A Brief History of Computers

The computer was born not for entertainment or

email but out of a need to solve a serious number-
crunching crisis. By 1880, the U.S. population had grown
so large that it took more than seven years to tabulate
the U.S. Census results. The government sought a faster
way to get the job done, giving rise to punch-card based
computers that took up entire rooms.

Today, we carry more computing power on our

smartphones than was available in these early models. Famed mathematician Charles Babbage
The following brief history of computing is a timeline of designed a Victorian-era computer called
how computers evolved from their humble beginnings to the Analytical Engine. This is a portion of
the machines of today that surf the Internet, play games the mill with a printing mechanism.
and stream multimedia in addition to crunching Credit: Science Museum | Science &
numbers. Society Picture Library

1801: In France, Joseph Marie Jacquard invents a loom that uses punched wooden cards to
automatically weave fabric designs. Early computers would use similar punch cards.

1822: English mathematician Charles Babbage conceives of a steam-driven calculating machine

that would be able to compute tables of numbers. The project, funded by the English
government, is a failure. More than a century later, however, the world’s first computer was
actually built.

1890: Herman Hollerith designs a punch card system to calculate the 1880 census,
accomplishing the task in just three years and saving the government $5 million. He establishes
a company that would ultimately become IBM.

1936: Alan Turing presents the notion of a universal machine, later called the Turing machine,
capable of computing anything that is computable. The central concept of the modern
computer was based on his ideas.

1937: J.V. Atanasoff, a professor of physics and mathematics at Iowa State University, attempts
to build the first computer without gears, cams, belts or shafts.

1941: Atanasoff and his graduate student, Clifford Berry, design a computer that can solve 29
equations simultaneously. This marks the first time a computer is able to store information on its
main memory.

1943-1944: Two University of Pennsylvania professors, John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert, build
the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator (ENIAC). Considered the grandfather of
digital computers, it fills a 20-foot by 40-foot room and has 18,000 vacuum tubes.
1946: Mauchly and Presper leave the University of Pennsylvania and receive funding from the
Census Bureau to build the UNIVAC, the first commercial computer for business and
government applications.

1947: William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain of Bell Laboratories invent the
transistor. They discovered how to make an electric switch with solid materials and no need for a
vacuum.

1953: Grace Hopper develops the first computer language, which eventually becomes known as
COBOL. Thomas Johnson Watson Jr., son of IBM CEO Thomas Johnson Watson Sr., conceives the
IBM 701 EDPM to help the United Nations keep tabs on Korea during the war.

1954: The FORTRAN programming language is born.

1958: Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce unveil the integrated circuit, known as the computer chip.
Kilby was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2000 for his work.

1964: Douglas Engelbart shows a prototype of the modern computer, with a mouse and a
graphical user interface (GUI). This marks the evolution of the computer from a specialized
machine for scientists and mathematicians to technology that is more accessible to the general
public.

1969: A group of developers at Bell Labs produce UNIX, an operating system that addressed
compatibility issues. Written in the C programming language, UNIX was portable across multiple
platforms and became the operating system of choice among mainframes at large companies
and government entities. Due to the slow nature of the system, it never quite gained traction
among home PC users.

1970: The newly formed Intel unveils the Intel 1103, the first Dynamic Access Memory (DRAM)
chip.

1971: Alan Shugart leads a team of IBM engineers who invent the “floppy disk,” allowing data to
be shared among computers.

1973: Robert Metcalfe, a member of the research staff for Xerox, develops Ethernet for
connecting multiple computers and other hardware.

1974-1977: A number of personal computers hit the market, including Scelbi & Mark-8 Altair,
IBM 5100, RadioShack’s TRS-80 —affectionately known as the “Trash 80” — and the
Commodore PET.

1975: The January issue of Popular Electronics magazine features the Altair 8080, described as
the "world's first minicomputer kit to rival commercial models." Two "computer geeks," Paul
Allen and Bill Gates, offer to write software for the Altair, using the new BASIC language. On
April 4, after the success of this first endeavor, the two childhood friends form their own
software company, Microsoft.
1976: Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak start Apple Computers on April Fool’s Day and roll out the
Apple I, the first computer with a single-circuit board.

1977: Radio Shack's initial production run of the TRS-80 was

just 3,000. It sold like crazy. For the first time, non-geeks could
write programs and make a computer do what they wished.

1977: Jobs and Wozniak incorporate Apple and show the Apple
II at the first West Coast Computer Faire. It offers color graphics
and incorporates an audio cassette drive for storage.
The TRS-80, introduced in
1977, was one of the first 1978: Accountants rejoice at the introduction of VisiCalc, the
machines whose
first computerized spreadsheet program.
documentation was intended for
non-geeks 1979: Word processing becomes a reality as MicroPro
Credit: Radioshack International releases WordStar.

1981: The first IBM personal computer, code-named “Acorn,” is

introduced. It uses Microsoft’s MS-DOS operating system. It has
an Intel chip, two floppy disks and an optional color monitor.
Sears & Roebuck and Computerland sell the machines, marking
the first time a computer is available through outside distributors.
It also popularizes the term PC.

1983: Apple’s Lisa is the first personal computer with a GUI. It also The first IBM personal
features a drop-down menu and icons. It flops but eventually computer, introduced on Aug.
evolves into the Macintosh. The Gavilan SC is the first portable 12, 1981, used the MS-DOS
operating system.
computer with the familiar flip form factor and the first to be
marketed as a “laptop.” Credit: IBM

1985: Microsoft announces Windows, its response to Apple’s GUI. Commodore unveils the
Amiga 1000, which features advanced audio and video capabilities.

1985: The first dot-com domain name is registered on March 15, years before the World Wide
Web would mark the formal beginning of Internet history. The Symbolics Computer Company, a
small Massachusetts computer manufacturer, registers Symbolics.com. More than two years
later, only 100 dot-coms had been registered.

1986: Compaq brings the Deskpro 386 to market. Its 32-bit architecture provides as speed
comparable to mainframes.

1990: Tim Berners-Lee, a researcher at CERN, the high-energy physics laboratory in Geneva,
develops HyperText Markup Language (HTML), giving rise to the World Wide Web.

1993: The Pentium microprocessor advances the use of graphics and music on PCs.
1994: PCs become gaming machines as "Command & Conquer," "Alone in the Dark 2," "Theme
Park," "Magic Carpet," "Descent" and "Little Big Adventure" are among the games to hit the
market.

1996: Sergey Brin and Larry Page develop the Google search engine at Stanford University.

1997: Microsoft invests $150 million in Apple, which was struggling at the time, ending Apple’s
court case against Microsoft in which it alleged that Microsoft copied the “look and feel” of its
operating system.

1999: The term Wi-Fi becomes part of the computing language and users begin connecting to
the Internet without wires.

2001: Apple unveils the Mac OS X operating system, which provides protected memory
architecture and pre-emptive multi-tasking, among other benefits. Not to be outdone, Microsoft
rolls out Windows XP, which has a significantly redesigned GUI.

2003: The first 64-bit processor, AMD’s Athlon 64, becomes available to the consumer market.

2004: Mozilla’s Firefox 1.0 challenges Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, the dominant Web browsers.
Facebook, a social networking site, launches.

2005: YouTube, a video sharing service, is founded. Google acquires Android, a Linux-based
mobile phone operating system.

2006: Apple introduces the MacBook Pro, its first Intel-based, dual-core mobile computer, as
well as an Intel-based iMac. Nintendo’s Wii game console hits the market.

2007: The iPhone brings many computer functions to the

smartphone.

2009: Microsoft launches Windows 7, which offers the

ability to pin applications to the taskbar and advances in
touch and handwriting recognition, among other
features.

2010: Apple unveils the iPad, changing the way

The handy little device introduced by consumers view media and jumpstarting the dormant
Apple CEO Steve Jobs not only brings tablet computer segment.
together internet access, a regular cell
phone, camera and media player, it 2011: Google releases the Chromebook, a laptop that
supports a wide variety of third party
runs the Google Chrome OS.
applications, or apps, that supply
everything from recipes to maps of the 2012: Facebook gains 1 billion users on October 4.
night sky, and wraps it all in a seek,
glossy exterior. 2015: Apple releases the Apple Watch. Microsoft releases
Windows 10.