Alan Haberman - Father of the Bar Code

Alan Haberman lead a team of researchers who developed the bar code system seen on products throughout the world today. Back in 1971 when he was an chief executive with First National stores, he was given the assignment of developing a system to keep better track of inventory.

The team met for two years before deciding on the system in use today involving a series of vertical lines and numbers. The original technology, developed in 1949, involved bull's-eye design.

Mt Haberman died on June 12, 2011 in Newton, Mass at the age of 81.

For many years, he served on the Uniform Code Council which administers the universal product code.