8aAriel

Differential machine

1786

The first of these devices was conceived in 1786 by Johann Helfrich von Müller but was never built. The differential machine was forgotten and years later rediscovered, in 1822, by Charles Babbage, who proposed it in a communication to the Royal Astronomical Society on June 14, entitled "Note on the use of machinery for the computation of very mathematical tables. large ".3 This machine used the decimal numbering system and was operated by means of a crank.

First Computer

1822

In 1822, Charles Babbage conceptualized and began developing the Difference Engine, considered to be the first automatic computing machine. The Difference Engine was capable of computing several sets of numbers and making hard copies of the results. Unfortunately, because of funding, Babbage was never able to complete a full-scale functional version of this machine.

Analog Computer

1873

The earliest analog computers were special-purpose machines, as for example the tide predictor developed in 1873 by William Thomson (later known as Lord Kelvin). Along the same lines, A.A. Michelson and S.W. Stratton built in 1898 a harmonic analyzer (q.v.) having 80 components.

Enigma Machine

1920

The Enigma family included multiple designs. The earliest were commercial models dating from the early 1920s. Starting in the mid-1920s, the German military began to use Enigma, making a number of security-related changes. Various nations either adopted or adapted the design for their own cipher machines. An estimated 100,000 Enigma machines were constructed.

Digital Computer

1939

John V. Atanasoff, an American mathematician and physicist, is credited with building the first electronic digital computer, which he constructed from 1939 to 1942 with the assistance of his graduate student Clifford E. Berry. Konrad Zuse, a German engineer acting in virtual isolation from developments elsewhere, completed construction in 1941 of the first

Programming Languages

1942

The first high-level programming language was Plankalkül, created by Konrad Zuse between 1942 and 1945. The first high-level language to have an associated compiler, was created by Corrado Böhm in 1951, for his PhD thesis

Integrated Circuits

1949

With the limitations in mind, German engineer Werner Jacobi filed a patent in 1949 for a semiconductor that operated similarly to the current integrated circuit. Jacobi lined up five transistors and used them in a three-stage arrangement on an amplifier. The result as Jacobi recognized was the ability to shrink devices such as hearing aids and make them cheaper to produce.

Operating System

1956

The first operating system was created by General Motors in 1956 to run a single IBM mainframe computer. Other IBM mainframe owners followed suit and created their own operating systems. As you can imagine, the earliest operating systems varied wildly from one computer to the next, and while they did make it easier to write programs, they did not allow programs to be used on more than one mainframe without a complete rewrite.

Sputnik 1 (First Satellite)

1957

Sputnik 1 was the first artificial Earth satellite. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit on 4 October 1957, orbiting for three weeks before its batteries died, then silently for two more months before falling back into the atmosphere. It was a 58 cm (23 in) diameter polished metal sphere, with four external radio antennas to broadcast radio pulses.

Terminals

1963

Teletype Corporation's Model 33 terminal, introduced in 1963, was one of the most popular terminals in the data-communications industry. Over a half-million Model 32s and 33s were made by 1975, and the 500,000th was plated with gold and placed on special exhibit.Another 100,000 were made in the next 18 months, and Serial Number 600,000, manufactured in 1976.

Desktops

1970

It was not until the 1970s when fully programmable computers appeared that could fit entirely on top of a desk. 1970 saw the introduction of the Datapoint 2200, a "smart" computer terminal complete with keyboard and monitor, was designed to connect with a mainframe computer but that didn't stop owners from using its built in computational abilities as a stand alone desktop computer.

Wifi

1971

In 1971, ALOHAnet connected the Hawaiian Islands with a UHF wireless packet network. ALOHAnet and the ALOHA protocol were early forerunners to Ethernet, and later the IEEE 802.11 protocols, respectively. Vic Hayes is often regarded as the “father of Wi-Fi.” He started such work in 1974 when he joined NCR Corp., now part of semiconductor components maker Agere Systems.

Processors

1971

The Intel 4004 was released in 1971 and was the first stand-alone computer processor. It was a 4-bit chip and had 2,300 transistors. Both the Central Air Data Computer and the Texas Instruments TMS 1000 were created around this time, but neither were sold as an individual processor.

Video Game Consoles

1972

In 1972, Magnavox released the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home video game console which could be connected to a TV set. Ralph Baer's initial design had called for a huge row of switches that would allow players to turn on and off certain components of the console (the Odyssey lacked a CPU) to create slightly different games like tennis, volleyball, hockey, and chase.

Social Networks

1978

In 1978, the BBS–or Bulletin Board System, was created. The BBS hosted on personal computers, where users need to dial in via the modem of a host computer, and exchanging data through phone lines to other users. The BBS was the first system that lets users interact with one another through the internet. It was slow, but it was a good start, and only one user could log in at a time.

Smartphones

1992

The first commercially available device that could be properly referred to as a "smartphone" began as a prototype called "Angler" developed by Frank Canova in 1992 while at IBM and demonstrated in November of that year at the COMDEX computer industry trade show.