Computer History Timeline

300 BC

Pingala: Pingala invented the binary number system

87 BC

Antikythera Mechanism: Built in Rhodes to track movement of the stars

60 AD

Heron of Alexandria: Heron of Alexandria invents machines which follow a series of instructions

724

Liang Ling-Can: Liang Ling-Can invents the first fully mechanical clock

1492

Leonardo da Vinci: Drawings by Leonardo da Vinci depict inventions such as flying machines, including a helicopter, the first mechanical calculator and one of the first programmable robots

1614

John Napier: John Napier invents a system of moveable rods (Napier's Rods) based on logarithms which was able to multiply, divide and calculate square and cube roots

1622

William Oughtred: William Oughtred develops slide rules

1623

Calculating Clock: Invented by Wilhelm Schickard

1642

Blaise Pascal: Blaise Pascal invents the the "Pascaline", a mechanical adding machine

1671

Gottfried Leibniz: Gottfried Leibniz is known as one of the founding fathers of calculus

1801

Joseph-Marie Jacquard: Joseph-Marie Jacquard invents an automatic loom controlled by punched cards

1820

Arithmometer: The Arithmometer was the first mass-produced calculator invented by Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar

1822

Charles Babbage: Charles Babbage designs his first mechanical computer

1834

Analytical Engine: The Analytical Engine was invented by Charles Babbage

1835

Morse code: Samuel Morse invents Morse code

1848

Boolean algebra: Boolean algebra is invented by George Boole

1853

Tabulating Machine: Per Georg Scheutz and his son Edvard invent the Tabulating Machine

1869

William Stanley Jevons: William Stanley Jevons designs a practical logic machine

1878

Ramon Verea: Ramon Verea invents a fast calculator with an internal multiplication table

1880

Alexander Graham Bell: Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone called the Photophone

1884

Comptometer: The Comptometer is an invention of Dorr E. Felt which is operated by pressing keys

1890

Herman Hollerith: Herman Hollerith invents a counting machine which increment mechanical counters

1895

Guglielmo Marconi: Radio signals were invented by Guglielmo Marconi

1896

Tabulating Machine Company: Herman Hollerith forms the Tabulating Machine Company which later becomes IBM

1898

Nikola Tesla: Remote control was invented by Nikola Tesla

1906

Lee De Forest: Lee De Forest invents the electronic tube

1911

IBM: IBM is formed on June 15, 1911

1923

Philo Farnsworth: Television Electronic was invented by Philo Farnsworth

1924

John Logie Baird: Electro Mechanical television system was invented by John Logie Baird

Walther Bothe: Walther Bothe develops the logic gate

1930

Vannevar Bush: Vannevar Bush develops a partly electronic Difference Engine

1931

Kurt Godel: Kurt Godel publishes a paper on the use of a universal formal language

1937

Alan Turing: Alan Turing develops the concept of a theoretical computing machine

1938

Konrad Zuse: Konrad Zuse creates the Z1 Computer a binary digital computer using punch tape

1939

George Stibitz: George Stibitz develops the Complex Number Calculator - a foundation for digital computers

Hewlett Packard: William Hewlett and David Packard start Hewlett Packard

John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry: John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry develop the ABC (Atanasoft-Berry Computer) prototype

1943

Enigma: Adolf Hitler uses the Enigma encryption machine

Colossus: Alan Turing develops the code-breaking machine Colossus

1944

Howard Aiken & Grace Hopper: Howard Aiken and Grace Hopper designed the MARK series of computers at Harvard University

1945

ENIAC: John Presper Eckert & John W. Mauchly: John Presper Eckert & John W. Mauchly develop the ENIAC ( Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer)

Computer Bug: The term computer ‘bug’ as computer bug was first used by Grace Hopper

1946

F.C. Williams: F.C. Williams develops his cathode-ray tube (CRT) storing device the forerunner to random-access memory (RAM)

1947

Pilot ACE: Donald Watts Davies joins Alan Turing to build the fastest digital computer in England at the time, the Pilot ACE

William Shockley: William Shockley invents the transistor at Bell Labs

Douglas Engelbart: Douglas Engelbart theorises on interactive computing with keyboard and screen display instead of on punchcards

1948

Andrew Donald Booth: Andrew Donald Booth invents magnetic drum memory

Frederic Calland Williams & Tom Kilburn: Frederic Calland Williams & Tom Kilburn develop the SSEM "Small Scale Experimental Machine" digital CRT storage which was soon nicknamed the "Baby"

1949

Claude Shannon: Claude Shannon builds the first machine that plays chess

Howard Aiken: Howard Aiken develops the Harvard-MARK III

1950

Hideo Yamachito: The first electronic computer is created in Japan by Hideo Yamachito.

Alan Turing: Alan Turing publishes his paper Computing Machinery and Intelligence which helps create the Turing Test.

1951

LEO: T. Raymond Thompson and John Simmons develop the first business computer, the Lyons Electronic Office (LEO) at Lyons Co.

UNIVAC: UNIVAC I (UNIVersal Automatic Computer I) was introduced - the first commercial computer made in the United States and designed principally by John Presper Eckert & John W. Mauchly

EDVAC: The EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer) begins performing basic tasks. Unlike the ENIAC, it was binary rather than decimal

1953

The IBM 701 becomes available and a total of 19 are sold to the scientific community.

1954

John Backus & IBM: John Backus & IBM develop the FORTRAN Computer Programming Language

1955

Bell Labs introduces its first transistor computer.

1956

Optical fiber was invented by Basil Hirschowitz, C. Wilbur Peters, and Lawrence E. Curtiss

1957

Sputnik I and Sputnik II: Sputnik I and Sputnik II are launched by the Russians

1958

ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) and NASA is formed

Silicon chip: The first integrated circuit, or silicon chip, is produced by the US Jack Kilby & Robert Noyce

1959

Paul Baran: Paul Baran theorises on the "survivability of communication systems under nuclear attack", digital technology and symbiosis between humans and machines

1960

COBOL: The Common Business-Oriented Language (COBOL) programming language is invented.

1961

Unimate: General Motors puts the first industrial robot, Unimate, to work in a New Jersey factory.

1962

The first computer game: The first computer game Spacewar Computer Game invented BY Steve Russell & MIT

1963

The Computer Mouse: Douglas Engelbart invents and patents the first computer mouse (nicknamed the mouse because the tail came out the end)

The American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) is developed to standardize data exchange among computers.

1964

Word processor: IBM introduces the first word processor

BASIC: John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz develop Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Language (BASIC)

1965

Hypertext: Andries van Dam and Ted Nelson coin the term "hypertext"

1967

Floppy Disk: IBM creates the first floppy disk

1969

Seymour Cray: Seymour Cray develops the CDC 7600, the first supercomputer

Gary Starkweather: Gary Starkweather invents the laser printer whilst working with Xerox

ARPANET: The U.S. Department of Defense sets up the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET ) this network was the first building blocks to what the internet is today but originally with the intention of creating a computer network that could withstand any type of disaster.

1970

RAM: Intel introduces the world's first available dynamic RAM ( random-access memory) chip and the first microprocessor, the Intel 4004.

1971

E-mail: E-mail was invented by Ray Tomlinson

Liquid Crystal Display ( LCD ): Liquid Crystal Display ( LCD ) was invented by James Fergason

Pocket calculator: Pocket calculator was invented by Sharp Corporation

Floppy Disk: Floppy Disk was invented by David Noble with IBM - Nicknamed the "Floppy" for its flexibility.

1972

First Video Game: Atari releases Pong, the first commercial video game

The CD: The compact disc is invented in the United States.

1973

Robert Metcalfe and David Boggs: Robert Metcalfe creates the Ethernet, a local-area network (LAN) protocol

Personal computer: The minicomputer Xerox Alto (1973) was a landmark step in the development of personal computers

Gateways: Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn develop gateway routing computers to negotiate between the various national networks

1974

SQL: IBM develops SEQUEL (Structured English Query Language ) now known as SQL

WYSIWYG: Charles Simonyi coins the term WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) to describe the ability of being able to display a file or document exactly how it is going to be printed or viewed

1975

Portable computers: Altair produces the first portable computer

Microsoft Corporation: The Microsoft Corporation was founded April 4, 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800

1976

Apple: Apple Computers was founded Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs

1977

Apple Computer’s Apple II, the first personal computer with color graphics, is demonstrated

MODEM: Ward Christensen writes the programme "MODEM" allowing two microcomputers to exchange files with each other over a phone line

1978

Magnetic tape: The first magnetic tape is developed in the US

1979

Over half a million computers are in use in the United States.

1980

Paul Allen and Bill Gates: IBM hires Paul Allen and Bill Gates to create an operating system for a new PC. They buy the rights to a simple operating system manufactured by Seattle Computer Products and use it as a template to develop DOS.

1981

Microsoft: MS-DOS Computer Operating System increases its success

1982

WordPerfect: WordPerfect Corporation introduces WordPerfect 1.0 a word processing program

Commodore 64: The Commodore 64 becomes the best-selling computer of all time.

SMTP: SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is introduced

1983

More than 10 million computers are in use in the United States

Domain Name System (DNS): Domain Name System (DNS) pioneered by Jon Postel, Paul Mockapetris and Craig Partridge. Seven 'top-level' domain names are initially introduced: edu, com, gov, mil, net, org and int.

Windows: Microsoft Windows introduced eliminating the need for a user to have to type each command, like MS-DOS, by using a mouse to navigate through drop-down menus, tabs and icons

1984

Apple Macintosh: Apple introduces the Macintosh with mouse and window interface

Cyberspace: William Gibson coins the word cyberspace when he publishes Neuromancer

1985

Paul Brainard: Paul Brainard introduces Pagemaker for the Macintosh creating the desktop publishing field.

Nintendo: The Nintendo Entertainment System makes its debut.

1986

More than 30 million computers are in use in the United States.

1987

Microsoft introduces Microsoft Works

Perl: Larry Wall introduces Perl 1.0

1988

Over 45 million PCs are in use in the United States.

1990

The Internet, World Wide Web & Tim Berners-Lee: Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau propose a 'hypertext' system starting the modern Internet

Microsoft and IBM stop working together to develop operating systems

1991

The World Wide Web: The World Wide Web is launched to the public on August 6, 1991

1993

At the beginning of the year only 50 World Wide Web servers are known to exist

1994

The World Wide Web Consortium is founded by Tim Berners-Lee to help with the development of common protocols for the evolution of the World Wide Web

YAHOO: YAHOO is created in April, 1994.

1995

Java: Java is introduced

Amazon: Amazon.com is founded by Jeff Bezos

EBay: EBay is founded by Pierre Omidyar

Hotmail: Hotmail is started by Jack Smith and Sabeer Bhatia.

1996

WebTV: WebTV is introduced

1997

Altavista introduces its free online translator Babel Fish

Microsoft acquires Hotmail

1998

Google: Google is founded by Sergey Brin and Larry Page on September 7, 1998

PayPal is founded by Peter Thiel and Max Levchin

2001

Xbox: Bill Gates introduces the Xbox on January 7th 2001.

2002

Approximately 1 billion PCs been sold

PayPal is acquired by eBay

2005

September 12: eBay acquires Skype