Internet

A Historic Timeline for Technology as it Applies to Education

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    History of Technology

  • Mechanical Calculation

    Mechanical Calculation
    Blaise Pascal invents the the "Pascaline" mechanical adding machine
  • Punch Cards

    Punch Cards
    Joseph-Marie Jacquard invents an automatic loom controlled by punched cards
  • First mass-produced calculator

    First mass-produced calculator
    The Arithmometer was the first mass-produced calculator invented by Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar
  • Telecommunication Begins

    Samuel Morse invents Morse code
  • Automated Tabulation Begins

    Georg Scheutz and his son Edvard invent the Tabulating Machine
  • Tele Voice Communication Begins

    Tele Voice Communication Begins
    Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone called the Photophone
  • Data Base is Born

    Herman Hollerith invents a counting machine which increment mechanical counters
  • Video Communication Begins

    Lee De Forest invents the electronic tube
  • Sets of numbers electrically generated, logarithmic functions

    Vannevar Bush develops a partly electronic Difference Engine
  • Universal Formal Language Conceived

    Kurt Godel publishes a paper on the use of a universal formal language
  • The foundation for digital computers

    George Stibitz develops the Complex Number Calculator
  • ENIAC The First Partially Electronic Computer

    John Presper Eckert & John W. Mauchly: John Presper Eckert & John W. Mauchly develop the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer
  • Random Access memory RAM

    F.C. Williams develops his cathode-ray tube (CRT) storing device the forerunner to random-access memory (RAM)
  • Portable Radio Circuits

    William Shockley invents the transistor at Bell Labs
  • Key Board and Screen Displayed Conceptualized

    Douglas Engelbart theorises on interactive computing with keyboard and screen display instead of on punchcards
  • Digital CRT storage, the "Baby"

    Frederic Calland Williams & Tom Kilburn develop the SSEM "Small Scale Experimental Machine"
  • The first electronic computer is created

    Hideo Yamachito, Japan
  • UNIVAC I (UNIVersal Automatic Computer I) was introduced

    The first commercial computer made in the United States and designed principally by John Presper Eckert & John W. Mauchly
  • EDVAC:

    The EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer) begins performing basic tasks. Unlike the ENIAC, it was binary rather than decimal
  • First Computer Programming Language

    First Computer Programming Language
    John Backus & IBM develop the FORTRAN Computer Programming Language
  • The first transistor computer

    Bell Labs introduces its first transistor computer.
  • High Speed Internet Access becomes possible

    Optical fiber was invented by Basil Hirschowitz, C. Wilbur Peters, and Lawrence E. Curtiss
  • ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) and NASA is formed

    Reaction to Soviet Space program Sputnik
  • The first integrated circuit is produced

    Silicon chip: The first integrated circuit, or silicon chip, is produced by the US
  • Need to rethink symbiosis between humans and computers become apparent.

    Paul Baran theorizes on the "survivability of communication systems under nuclear attack", digital technology and symbiosis between humans and machines
  • A second less complex programming language is invented.

    COBOL: The Common Business-Oriented Language (COBOL)
  • Computer Gaming Begins

    The first computer game: The first computer game Spacewar Computer Game invented BY Steve Russell & MIT
  • The Computer Mouse is Patented

    The Computer Mouse: Douglas Engelbart invents and patents the first computer mouse (nicknamed the mouse because the tail came out the end)
  • Standardize data exchange among computers is developed.

    The American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) is developed to standardize data exchange among computers.
  • The Word processor is introduced

    IBM introduces the first word processor
  • Third Far Less Complex Language is Introduced

    BASIC: John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz develop Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Language (BASIC)
  • Hypertext

    Andries van Dam and Ted Nelson coin the term "hypertext"
  • The first supercomputer

    ARPANET: The U.S. Department of Defense sets up (ARPANET ) this network was
  • The Internet

    The first building blocks to what the internet is today but originally with the intention of creating a computer network that could withstand any type of disaster.
  • RAM

    Intel introduces the world's first available dynamic RAM ( random-access memory) chip and the first microprocessor, the Intel 4004.
  • eMail

    E-mail was invented by Ray Tomlinson
  • The CD

    The compact disc is invented in the United States
  • The Etherenet

    Robert Metcalfe and David Boggs: Robert Metcalfe creates a local-area network (LAN) protocol
  • Connecting Computers Nationally

    Gateways: Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn develop gateway routing computers to negotiate between the various national networks
  • Portable computers

    Altair produces the first portable computer
  • Microsoft Corporation

    Microsoft Corporation
    The Microsoft Corporation was founded April 4, 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800
  • Apple

    Apple
    Apple Computers was founded Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs
  • Apple Computer’s Apple II,

    Apple Computer’s Apple II,
    the first personal computer with color graphics, is demonstrated
  • MODEM

    Ward Christensen writes the programme "MODEM" allowing two microcomputers to exchange files with each other over a phone line
  • DOS

    Paul Allen and Bill Gates: IBM hires Paul Allen and Bill Gates to create an operating system for a new PC. They buy the rights to a simple operating system manufactured by Seattle Computer Products and use it as a template to develop
  • Domain Name System (DNS)

    Domain Name System (DNS) pioneered by Jon Postel, Paul Mockapetris and Craig Partridge. Seven 'top-level' domain names are initially introduced: edu, com, gov, mil, net, org and int.
  • drop-down menus, tabs and icons

    Windows: Microsoft Windows introduced eliminating the need for a user to have to type each command, like MS-DOS, by using a mouse to navigate
  • Apple Macintosh

    Apple Macintosh
    Apple introduces the Macintosh with mouse and window interface
  • Desktop Publishing

    Paul Brainard introduces Pagemaker for the Macintosh creating the desktop publishing field.
  • The Internet,

    Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau propose a 'hypertext' system starting the modern Internet
  • The World Wide Web:

    The World Wide Web is launched to the public on August 6, 1991
  • The World Wide Web Consortium

    founded by Tim Berners-Lee to help with the development of common protocols for the evolution of the World Wide Web
  • YAHOO is created

  • Java programming language is introduced

    Amazon: Amazon.com is founded by Jeff Bezos
    EBay: EBay is founded by Pierre Omidyar
    Hotmail: Hotmail is started by Jack Smith and Sabeer Bhatia.
  • WebTV: WebTV is introduced

  • Altavista introduces its free online translator Babel Fish

  • Google: Google is founded by Sergey Brin and Larry Page on September 7, 1998

  • Approximately 1 billion PCs been sold

  • MySpace is Launched

  • Facebook is founded

  • Skype announces that it has over 100 million registered users.