history of computing is a timeline of how 1941: Atanasoff and his graduate student,

computers evolved from their humble Clifford Berry, design a computer that can
beginnings to the machines of today that solve 29 equations simultaneously. This
surf the Internet, play games and stream marks the first time a computer is able to
multimedia in addition to crunching store information on its main memory.
numbers.
1943-1944: Two University of Pennsylvania
1801: In France, Joseph Marie Jacquard professors, John Mauchly and J. Presper
invents a loom that uses punched wooden Eckert, build the Electronic Numerical
cards to automatically weave fabric designs. Integrator and Calculator (ENIAC).
Early computers would use similar punch Considered the grandfather of digital
cards. computers, it fills a 20-foot by 40-foot room
and has 18,000 vacuum tubes.
1822: English mathematician Charles
Babbage conceives of a steam-driven 1946: Mauchly and Presper leave the
calculating machine that would be able to University of Pennsylvania and receive
compute tables of numbers. The project, funding from the Census Bureau to build
funded by the English government, is a the UNIVAC, the first commercial computer
failure. More than a century later, however, for business and government applications.
the world's first computer was actually
built. 1947: William Shockley, John Bardeen and
Walter Brattain of Bell Laboratories invent
1890: Herman Hollerith designs a punch the transistor. They discovered how to
card system to calculate the 1880 census, make an electric switch with solid materials
accomplishing the task in just three years and no need for a vacuum.
and saving the government $5 million. He
establishes a company that would 1953: Grace Hopper develops the first
ultimately become IBM. computer language, which eventually
becomes known as COBOL. Thomas
1936: Alan Turing presents the notion of a Johnson Watson Jr., son of IBM CEO
universal machine, later called the Turing Thomas Johnson Watson Sr., conceives the
machine, capable of computing anything IBM 701 EDPM to help the United Nations
that is computable. The central concept of keep tabs on Korea during the war.
the modern computer was based on his
ideas. 1954: The FORTRAN programming
language, an acronym for FORmula
1937: J.V. Atanasoff, a professor of physics TRANslation, is developed by a team of
and mathematics at Iowa State University, programmers at IBM led by John Backus,
attempts to build the first computer according to the University of Michigan.
without gears, cams, belts or shafts.
1958: Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce unveil
1939: Hewlett-Packard is founded by David the integrated circuit, known as the
Packard and Bill Hewlett in a Palo Alto, computer chip. Kilby was awarded the
California, garage, according to the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2000 for his work.
Computer History Museum.
1964: Douglas Engelbart shows a prototype On April 4, after the success of this first
of the modern computer, with a mouse and endeavor, the two childhood friends form
a graphical user interface (GUI). This marks their own software company, Microsoft.
the evolution of the computer from a
specialized machine for scientists and 1976: Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak start
mathematicians to technology that is more Apple Computers on April Fool's Day and
accessible to the general public. roll out the Apple I, the first computer with
a single-circuit board, according to Stanford
1969: A group of developers at Bell Labs University.
produce UNIX, an operating system that
addressed compatibility issues. Written in The TRS-80, introduced in 1977, was one of
the C programming language, UNIX was the first machines whose documentation
portable across multiple platforms and was intended for non-geeks (Image credit:
became the operating system of choice Radioshack)
among mainframes at large companies and 1977: Radio Shack's initial production run of
government entities. Due to the slow the TRS-80 was just 3,000. It sold like crazy.
nature of the system, it never quite gained For the first time, non-geeks could write
traction among home PC users. programs and make a computer do what
1970: The newly formed Intel unveils the they wished.
Intel 1103, the first Dynamic Access 1977: Jobs and Wozniak incorporate Apple
Memory (DRAM) chip. and show the Apple II at the first West
1971: Alan Shugart leads a team of IBM Coast Computer Faire. It offers color
engineers who invent the "floppy disk," graphics and incorporates an audio cassette
allowing data to be shared among drive for storage.
computers. 1978: Accountants rejoice at the
1973: Robert Metcalfe, a member of the introduction of VisiCalc, the first
research staff for Xerox, develops Ethernet computerized spreadsheet program.
for connecting multiple computers and 1979: Word processing becomes a reality as
other hardware. MicroPro International releases WordStar.
1974-1977: A number of personal "The defining change was to add margins
computers hit the market, including Scelbi and word wrap," said creator Rob Barnaby
& Mark-8 Altair, IBM 5100, Radio Shack's in email to Mike Petrie in 2000. "Additional
TRS-80 — affectionately known as the changes included getting rid of command
"Trash 80" — and the Commodore PET. mode and adding a print function. I was the
technical brains — I figured out how to do
1975: The January issue of Popular it, and did it, and documented it. "
Electronics magazine features the Altair
8080, described as the "world's first The first IBM personal computer,
minicomputer kit to rival commercial introduced on Aug. 12, 1981, used the MS-
models." Two "computer geeks," Paul Allen DOS operating system. (Image credit: IBM)
and Bill Gates, offer to write software for
the Altair, using the new BASIC language.
1981: The first IBM personal computer, 1993: The Pentium microprocessor
code-named "Acorn," is introduced. It uses advances the use of graphics and music on
Microsoft's MS-DOS operating system. It PCs.
has an Intel chip, two floppy disks and an
optional color monitor. Sears & Roebuck 1994: PCs become gaming machines as
and Computerland sell the machines, "Command & Conquer," "Alone in the Dark
marking the first time a computer is 2," "Theme Park," "Magic Carpet,"
available through outside distributors. It "Descent" and "Little Big Adventure" are
also popularizes the term PC. among the games to hit the market.

1983: Apple's Lisa is the first personal 1996: Sergey Brin and Larry Page develop
computer with a GUI. It also features a the Google search engine at Stanford
drop-down menu and icons. It flops but University.
eventually evolves into the Macintosh. The 1997: Microsoft invests $150 million in
Gavilan SC is the first portable computer Apple, which was struggling at the time,
with the familiar flip form factor and the ending Apple's court case against Microsoft
first to be marketed as a "laptop." in which it alleged that Microsoft copied the
1985: Microsoft announces Windows, "look and feel" of its operating system.
according to Encyclopedia Britannica. This 1999: The term Wi-Fi becomes part of the
was the company's response to Apple's GUI. computing language and users begin
Commodore unveils the Amiga 1000, which connecting to the Internet without wires.
features advanced audio and video
capabilities. 2001: Apple unveils the Mac OS X operating
system, which provides protected memory
1985: The first dot-com domain name is architecture and pre-emptive multi-tasking,
registered on March 15, years before the among other benefits. Not to be outdone,
World Wide Web would mark the formal Microsoft rolls out Windows XP, which has a
beginning of Internet history. The Symbolics significantly redesigned GUI.
Computer Company, a small Massachusetts
computer manufacturer, registers 2003: The first 64-bit processor, AMD's
Symbolics.com. More than two years later, Athlon 64, becomes available to the
only 100 dot-coms had been registered. consumer market.

1986: Compaq brings the Deskpro 386 to 2004: Mozilla's Firefox 1.0 challenges
market. Its 32-bit architecture provides as Microsoft's Internet Explorer, the dominant
speed comparable to mainframes. Web browser. Facebook, a social
networking site, launches.
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 2005: YouTube, a video sharing service, is
Wide Web. founded. Google acquires Android, a Linux-
based mobile phone operating system.
2006: Apple introduces the MacBook Pro, information storage and processing," Anne
its first Intel-based, dual-core mobile Fischer, program manager in DARPA's
computer, as well as an Intel-based iMac. Defense Sciences Office, said in a
Nintendo's Wii game console hits the statement. "Millions of molecules exist, and
market. each molecule has a unique three-
dimensional atomic structure as well as
2007: The iPhone brings many computer variables such as shape, size, or even color.
functions to the smartphone. This richness provides a vast design space
2009: Microsoft launches Windows 7, which for exploring novel and multi-value ways to
offers the ability to pin applications to the encode and process data beyond the 0s and
taskbar and advances in touch and 1s of current logic-based, digital
handwriting recognition, among other architectures." [Computers of the Future
features. May Be Minuscule Molecular Machines]

2010: Apple unveils the iPad, changing the

way consumers view media and
jumpstarting the dormant tablet computer
segment.

2011: Google releases the Chromebook, a

laptop that runs the Google Chrome OS.

2012: Facebook gains 1 billion users on

October 4.

2015: Apple releases the Apple Watch.

Microsoft releases Windows 10.

2016: The first reprogrammable quantum

computer was created. "Until now, there
hasn't been any quantum-computing
platform that had the capability to program
new algorithms into their system. They're
usually each tailored to attack a particular
algorithm," said study lead author Shantanu
Debnath, a quantum physicist and optical
engineer at the University of Maryland,
College Park.

2017: The Defense Advanced Research

Projects Agency (DARPA) is developing a
new "Molecular Informatics" program that
uses molecules as computers. "Chemistry
offers a rich set of properties that we may
be able to harness for rapid, scalable