Bill Atkinson passed away at the age of 74 years owing to pancreatic cancer. As a mark of paying homage to one of the early Apple geniuses who played a vital role in designing the future of computers and previewing the World Wide Web, Apple CEO Tim Cook put out a post on X, saying, “We are deeply saddened by the passing of Bill Atkinson. He was a true visionary whose creativity, heart, and groundbreaking work on the Mac will forever inspire us. Our thoughts are with his loved ones.”

Atkinson, popularly known as employee number 51 at Apple, was one of the brilliant minds that shaped not only the future of Apple but the computer industry in general. Although Atkinson was known for his work on nature photography, his name was forever linked to the Macintosh – an icon of the 1980s that revolutionised the way we looked at computers.

Had it not been for Steve Jobs, the ex-Apple founder and CEO, Atkinson would have pursued Ph.D in neurobiology and may have gone on to do different things. However, the field of computers was his calling and if it wasn’t for him, the world wouldn’t have experienced the graphical user interface (GUI) on computers early in the 1980s. Atkinson’s work on user interfaces made the Macintosh an icon of the technology industry.