Sure, there were impressive competitors, including HP, Data General , and even mighty IBM (nyse: IBM - news - people), but DEC was the defining force in the field.

FORBES: DEC's Final Demise

The field of cancer research is moving rapidly away from defining a cancer by where it is in the body - one type of breast cancer can have more in common with an ovarian cancer than another cancer in the breast.

BBC: Mass cancer mapping centre opens