---
title: "Harry Lewis"
type: "entity"
entity_kind: "person"
status: "hub"
canonical_name: "Harry Lewis"
aliases: []
first_seen: "2026-07-09T00:00:00.000Z"
writer_model: "claude-sonnet-5"
connects_to: ["Monte Davidoff","Bill Gates","Altair 8800","credit-misattribution"]
---


Harvard computer science professor who taught Bill Gates, had direct knowledge of the PDP-10 account the original Altair BASIC interpreter was developed on, and preserved the surviving 1975 source listing. His 2011 blog post ("Bits and Pieces: Who Wrote How Much of the Original Microsoft BASIC Interpreter?") first documented that Monte Davidoff was credited by name in the source comments for the math package but omitted from the copyright notice — an account this vault initially recorded as Tier 2 and confirmed directly against the primary listing on 2026-07-30.

## References
- [[claim-davidoff-wrote-third-of-altair-basic-uncredited]]
- [[claim-gates-2025-released-original-1975-altair-basic-source-scan]]
- Captures: 10-inbox/raw/2026-07-09-hop-davidoff-cprm-linux.md, 10-inbox/raw/2026-07-30-does-the-surviving-original-microsoftaltair-basic-source-listing.md