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1600
William Gilbert coins the term electricity from the Greek word elecktra. https://www.computerhope.com/history/1600.htm -
1600
The Microsoft Windows Epoch time is set to start on January 1, 1601. https://www.computerhope.com/history/1600.htm -
1613
The word "computer" was first recorded as being used in 1613 and was originally used to describe a person who performed calculations or computations. The definition of a computer remained the same until the end of the 19th century when it began referring to a machine that performed calculations. https://www.computerhope.com/history/1600.htm -
1614
John Napier illustrates and puts forward the idea of Logarithms. https://www.computerhope.com/history/1600.htm -
1617
John Napier introduced a system called "Napier's Bones," made from horn, bone or ivory the device allowed the capability of multiplying by adding numbers and dividing by subtracting. https://www.computerhope.com/history/1600.htm -
1621
The circular slide rule is invented by William Oughtred. https://www.computerhope.com/history/1600.htm -
1623
The first known workable mechanical calculating machine is invented by Germanys Wilhelm Schickard. The machine is based on the idea of Napier's Bones, mentioned earlier. https://www.computerhope.com/history/1600.htm -
1632
William Oughtred of Cambridge combines two Gunter rules to make a device that resembles today's slide rule. https://www.computerhope.com/history/1600.htm -
1642
Frances Blaise Pascal invents a machine, called the Pascaline, that can add, subtract, and carry between digits. https://www.computerhope.com/history/1600.htm -
1671
Gottfried Leibniz introduces the Step Reckoner, a device that can multiply, divide, and evaluate square roots. https://www.computerhope.com/history/1600.htm -
1714
The first writing device (similar to a typewriter) to be patented is patented by Henry Mill in London England. https://www.computerhope.com/history/1600.htm -
1725
In Lyon, France, Basile Bouchon invented a loom in 1725 that used a perforated paper tape roll that was later upgraded in 1728 by his assistant Jean-Baptiste Falcon to use punch cards. Although this loom predates the Jacquard Loom, it was not fully automated. https://www.computerhope.com/history/1600.htm -
1752
On June 10, 1752, Benjamin Franklin flew a kite that collects a charge after being struck by lightning. https://www.computerhope.com/history/1600.htm -
1774
The first telegraph is built. https://www.computerhope.com/history/1600.htm -
1804
Frances Joseph-Marie Jacquard completes his fully automated loom that is programmed by punched cards. https://www.computerhope.com/history/1600.htm -
1820
Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar creates the "Arithometer," the first reliable, useful, and commercially successful calculating machine. The calculator could not only add but also subtract, multiply, and divide. https://www.computerhope.com/history/1600.htm -
1823
Baron Jons Jackob Berzelius discovered silicon (Si), which today is the basic component of an integrated circuit (IC). https://www.computerhope.com/history/1600.htm -
1825
The earliest known surviving photograph is taken by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in 1825 of a view of a courtyard from his window. https://www.computerhope.com/history/1600.htm -
1828
Harrison Dyar becomes the first person in the United States to invent a Telegraph type device. https://www.computerhope.com/history/1600.htm -
1832
On October 21, 1832, Pavel Schilling became the first to transmit signals between two telegraphs in different rooms of his apartment. https://www.computerhope.com/history/1600.htm -
1836
Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail begin developing a code (later called Morse code) that used different numbers to represent the letters of the English alphabet and the ten digits. https://www.computerhope.com/history/1600.htm -
1844
Samuel Morse dispatched the first telegraphic message over a line from Washington, D.C. to Baltimore on May 24, 1844. The now famous message was: "What hath God wrought." https://www.computerhope.com/history/1600.htm -
1846
Royal Earl House patented a printing telegraph that used 28 piano-style keys to represent each letter of the alphabet and make it easier for everyone to send messages. https://www.computerhope.com/history/1600.htm -
1857
The phonautograph (phonograph) was patented on March 25, 1857, by Frenchman Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville. The device was capable of transcribing sound to a medium. https://www.computerhope.com/history/1600.htm -
1875
The company American Telephone and Telegraph Company that later became AT&T was founded in 1875. https://www.computerhope.com/history/1600.htm
