Communication in History

Semaphore (Maritime Flags)

Jan 1, 1660

sourceUsing flags for communication at sea has been used for centuries and official siganl books began appearing around 1660 (the year the Royal British Navy was formed). The signal books from 1762 had around 27 flags although the International Code of Symbols now contains 40 different flags and pennants, and NATO has an extra 28 (mainly for military reasons). The flags are read from top to bottom and consist of colors that are easily read at sea: blue, red, yellow, white, and black.

Morse Code

Jan 1, 1836

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Samuel Morse invented the Morse Code in 1836 after becoming interested in the telegraph. In 1844 he demostrtated his invention to Congress by transmitting the message "What hath God wrought" over a wire from Washington to Baltimore.

Telephone

Mar 10, 1876

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Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. On March 10, 1836 he yelled the words "Come here, Mr. Watson!" into his telephone demonstrating that his invention truly worked. In July of 1877 the Bell Telephone Company was founded. By the end of 1877 there were over 3,000 telephones.

IBM Punchcard System

Jan 1, 1928

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Invented by the IBM, it was the end result of a competition between two research teams in the company. The holes in the card represented bits of data. It turned out to be the most profitable invention produced by the company changing the way in how data was processed. It would serve as the most common way information was stored for at least half a century.

Commercial Radio

Jan 1, 1986

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The development of the radio acually began in 1893 with Nikolai Tesla's demonstration of wireless radio communication in St. Louis, Missouri. His work laid the foundation for other scientists who began to perfect the radio; and in 1986 Guglielmo Marconi was awarded the official patent for the radio by the British Government.

Wikis

Jan 1, 1994

sourceWikipedia was invented by Ward Cunningham who gave the knowledge base the name WikiWikiWeb. He chose the name based on his memories of the Wiki Wiki Shuttle in Honolulu's International Airport, and because "wiki" means quick in Hawaiian. Many other wiki applications followed this first software and eventually the Wikipedia came into play as an online encyclopedia in which people could fill themselves with information.

Skype

Aug 29, 2003

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Created by Jaan Tallinn it caused a problem for many Telephone Companies by its popularity, but made the creator and his associates rich. However in the beginning it was not well recieved due to the sound being glitchy and at the time most people thought it was silly to talk to a computer. It was when people realized they could talk to people face to face online for free, that Skype really kicked off.