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Charles Babbage
English mathematician Charles Babbage created the first computer in 1821. It was a calculating machine that would be able to compute tables of numbers. -
Ada Lovelace
She was an English mathematician and the daughter of poet Lord Byron, writes the world's first computer program. -
George Scheutz
Swedish inventor Georg Scheutz designed the world's first printing calculator. The machine is significant for being the first to "compute tabular differences and print the results". -
Herman Hollerith
Herman Hollerith designed a punch-card system to help calculate the U.S. Census. The machine saved the government several years of calculations. -
Alan Turning
: Alan Turing was a British scientist and mathematician, presents the principle of a universal machine, later called the Turing machine, in a paper called "On Computable Numbers…" -
Mauchly and Presper
Mauchly and Presper leave the University of Pennsylvania and receive funding from the Census Bureau to build the UNIVAC, the first commercial computer for business and government applications. -
Grace Hopper
Grace Hopper develops the first computer language, which eventually becomes known as COBOL, which stands for COmmon, Business-Oriented Language according to the National Museum of American History(opens in new tab). -
Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce
Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce unveil the integrated circuit, known as the computer chip. Kilby is later awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work. -
Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie
Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and a group of other developers at Bell Labs produce UNIX, an operating system that made "large-scale networking of diverse computing systems — and the internet — practical," -
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak co-found Apple Computer on April Fool's Day. They unveil Apple I, the first computer with a single-circuit board and ROM -
The Commodore Personal Electronic Transactor
The Commodore Personal Electronic Transactor (PET), is released onto the home computer market, featuring an MOS Technology 8-bit 6502 microprocessor, which controls the screen, keyboard and cassette player. -
MicroPro
MicroPro International, founded by software engineer Seymour Rubenstein, releases WordStar, the world's first commercially successful word processor. WordStar is programmed by Rob Barnaby, and includes 137,000 lines -
Steve Jobs' daughter
The Apple Lisa, standing for "Local Integrated Software Architecture" but also the name of Steve Jobs' daughter, according to the National Museum of American History (NMAH), is the first personal computer to feature a GUI. The machine also includes a drop-down menu and icons. -
Microsoft
: Microsoft invests $150 million in Apple, which at the time is struggling financially. This investment ends an ongoing court case in which Apple accused Microsoft of copying its operating system. -
Wifi
: Wi-Fi, the abbreviated term for "wireless fidelity" is developed, initially covering a distance of up to 300 feet -
Google/ Apple
Google buys Android, a Linux-based mobile phone operating system, The MacBook Pro from Apple hits the shelves. The Pro is the company's first Intel-based, dual-core mobile computer. -
Microsoft
Microsoft launches Windows 7 on July 22. The new operating system features the ability to pin applications to the taskbar, scatter windows away by shaking another window, easy-to-access jumplists, easier previews of tiles -
Apple 2010-2015
The iPad, Apple's flagship handheld tablet, is unveiled, Google releases the Chromebook, which runs on Google Chrome OS, Apple releases the Apple Watch. Microsoft releases Windows 10. -
Modern Computer
The first reprogrammable quantum computer was created. "Until now, there hasn't been any quantum-computing platform that had the capability to program new algorithms into their system. They're usually each tailored to attack a particular algorithm," said study lead author Shantanu Debnath,