Inventor of scientific calculator honoured in his homeland
Ljubljana, 2 June - France Rode, a Slovenian-born engineer who was on the team that invented the first scientific calculator in the world, has been honoured in Slovenia for his contribution to science.
Along with his wife Mija, he was received by President Borut Pahor on Friday, having earlier in the week been named an honorary member of the Engineering Academy of Slovenia.
Rode was one of the four lead engineers at Hewlett-Packard assigned to the development of a scientific calculator. The result was the legendary HP-35 calculator, launched in 1972.
Pahor and Rode talked about the development of information technology in the past fifty years and Rode's career path from his degree at the University of Ljubljana to his work at HP, which he joined immediately after graduating.
Pahor's office said that Rode had throughout his career nurtured ties with Slovenia and Slovenian engineers who helped steer the country's digitisation.