis of a result;
- the desk instead of the machine room: the computers of the time filled whole rooms and needed specialist operators.
Unveiled at the BEMA fair in New York in October 1965, it sold about 44,000 units. It is a posthumous legacy of Adriano Olivetti, who died in 1960: it came out of the electronics division he had wanted, and reached the market five years after his death.
Source: Wikidata Q979393 e Wikipedia, voci Olivetti Programma 101 e Pier Giorgio Perotto, consultate il 21/10/2026, per date, gruppo di progetto e unità vendute; Pier Giorgio Perotto, Programma 101. L'invenzione del personal computer, Sperling & Kupfer, 1995.
An example
The case below is built for this entry, because the name does not yet appear in the articles. In 1966 the engineering office of a manufacturing company works out production costs on a Programma 101: the program, stored on a magnetic card, loads in a few seconds and the clerk runs it at the desk, without going through the computing centre.
Enrico Giubertoni. Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0: you may quote, translate and adapt this entry with the author’s name and a link, stating any changes. For commercial use, write to info@enricogiubertoni.com
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