-
1801
In France, Joseph Marie Jacquard invents a loom that uses punched wooden
cards to automatically weave fabric designs. Early computers would use similar punch
cards -
1941
Atanasoff and his graduate student, Clifford Berry, design a computer that can
solve 29 equations simultaneously. This marks the first time a computer is able to store
information on its main memory. -
1953
Grace Hopper develops the first computer language, which eventually becomes
known as COBOL. Thomas Johnson Watson Jr., son of IBM CEO Thomas Johnson
Watson Sr., conceives the IBM 701 EDPM to help the United Nations keep tabs on
Korea during the war. -
1958
Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce unveil the integrated circuit, known as the
computer chip. Kilby was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2000 for his work. -
1964
Douglas Engelbart shows a prototype of the modern computer, with a mouse
and a graphical user interface (GUI). This marks the evolution of the computer from a
specialized machine for scientists and mathematicians to technology that is more
accessible to the general public. -
1970
The newly formed Intel unveils the Intel 1103, the first Dynamic Access Memory
(DRAM) chip -
1976
: Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak start Apple Computers on April Fool’s Day and roll
out the Apple I, the first computer with a single-circuit board. -
1981
The first IBM personal computer, code-named “Acorn,” is introduced. It uses
Microsoft’s MS-DOS operating system. It has an Intel chip, two floppy disks and an
optional color monitor. Sears & Roebuck and Computerland sell the machines, marking
the first time a computer is available through outside distributors. It also popularizes
the term PC. -
1985
The first dot-com domain name is registered on March 15, years before the
World Wide Web would mark the formal beginning of Internet history. The Symbolics
Computer Company, a small Massachusetts computer manufacturer, registers
Symbolics.com. More than two years later, only 100 dot-coms had been registered. -
1997
Microsoft invests $150 million in Apple, which was struggling at the time, ending
Apple’s court case against Microsoft in which it alleged that Microsoft copied the “look
and feel” of its operating system -
1999
The term Wi-Fi becomes part of the computing language and users begin
connecting to the Internet without wires. -
2004
: Mozilla’s Firefox 1.0 challenges Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, the dominant Web
browsers. Facebook, a social networking site, launches.