School of Information Science - Hall of Fame
- William Hewlett
- Born: May 20, 1913
- Died: January 12, 2001
- Field: Computer engineering; computer hardware; computing industry
- Focus: Cofounder of Hewlett-Packard Corporation, one of the world's leading vendors of computer hardware and software.
- Country: United States
- Era: 1950 to 1969
William Hewlett was cofounder of Hewlett-Packard Company along with David Packard. In 1947, he was named vice president. In 1957, Hewlett was elected executive vice president. Hewlett served as president of the company from 1964 until 1977 and as Chief Executive Officer from 1969 until 1978. Until 1987, he was actively involved in the management of Hewlett-Packard. In 1987, Hewlett was named director emeritus. For fiscal year 2004, Hewlett Packerd's revenue totaled $79.9 billion.
William Hewlett and David Packard became friends as undergraduates at Stanford University and started the partnership in 1939 with $538 of capital. The company's first product was a resistance-capacitance audio oscillator. While in graduate school he developed the design for this product. In addition to earning degrees from Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology he held many honorary degrees.In 1983, Hewlett was awarded the nation's highest scientific honor, National Medal of Science, by President Ronald Reagan.