British industrial designer Rick Dickinson, who developed several pioneering computers for Sinclair Research in the early days of personal computing, died in the U.S. on April 24 while receiving cancer treatment in Texas.
Dickinson’s widow, Lizzy, emailed news of his death to friends of the family last week. The BBC and forums geared toward antique computers further announced the news on April 26.
The ZX Spectrum, released in 1982. It featured a Dickinson-designed rubber keyboard that replaced hundreds of components with only a handful. Source: Bill Bertram / CC BY-SA 2.5Dickinson became Sinclair Research Ltd.’s in-house designer in 1979, and was integral to the designs of the Sinclair ZX80, ZX81 and ZX Spectrum personal computers. He incorporated a touch-sensitive keyboard into the ZX81 and designed the Spectrum with a rubber keyboard that eliminated hundreds of components to cut costs.
Dickinson left Sinclair and founded Dickinson Associates in Cambridge in 1986. He went on to design the Cambridge Z88, an early laptop, in 1988, and also conceptualized designs for mobile phones and game consoles.
He recently contributed new designs to a Retro Computers, Ltd. project to reboot the ZX Spectrum into a handheld game console. The project – funded via Indiegogo – raised over half a million pounds toward the reboot, but the final product is yet to be delivered.
