Welcome to Bob Bishop's Homepage
If you're like most everyone else, you've probably never heard of Bob Bishop. (But then that's OK . . . because he's probably never heard of you either! ) Still, you somehow managed to stumble into his homepage, so let me tell you just a little bit about his background.
Bob was born in Milwaukee, and grew up in the Milwaukee and St. Louis areas. (To look at some very old and boring photographs of Bob and his relatives, just click the picture of Bob that you see to the right.)
When he was about ten years old, Bob decided to make a hobby of collecting Walt Disney comic books, long before it was considered "fashionable" to do so. In fact he may well be the very first Disney comic book collector* in the world!
After graduating from Pulaski High School in Milwaukee, Bob attended the University of Wisconsin where he received his BS degree in physics (with honors). From there he moved to California and received his MS degree in physics from UCLA. (He also finally got to go to Disneyland for the first time!)
While studying for his PhD, Bob worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. Among the projects he participated in were: HEAO (High Energy Astronomy Observatory, IRAS (Infrared Astronomy Satellite), and the Apollo XVII mission to the moon.
In addition to creating the first computer games, Bob was the first person to enable the Apple-II to generate human speech (APPLE-TALKER) and to recognize human speech (APPLE-LISTENER). He also did all the software for the nationally syndicated TV game show, "Tic-Tac-Dough", hosted by Wink Martindale on CBS. (They used nine Apple-II computers for the show.)
To view a list of some of the other software that Bob has written for and/or about the Apple-II computer, click the black & white image of the little TV that you see to the right.
In 1978, because of his many accomplishments, Bob was invited by Steve Wozniak (the co-founder of Apple) to join him in Apple's R & D group (which at that time consisted solely of "Woz" and Bob).
In 1981, Bob "retired" from Apple and moved to Santa Cruz, where he wrote several books and many magazine articles. His first book (Applevisions, a Unique Introduction to Assembly Language Programming) was published by Addison Wesley and was dedicated to Carl Barks, the legendary Disney artist.
Bob's latest book, Shades of Reality, discusses the new mathematical concept of "fuzzy logic" and its philosophical implications for society. Shades of Reality is now on-line and can be read by clicking the image of the book that you see to the right.
In the late 1980s, Bob bought a little motorhome and spent several years traveling around the US, visiting every state and every Canadian province.
When Bob returned to California, he started working on SiMPLE, the programming language that he designed for "kids" (ages 9-99!). To find out more about SiMPLE (and to download your own FREE copy), just click the SiMPLE icon that you see to the left.
Bob is also the founder of The New Dell Comics Club, an organization of Dell comic book collectors. To visit The New Dell Comics Club website, just click the Dell logo that you see to the right.
Since 1992 Bob has been the host of "The Thinking Machine," a weekly show about Science & Technology on KSCO Radio in Santa Cruz California.
In addition to being "Mr. Logic" on the radio, Bob is also the producer of many online puzzle games. In the Spring of 2002, Bob created the concept of the Internet "Online Riddle" when he released his Cybertrek adventure game. Since then, hundreds of other game makers have implemented his "URL-completion" method in the design of their own games (e.g., "This Is Not Pr0n", "Zest", etc.). If you'd like to try playing some of "Mr. Logic's" games, just click any of the images that you see below:
In the Autumn of 2003, Bob moved from Santa Cruz to Paradise California where he currently resides. He still collects comic books, plays with computers, and writes short essays and commentaries whenever he can find the time. To "visit" Bob's home in Paradise, just click the thumbnail image of the sign that you see to the right.
Walt Disney once said, "Disneyland will never be completed ... as long as there is imagination left in the world." And the same idea holds true here. Therefore -