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The first commercial computer in the U.S
The UNIVAC I (UNIVersal Automatic Computer I) also known as the ERA 1101 was the first commercial computer developed in the U.S. It was originally drafted by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, but built by Remington-Rand, and was created for high-speed computing, as it stored 1 million bits on its magnetic drum. The UNIVAC I can be regarded as being highly significant for the way computing technology today works as it was one of the earliest magnetic storage devices. -
Creation of the first graphical computer game
Alexander Douglas (1921-2010) was a British Cambridge university student who designed one of the earliest computer games on an EDSAC computer -a version of Tic-Tac-Toe, which he named 'OXO'. OXO allowed a player to choose to start or to allow the machine to make the first move of the game. Using a rotary telephone dial to enter moves, the EDSAC would display the game board on a 35 x 15 dot cathode ray tube. This creation sparked the some of the first developments of computer gaming. -
IBM 650 'magnetic drum calculator' introduced
Frank E. Hamilton (1898-1972) created the IBM 650, which was the first mass-produced computer in the U.S. The IBM 650´s magnetic data-storage drum allowed much faster access to stored information than other drum-based machines, and was used primarily by military and government personnel during the midst of the cold war. It was also popular with university students for early programming learning. -
Hard Disk Drive invented
The hard disk was invented in 1956 when it was first introduced by the tech company IBM, in which a team led by Rey Johnson (1906-1998), introduced the 305 RAMAC system, which is acknowledged as being the first computer to feature what we know now as a hard drive, a key component of the hardware in modern computers, used for long term memory storage.. -
First computer scanned image
American engineer, Robert Kirsch(1929-2020) used a Standards Eastern Automatic Computer (SEAC), to design a rotating drum scanner, that allowed him to digitalize an image of his son. The image itself was a 5x5 cm black and white shot, and was the first of it's kind to be scanned into a computer. This was one of the earliest applications of combining computers and image creation. -
RCA'S model 501 computer created
American electronic company RCA introduced its model 501 transistorized computer, designed by John Vassos (1898-1985) in 1958 who created the computer with a modular design strategy, constructing the computer and its components as a whole system, rather than individual units. It is hugely influential in the way it could simultaneously control large databases of information and used color coding to assist the machine in running orderly,- which are some known features of desktop computers today. -
ERMA is designed
Under leadership of computer scientist Jerre Noe (1993-2007), SRI international designed ERMA (Electronic Recording Machine, Accounting), for The Bank of America. The machine itself digitized checking by creating a computer-readable font, reducing the time needed to process hand written checks by 80%. This invention is of great importance, as it was one of the world's first successful computers for business application and helped paved the way for the digital credit/debit cards we use today.
