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 | John Backus & IBM
FORTRAN Computer Programming Language | The first successful high level programming language. |
1955
(In Use 1959) | Stanford Research Institute, Bank of America, and General Electric
ERMA and MICR | The first bank industry computer - also MICR (magnetic ink character recognition) 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. |
| 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. |
