Alan Kay is an American computer scientist and computing pioneer whose work helped shape modern personal computers and graphical user interfaces. In the late 1960s he developed the Dynabook concept, an influential vision of a portable computer intended partly as a learning tool for children. He later joined Xerox PARC, where he contributed to research on networked personal computers, graphical interfaces and object-oriented programming.

At Xerox PARC, Kay led the team that developed Smalltalk, an influential programming language and computing environment that helped establish key ideas in object-oriented programming. He subsequently worked at organisations including Atari, Apple, Walt Disney Imagineering and Hewlett-Packard, while continuing research into computing and education. Kay received the ACM A.M. Turing Award in 2003 for his contributions to object-oriented programming and personal computing, and the Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology in 2004. His work has remained closely associated with efforts to make computers more accessible as tools for learning and creative thought.