A brief history of computing

1. A brief history of computing

2. 2700 B.C.Abacus The Sumerians invented an early form of the abacus that they may have used for simple additional and subtraction. Other civilizations developed their own variations on the basic design over the centuries. The design that is probably most familiar today was invented in China during the 2nd century B.C.

3. 2nd–1st Century B.C. Antikythera Mechanism This mysterious device was found off the coast of Antikythera, a Greek island located on the edge of the Aegean Sea. Most believe that it is a clockwork computer used to calculate the positions of the planets over time, and may have even been used to predict solar eclipses.

4. 1642The Pascaline A mechanical adding machine created by French mathematician Blaise Pascal.

5. 1679Leibniz Invents Modern Binary System Building on binary systems that had been in place for as much as 2,700 years, German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz created the modern system of binary arithmetic that became the foundation for binary systems in computer science.

6. 1801Jacquard Loom Invented Invented in France by Joseph Marie Jacquard, the Jacquard loom was based on earlier designs made in the 18th century. It's most notable feature was that the loom could be programmed using punched cards to produce different patterns in the fabric. Punched cards have been in use for device programming and data storage for various computing devices ever since.

7. 1837Analytical Engine Proposed Charles Babbage, an English mathematician, described a plan for building a device he called the Analytical Engine. The engine was to be a general-purpose mechanical calculator that could be programmed using punched cards (an idea that Babbage borrowed from the Jacquard loom). The device was never built. Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, wrote a paper on Babbage's design that included an algorithm for computing Bernoulli numbers. As a result, she is credited as being the first computer programmer.

8. 1847Creation of Boolean Algebra George Boole, an English mathematician, described what was later termed "Boolean algebra." Boolean algebra represents binary values as true (1) and false (0), and describes how those values interact mathematically. These relationships are a fundamental concept in digital electronics.

9. 1894Vacuum Tube Patented American inventor Thomas Edison patented a design for an early version of the vacuum tube, which is a sort of electrically controlled voltage regulator. Edison did not realize the potential of the device, and did not understand how it worked. Later versions of the design, however, became the core components in computer logic circuits.

10. 1941Z3 Computer German scientist Konrad Zuse introduced the Z3 computer. It was the first programmable computer brought into operation. Zuse wrote the first high-level programming language, Plankalkül(Plan Calculus). The Z3 used a combination of electronic and mechanical components in its logic circuits.

11. 1946eniac ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), the first electronic general-purpose computer, was brought online at the University of Pennsylvania. The computer was programmed by flipping switches and connecting/disconnecting cables. It's original purpose was to generate ballistics tables for artillery, but it was also used in the development of the first hydrogen bomb.

12. 1947Transistor Invented American physicists John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley develop the transistor, a low-voltage, low-heat replacement for vacuum tubes. Computers built with transistors were smaller and more reliable than their predecessors.

13. 1950Simon Simon, developed by American computer scientist Edmund Berkely, is considered by some as the first personal computer. It used punched tape for data entry and displayed results on five lamps. It could perform a few basic math operations, but its memory only allowed it to work with the numbers 0 through 3. It's primary purpose was as a technology demonstrator.

14. 1951UNIVAC I The UNIVAC I (UNIVersal Automatic Computer I) was introduced by the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Company (Eckert and Mauchly helped build the ENIAC). This was the first computer designed for general business use.

15. 1959Patent File on First Integrated Circuit The integrated circuit, or microchip, combines several electronic components on a single semi-conductor substrate. ICs are smaller, more modular, and easier to replace than individual components. ICs have replaced vacuum tubes and individual transistors in most applications.

16. 1969ARPANET is Deployed ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency NETwork) was deployed to link universities and research centers working on projects for the United States Department of Defense (DoD). ARPANET was one of the first packet switch networks, and was the precursor to the global Internet. It was succeeded in 1990 by the NSFNET, which was in turn succeeded by the Internet in 1995.

17. 1970Datapoint 2200 The Datapoint 2200 was the first device that resembled a modern personal computer. It had a keyboard, integrated display and optional 8-inch floppy drives.

18. 1970kenbak-1 The Kenbak-1 is considered by most to be the first true personal computer. It lacked the familiar interface of a modern personal computer, but was priced more affordably than more sophisticated systems like the Datapoint 2200.

19. 1971Intel 4004 Intel produced the Intel 4004, the first central processing unit (CPU) on a single chip. A CPU is a component that executes a computer program.

20. 1977The “1977 Trinity” The Commodore PET, Apple II and TRS-80 Model I computers were introduced by Commodore International, Apple Computer and Tandy Corporation, respectively. Each represented the first full-featured offering of their companies. All three companies were major forces in the personal computer industry through the mid-1990s. Only Apple Computer still manufactures computers today.

21. 1981IBM-PC IBM's first entry into the personal computer market. It's open design allowed third-party vendors to produce add-on components to extend the computer's base capabilities. Computers made by other manufacturers that are based on this original design dominate the personal computer market today.

22. 1983Apple Lisa The Lisa, named after Steve Job's daughter, was the first mass-production personal computer that featured a graphical user interface (GUI). It was a commercial failure due to its high price and slow performance.

23. 1984Apple Macintosh The Macintosh provided a GUI similar to the Lisa, but at one-third the cost and better performance.

24. 1985Windows 1.0 The original Windows operating system was actually a shell that ran under MS-DOS, the operating system that Microsoft wrote to run on the IBM-PC and compatibles. Unlike most familiar GUIs, Windows 1.0 displayed "windows" as non-overlapping tiles.

25. 1989World Wide Web Proposed Tim Berners-Lee, a British computer scientist, wrote his first draft of a proposal to CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) to establish the World Wide Web. This included the specification for a new markup language called HyperText Markup Language (HTML), which is the markup language used by web pages.

26. 1989Work Begins on HPCA Senator Albert Gore, Jr. of Tennessee began working on a bill that became the High Performance Computing Act of 1991 (HPCA). This bill continued the work to build a national network infrastructure, a started by ARPANET.

27. 1991HPCA Enacted President George H. W. Bush enacted the HPCA, ushering in the establishment of the modern Internet.

28. 1993NCSA Mosaic Released NCSA Mosaic was an early web browser. It influenced the design of all the popular web browsers in use today.