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Complex Number Calculator (CNC)
Bell Telephone Laboratories demonstrates remote access computing using a teleprinter in New Hampshire and the CNC in New York. -
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Computer Developments in the 1940's
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Atanasoff-Berry Computer
Physics professor John Atanasoff and his grad-student Clifford Berry build the first electronic digital computer at Iowa State College. The ABC however is not programmable. -
Colossus
The Colossus computers were developed by British engineer Tommy Flowers between 1943 and 1945. These machines were used to decipher encrypted German communiques during WWII. They also have the distinction of being the first programmable digital computers. -
Transistors
Bell Laboratories physicists William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain develop the first transistor as a replacement for vacuum tube switches. Transistors have since become primary components of nearly all electronic devices. -
Small-Scale Experimental Machine (SSEM)
University of Manchester researchers Frederic C. Williams, Tom Kilburn, and Geoff Tootill build the Small-Scale Experimental Machine. The SSEM is the first machine to run a digital, electronically stored program.