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Difference Engine
The difference engine is an early calculating machine and was approaching to be the first computer. It was able to compute tables of numbers. -
Tabulating Machine
The Tabulating Machine is an electromechanical machine which uses a punch hole system in order to aid in summarizing information. It was used to calculate the 1890 census, successfully completing the task in 3 years, saving the government $5 million U.S. dollars. -
The Turing machine
Computer scientist Alan Turing presents the concept of a machine, later named the Turing machine, which can compute anything that is computable. This is partly what inspired the modern day computers. -
Atanasoff Berry Computer
The Atanasoff Berry Computer was invented by J.V. Atanasoff and his graduate student Clifford Berry. It was the first computer to be able to store information in its own memory. -
The Colossus
The first Colossus, which was designed by British engineer Tommy Flowers, was operational in 1944, but its existence was unknown until the 1970s. The Colossus was used to decrypt the complex Lorenz ciphers used by the Nazis during World War II. -
Transistor
A Transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify and switch electronic signals and electronic power. It was developed by American physicists John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley and revolutionized the field of electronic technology by allowing smaller and more affordable radios, calculators, computers, etc, to be produced. -
Z1
The Z1 was the world's first binary digital computer, invented by Konrad Zuse. To read instructions, a punch hole system was used. -
COBOL
Grace Hopper develops COBOL, the first computer language, which is used in finance, business and administrative systems for companies and the government. -
Computer chip
Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce invent the very first computer chip, also known as the integrated circuit. Kilby was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for his work in that field. The computer chip a set of electronic circuits on a small plate of semiconductory material, generally silicon; it is an essential component of the modern day computer. -
Prototype of the modern computer
Douglas Engelbart shows a prototype of the modern computer with a mouse and a graphical user interface, marking the evolution of the computer from being specialized equipment for scientists and mathematicians, to a machine that is more accessible to the public. -
UNIX
A group of developers in Bell Labs create UNIX, an operating system which adresses compatibility issues. UNIX is written in hte C programming language and was a popular choice amonst mainframes at large companies and the government, but due to its slow speed, it did not gain the liking of home PC users. -
Floppy disk
Alan Shugart leads a group of IBM engineers who invent the first floppy disk. This allowed data to be shared among computers. -
Ethernet
Robert Metcalfe, a member of the research staff for XEROX, develops Ethernet, allowing a number of computer systems to connect to form a local network. This invention is still used today -
Apple
Apple was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne, to develop and sell computers. The 39 year old company was founded in Cupertino, California. -
XEROX NoteTaker
The XEROX NoteTaker was the first portable computer and was developed at Xerox PARC in Palo Alto, California. It included a monochrome display monitor, a floppy disc drive and a mouse, weighing at at 22kg. -
Apple I
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak begin Apple computers and create the Apple I; the first computer with a single circuit board, -
WordStar
Word processing finally becomes a reality as MicroPro International realeases WordStar. -
Dot com
In March, 1985, the first dot com domain name was registered, way before the world wide web was created. -
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web, or W3, was invented in 1989 by Tim Berners Lee. It is a web space where documents and other web sources can be accessed by URLs. -
WiFi
WiFi was invented in 1991, enabling users to access the internet without the use of any wires. Although it was invented in 1991, it only became part of computing language after a few years time. -
Google
Google was founded in 1998, but the search engine was developed by Sergey Brin and Larry Page at Stanford University 1996. Google has now become the most used search engine in the world.
