The Evolution Of Technology

Charles Babbage

Jan 1, 1822

Charles Babbage conceives of a steam-driven calculating machine that would be able to compute tables of numbers.

Herman Hollerith

Jan 1, 1890

Designed a punch card system to calculate the 1880 census, accomplishing in three years and saving the government $5 million.

J.V. Atanasoff

Jan 1, 1937

A professor of physics and mathematics at Iowa State University. trys to build the first computer without gears, cams, belts or shafts.

Clifford Berry & Atanasoff

Jan 1, 1941

design a computer that can solve 29 equations simultaneously, marks the first time a computer can store memory on its own memory.

John Mauchly & J. Presper Eckert

Jan 1, 1944

Two University of Pennsylvania professors build the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator (ENIAC). Considered the grandfather of digital computers, it fills a 20 foot by 40 foot room and has 18,000 vacuum tubes.

Mauchly & Presper

Jan 1, 1946

Mauchly and Presper leave the University of Pennsylvania and receive funding from the Census Bureau to build the UNIVAC, the first commercial computer for business and government applications.

Grace Hopper

Jan 1, 1953

Developed the first computer language, which eventually becomes known as COBOL.

Thomas Johnson Watson, Jr

Jan 1, 1953

son of IBM CEO Thomas Johnson Watson, Sr., conceives the IBM 701 EDPM to help the United Nations keep tabs on Korea during the war.

FORTRAN

Jan 1, 1954

The FORTRAN programming language is born.

Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce

Jan 1, 1958

unveil the integrated circuit, known as the computer chip.

Douglas Engelbart

Jan 1, 1964

shows a prototype of the modern computer, with a mouse and a graphical user interface (GUI). This marks the evolution of the computer from a specialized machine for scientists and mathematicians to technology that is more accessible to the general public.

DRAM

Jan 1, 1970

Newly formed Intel unveils the Intel 1103, the first Dynamic Access Memory (DRAM) chip.

Alan Shugart

Jan 1, 1971

leads a team of IBM engineers who invent the “floppy disk,” allowing data to be shared among computers.

Robert Metcalfe

Jan 1, 1973

a member of the research staff for Xerox, develops Ethernet for connecting multiple computers and other hardware.

IBM 5100

Jan 1, 1975

Becomes the first commercially available portable computer.

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak

Apr 1, 1976

Start Apple Computers on April Fool’s Day and roll out the Apple I, the first computer with a single-circuit board.