Lifetime award for the first laptop designer

British designer, Bill Moggridge, has been given a lifetime achievement award by the Duke of Edinburgh. He topped a list of famous nominees, including fashion designer Dame Viviene Westwood and the creator of the London 2012 Aquatics Centre.



In the early 1980’s Mr. Moggridge designed The Grid Compass computer which is widely credited as the fore-runner for the modern laptop. The machine went on sale in 1982 and had its own operating system called Grid-OS. It’s price meant that its market was limited to specialist buyers such as the US government.


In the same decade, it was used on the space shuttle, offering the astronauts a navigational programme when they were out of reach of earth-bound navigation tools.


Whilst Mr. Moggridge was “astonished” to have received the award, the jury felt his work had been central to how design helped people understand and use technology.


The Prince Philip Designers Prize is Britain's longest-running design award, and was set up by the Duke of Edinburgh in 1959 to encourage entrepreneurship. It is awarded annually to recognise a lifetime contribution to design.