Martin A. Goetz Software History Fund

Martin A. Goetz (1930-2023) was one of the foremost pioneers of the software industry and an unparalleled leader in early and continuing efforts to recognize and protect software as intellectual property (IP). Goetz co-founded Applied Data Research (ADR) in 1959, in Princeton, New Jersey, the first independent software products company. At ADR, Goetz soon launched and served as Director of its Software Products Division. Throughout most of the 1980s, he served as the President of ADR. On April 23, 1968, the U.S. Patent Office issued the first U.S. software patent to Goetz for his “Sorting System.” In the decades that followed, Goetz was a leading voice on software intellectual property.

In the early 2000s, Goetz donated his personal papers and the records of the division he ran to the Charles Babbage Institute (CBI) at the University of Minnesota. The “Martin A. Goetz Papers” and the “Applied Data Research Software Division Records.”

In 2026, Goetz’s wife Norma Goetz; his daughter and son-in-law, Karen Jacobs, and Jack Blumenfeld; and his daughter, Ruth Malloy; generously established the permanently endowed Martin A. Goetz Software History Fund at the Charles Babbage Institute (CBI). This endowment fund will forever extend the legacy of Martin Goetz to advancing the understanding of software and its historical study.

Plans for this fund include an annual CBI Martin A. Goetz Software History Article Prize and an annual online Martin A. Goetz Software History Lecture. These will launch in 2027.

 Read the Martin A. Goetz Biographical Article