ViewPlus Technologies, Inc.
Corvallis, OR 97333
The story of ViewPlus Technologies starts with a minor eye operation gone awry. One day in 1988, John A. Gardner was a physics professor at Oregon State University. The next, he was blind.
When he returned to work, he encountered enormous barriers. For one, he could no longer understand graphically displayed data, like diagrams and structured mathematics. For a renowned solid-state physicist, this was no small problem. Alas, the solutions that existed tools to render data comprehensible through touch and sound were scarce and incomplete. So, calling upon the age-old maxim of entrepreneurship - if you want something done right, do it yourself - Gardener resolved to close the communications gap between himself and his sighted colleagues himself.
In 1991, with sponsoring from the National Science Foundation, he kicked off a research program at Oregon State. The work progressed steadily, racking up...