Computer History Timeline

Comp 1
(Basic Computer)
500 B.C. - Abacus
invented by the
Babylonians
sometime between
500 B.C. and 100
B.C.
used solely for
counting.

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1621 – Slide Rule
Used primarily to
perform
multiplication,
division, square
roots, and
calculation of
logarithms, its wide-
spread use continued
until the 1970s.

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1642 – Pascaline Arithmetic Machine
invented by Blaise
Pascal
had the capacity for
eight digits and could
add and subtract.

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1804 – Jacquard’s Machine
Joseph-Marie
Jacquard built a
loom that read holes
punched on a series
of small sheets of
hardwood to control
the weave of the
pattern.

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1834 – Analytical Engine
 A programmable
calculator designed by
British scientist
Charles Babbage.
 Although never
completed, it was a
major advance in
computing because it
contained the
principles of the stored
program computer.

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1890 – Hollerith’s Machine
The first
automatic data
processing system.
It was used to
count the 1890
U.S. census.
Developed by
Herman
Hollerith
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1936 – Z1 computer
The Z1 was a mechanical
computer designed by
Konrad Zuse from 1935
to 1936 and built by him
from 1936 to 1938.
was the first freely
programmable computer
in the world which used
Boolean logic and binary
floating point numbers,
however it was
unreliable in operation.

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1937 – ABC
Dr. John V.
Atanasoff and
Clifford Berry
designed and built
ABC (Atanasoff-
Berry Computer), the
world’s first
electronic computer.

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1944 – Mark I
The Mark I,
considered to be the
first digital
computer, was
introduced by IBM.
Headed by Howard
Aiken and Grace
Hopper

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1946 – ENIAC
Electronic Numerical
Integrator And Computer
(ENIAC) was the first
electronic general-purpose
computer. It was designed
to calculate artillery firing
tables for the United States
Army's Ballistic Research
Laboratory.
Developed by John
Presper Eckert & John
W. Mauchly

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1947 – Transistors
John Bardeen, Walter
Brattain, and William
Shockley invented the
transistor, which had the
same capabilities as a
vacuum tube but was faster,
broke less often, used less
power, and created less
heat. They won a Nobel
Prize for their invention in
1956 and computers began
to be built with transistors
shortly afterwards.

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1951 – UNIVAC
The UNIVAC 1,
the first computer
to be mass
produced for
general use, was
introduced by
Remington Rand.

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1953 – IBM 701
The IBM 701, known
as the Defense
Calculator while in
development, was
announced to the
public on April 29,
1952, and was IBM’s
first commercial
scientific computer.

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1957 – FORTRAN
FORTRAN or
formula translation
was the first high
level programming
language (software)
invented by John
Backus for IBM in
1954, and released
commercially in
1957.

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1958 – Integrated Circuit (IC)
Kilby used germanium and
Noyce used silicon for the
semiconductor material.
In 1959 both parties applied
for patents. Jack Kilby and
Texas Instruments received
U.S. patent #3,138,743 for
miniaturized electronic
circuits. Robert Noyce and
the Fairchild Semiconductor
Corporation received U.S.
patent #2,981,877 for a
silicon based integrated
circuit. 

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1962 – Spacewar
 It was in 1962 when a young
computer programmer from
MIT, Steve Russell fueled with
inspiration from the writings of
E. E. "Doc" Smith, led the team
that created the first popular
computer game.
 Steve Russell transferred to
Stanford University, where he
introduced computer game
programming and Spacewar to
an engineering student called
Nolan Bushnell. Bushnell went
on to write the first coin-
operated computer arcade game
and start Atari Computers.

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1964 – Mouse
In 1964, the first
prototype computer
mouse was made to use
with a graphical user
interface. Douglas
Engelbart's computer
mouse received patent #
3,541,541 on November
17, 1970 for a "X-Y
Position Indicator For A
Display System"

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1969 – ARPANet
On a cold war kind of day, in
swinging 1969, work began on
the ARPAnet, grandfather to the
Internet.
Under ARPAnet several major
innovations occurred: email (or
electronic mail), the ability to
send simple messages to another
person across the network (1971);
telnet, a remote connection
service for controlling a computer
(1972); and file transfer protocol
(FTP), which allows information
to be sent from one computer to
another in bulk (1973).

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1970 – Intel 1103 Computer Memory
Intelreleases the
1103 chip, the first
generally available
DRAM memory chip.
The first
commercially
available computer
using the 1103 was
the HP 9800 series.

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1971 – Intel 4004
In November, 1971, a
company called Intel
publicly introduced
the world's first single
chip microprocessor,
the Intel 4004 (U.S.
Patent #3,821,715),
invented by Intel
engineers Federico
Faggin, Ted Hoff, and
Stanley Mazor.

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1971 – Floppy Disk
The "floppy" was
invented by IBM
engineers led by Alan
Shugart.
The first floppy was an
8-inch flexible plastic
disk coated with
magnetic iron oxide;
computer data was
written to and read
from the disk's surface.

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1972 – Seymour Cray
The “Father of
Supercomputing”,
founded Cray
Research, which
would go on to build
some of the fastest
computers in the
world.

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1973 – Ethernet Computer Networking

The Ethernet is a
system for connecting
computers within a
building using
hardware running
from machine to
machine.
Invented by Robert
Metcalfe of Xerox.

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1975 – Bill Gates & Paul Allen

They wrote a version of BASIC for the Altair,

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1976 – Apple Computer
Steve Wozniak and
Steve Jobs’ founded
Apple computer and
released Apple I (a
single-board
computer), followed
by Apple II (a
complete personal
computer that became
an instant success in
1977).
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1978 – VisiCalc
The first electronic
spreadsheet and
business program for
personal computers.
Developed by Dan
Bricklin and Bob
Frankston of
Software Arts Inc.

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1979 – WordStar

The first word processor software developed

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1980 - Diskette

Sony Electronics introduced the 3.5-inch

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1980 – Compact Disk
Itcomes in several
varieties including CD-
ROM, CD-R, and CD-
RW.
James Russell invented
the compact disk in
1965.
However, the compact
disk did not become
popular until it was mass
manufactured by Philips
in 1980.

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1981 – IBM PC & MS-DOS
IBM introduced the
IBM PC. This DOS-
based PC used a 4.77
MHz 8088 CPU with
64 KB of RAM and
quickly became the
standard for business
personal computers.

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1982 – Year of the Computers
Intelintroduced
80286 CPU.
TIME magazine
named the computer
its “Machine of the
Year” for 1982,
emphasizing the
importance the
computer had already
reached

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1983 – Microsoft Windows

The first version of Microsoft Windows, a

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1984 – Apple Macintosh
Itfeatured a simple,
graphical user
interface, used an 8
MHz, 32-bit
Motorola 68000
CPU, and had a
built-in 9-inch black
and white screen.

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1985 – Intel386 CPU

1986 – Pixar

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1989 – Intel486 & WWW
Intelintroduced the
Intel486 chip, the
world’s first million
transistor CPU.

Tim Berners-Lee
invented the world
wide web (www).

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1993 – Pentium CPU & Mosaic
Intel introduced Pentium CPU.

National Center for

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1994 - Linux
Linus Torvalds
created Linux, which
launched the open
source revolution.

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1997: Microsoft invests $150 million in
Apple, which was struggling at the time,
ending Apple’s court case against
Microsoft in which it alleges 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.
2000: Sony release the PlayStation 2.

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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.

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2004: Mozilla’s Firefox 1.0 challenges
Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, the dominant
web browers.
2006: Apple introduces the MacBook Pro,
its first Intel-based, dual-core mobile
computer, as well as an Intel-based iMac.
Nintendo’s Wiihits the market.
2007: The iPhone brings many computer
functions to the smartphone.

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

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References
Computer Hope (2015). When was the first computer invented.
Retrieved on June 29, 2015 from
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000984.htm.
Jemma Development Group. (2010). Visual guide : discovering
computers(2nd ed.). Philippines: Jemma, Inc.
Morley, D. (2011). Understanding computers in a changing
society(4th ed.). Australia: Course Technology, Cengage
Learning.
Soriano, M. (2010).Computer fundamentals. Intramuros, Manila:
Mindshapers Co., Inc.
Zimmermann, K.A. (2012, June 4). History of computing. Retrieved
on June 29, 2015 from
http://www.livescience.com/20718-computer-
history.html.

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