“I set out to make a new model for the ALOHA system.” Within a few weeks, he was on a Xerox-funded trip to the University of Hawaii. He stayed a month, and before coming home had added an extensive analysis of the ALOHA system to his thesis. It was just the theoretical boost the dissertation needed. When he resubmitted the work, it was accepted. But the ALOHA system gave Metcalfe far more than a doctorate. Xerox PARC was in the process of developing one of the first personal computers, called the Alto.
