History of Computers
The abacus, a simple counting aid, may have been invented in Babylonia (now Iraq) in the fourth
century B.C.
The Antikythera mechanism, used for registering and predicting the motion of the stars and
planets, is dated to the first century B.C. It was discovered off the coast of Greece in 1901.
Arabic numerals are introduced to Europe in the eighth and ninth centuries A.D. Roman numerals remain in use in
some parts of Europe until the seventeenth century. The Arabic system introduced the concepts of the zero and
fixed places for tens, hundreds, thousand, etc., and greatly simplified mathematical calculations.
John Napier, Baron of Merchiston, Scotland, invents logs in 1614. Logs allow multiplication and division to be
reduced to addition and subtraction.
Wilhelm Schickard builds the first mechanical calculator in 1623. It can work with six digits, and carries digits across
columns. It works, but never makes it beyond the prototype stage. Schickard is a professor at the University of
Tubingen, Germany.
Blaise Pascal builds a mechanical calculator in 1642. It has the capacity for eight digits, but has trouble carrying and
its gears tend to jam.
Joseph-Marie Jacquard invents an automatic loom controlled by punch cards.
Charles Babbage conceives of a "Difference Engine" in 1820 or 1821. It is a
massive steam-powered mechanical calculator designed to print
astronomical tables. He attempts to build it over the course of the next 20
years, only to have the project cancelled by the British government in 1842.
Babbage's next idea is the Analytical Engine - a mechanical computer that can
solve any mathematical problem. It uses punch-cards similar to those used by
the Jacquard loom and can perform simple conditional operations.
Augusta Ada Byron, the countess of Lovelace, met Babbage in 1833. She
describes the Analytical Engine as weaving "algebraic patterns just as the
Jacquard loom weaves flowers and leaves." Her published analysis of the
Analytical Engine is our best record of its programming potential. In it she
outlines the fundamentals of computer programming, including data analysis,
looping and memory addressing.
Konrad Zuse, a German engineer, completes the first general purpose progammable calculator in 1941. He
pioneers the use of binary math and boolean logic in electronic calculation.
Colossus, a British computer used for code-breaking, is operational by December of 1943. ENIAC, or Electronic
Numerical Integrator Analyzor and Computer, is developed by the Ballistics Research
Laboratory in Maryland to assist in the preparation of firing tables for artillery. It is built at
the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electrical Engineering and completed in
November 1945.
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Sources: http://www.pbs.org/nerds/timeline/index.html and
http://inventors.about.com/library/blcoindex.htm
History of Computers
Bell Telephone Laboratories develops the transistor in 1947.
UNIVAC, the Universal Automatic Computer (pictured below), is developed in 1951. It can store 12,000 digits in
random access mercury-delay lines.
EDVAC, for Electronic Discrete Variable Computer, is completed under contract for the Ordinance Department in
1952.
In 1952 G.W. Dummer, a radar expert from the British Royal Radar
Establishment, proposes that electronic equipment be manufactured as a
solid block with no connecting wires. The prototype he builds doesn't work
and he receives little support for his research.
Texas Instruments and Fairchild semiconductor both announce the
integrated circuit in 1959.
The IBM 360 is introduced in April of 1964 and quickly becomes the
standard institutional mainframe computer. By the mid-80s the 360 and its descendents will have generated more
than $100 billion in revenue for IBM.
Texas Instruments and Fairchild semiconductor both announce the integrated circuit in 1959.
Ivan Sutherland demonstrates a program called Sketchpad on a TX-2 mainframe at MIT's Lincoln Labs in 1962. It
allows him to make engineering drawings with a light pen.
A typical minicomputer costs about $20,000.
1965: An IC that cost $1000 in 1959 now costs less than $10. Gordon Moore predicts that the number of
components in an IC will double every year. This is known as Moore's Law.
Doug Engelbart demonstrates in 1968 a word processor, an early hypertext system and a collaborative application:
three now common computer applications.
Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce found Intel in 1968.
Xerox creates its Palo Alto Research Center - Xerox PARC - in 1969. Its mission is to explore the
"architecture of information."
Fairchild Semiconductor introduces a 256-bit RAM chip in 1970.
In late 1970 Intel introduces a 1K RAM chip and the 4004, a 4-bit microprocessor. Two years later
comes the 8008, an 8-bit microprocessor.
Bill Gates and Paul Allen form Traf-O-Data in 1971 to sell their computer traffic-analysis systems.
1972: Gary Kildall writes PL/M, the first high-level programming language for the Intel microprocessor.
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http://inventors.about.com/library/blcoindex.htm
History of Computers
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak are building and selling "blue boxes" in Southern California in 1971.
April 1972: Intel introduces the 8008, the first 8-bit microprocessor.
Jonathan A. Titus designs the Mark-8, "Your Personal Minicomputer," according to the July, 1974 cover of RadioElectronics.
Popular Electronics features the MITS Altair 8800 on its cover, January 1975. It is hailed as the first "personal"
computer. Thousands of orders for the 8800 rescue MITS from bankruptcy.
Pictured below: The Homebrew Computer Club in 1975.
Paul Allen and Bill Gates develop BASIC for the Altair 8800. Microsoft is born.
1977: Apple is selling its Apple II for $1,195, including 16K of RAM but no
monitor.
Software Arts develops the first spreadsheet program, Visicalc, by the spring
of 1979. It is released in October and is an immediate success. Copies
shipped per month rise from 500 to 12,000 between 1979 and 1981.
By 1980 Apple has captured 50% of the personal computer market.
In 1980 Microsoft is approached by IBM to develop BASIC for its personal
computer project. The IBM PC is released in August, 1981.
The Apple Macintosh debuts in 1984. It features a simple, graphical
interface, uses the 8-MHz, 32-bit Motorola 68000 CPU, and has a built-in 9inch B/W screen.
Microsoft Windows 1.0 ships in November, 1985.
Motorola announces the 68040, a 32-bit 25MHz microprocessor.
Microsoft's sales for 1989 reach $1 billion, the first year to do so.
Timesharing, the concept of linking a large numbers of users to a single computer via remote terminals, is
developed at MIT in the late 50s and early 60s.
1962: Paul Baran of RAND develops the idea of distributed, packet-switching networks.
ARPANET goes online in 1969.
Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf develop the basic ideas of the Internet in 1973.
In 1974 BBN opens the first public packet-switched network - Telenet.
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Sources: http://www.pbs.org/nerds/timeline/index.html and
http://inventors.about.com/library/blcoindex.htm
History of Computers
A UUCP link between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University establishes USENET in
1979. The first MUD is also developed in 1979, at the University of Essex.
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol) is established as the standard for ARPANET in 1982.
1987: the number of network hosts breaks 10,000.
1989: the number of hosts breaks 100,000.
Tim Berners-Lee develops the World Wide Web. CERN releases the first Web server in 1991.
1992: the number of hosts breaks 1,000,000.
The World Wide Web sports a growth rate of 341,634% in service traffic in its third year,
1993.
The main U.S. Internet backbone traffic begins routing through commercial providers as
NSFNET reverts to a research network in 1994.
The Internet 1996 World Exposition is the first World's Fair to be held on the internet.
WORLD INTERNET CONNECTIVITY (As of 6/15/95)
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Sources: http://www.pbs.org/nerds/timeline/index.html and
http://inventors.about.com/library/blcoindex.htm
History of Computers
"Who invented the computer?" is not a question with a simple answer. The real answer is that many inventors
contributed to the history of computers and that a computer is a complex piece of machinery made up of many
parts, each of which can be considered a separate invention.
This series covers many of the major milestones in computer history (but not all of them) with a concentration on
the history of personal home computers.
Computer History
Year/Enter
Computer History
Inventors/Inventions
Computer History
Description of Event
1936
Konrad Zuse - Z1 Computer
First freely programmable computer.
1942
John Atanasoff & Clifford Berry
ABC Computer
Who was first in the computing biz is not
always as easy as ABC.
1944
Howard Aiken & Grace Hopper
Harvard Mark I Computer
The Harvard Mark 1 computer.
1946
John Presper Eckert & John W.
Mauchly
ENIAC 1 Computer
20,000 vacuum tubes later...
1948
Frederic Williams & Tom Kilburn
Manchester Baby Computer & The
Williams Tube
Baby and the Williams Tube turn on the
memories.
1947/48
John Bardeen, Walter Brattain &
Wiliam Shockley
The Transistor
No, a transistor is not a computer, but this
invention greatly affected the history of
computers.
1951
John Presper Eckert & John W.
Mauchly
UNIVAC Computer
First commercial computer & able to pick
presidential winners.
1953
International Business Machines
IBM 701 EDPM Computer
IBM enters into 'The History of Computers'.
1954
1955
(In Use 1959)
John Backus & IBM
The first successful high level programming
FORTRAN Computer Programming
language.
Language
Stanford Research Institute, Bank of
The first bank industry computer - also
America, and General Electric
MICR (magnetic ink character recognition)
ERMA and MICR
for reading checks.
1958
Jack Kilby & Robert Noyce
The Integrated Circuit
Otherwise known as 'The Chip'
1962
Steve Russell & MIT
Spacewar Computer Game
The first computer game invented.
1964
Douglas Engelbart
Computer Mouse & Windows
Nicknamed the mouse because the tail
came out the end.
1969
ARPAnet
The original Internet.
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http://inventors.about.com/library/blcoindex.htm
History of Computers
1970
Intel 1103 Computer Memory
The world's first available dynamic RAM
chip.
1971
Faggin, Hoff & Mazor
Intel 4004 Computer
Microprocessor
The first microprocessor.
1971
Alan Shugart &IBM
The "Floppy" Disk
Nicknamed the "Floppy" for its flexibility.
1973
Robert Metcalfe & Xerox
The Ethernet Computer
Networking
Networking.
1974/75
Scelbi & Mark-8 Altair & IBM 5100
Computers
The first consumer computers.
1976/77
Apple I, II & TRS-80 & Commodore
Pet Computers
More first consumer computers.
1978
Dan Bricklin & Bob Frankston
VisiCalc Spreadsheet Software
Any product that pays for itself in two
weeks is a surefire winner.
1979
Seymour Rubenstein & Rob
Barnaby
WordStar Software
Word Processors.
1981
IBM
The IBM PC - Home Computer
From an "Acorn" grows a personal
computer revolution
1981
Microsoft
MS-DOS Computer Operating
System
From "Quick And Dirty" comes the
operating system of the century.
1983
Apple Lisa Computer
The first home computer with a GUI,
graphical user interface.
1984
Apple Macintosh Computer
The more affordable home computer with
a GUI.
1985
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft begins the friendly war with
Apple.
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Sources: http://www.pbs.org/nerds/timeline/index.html and
http://inventors.about.com/library/blcoindex.htm