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The History of Computers

By evellyn04

  • The Whirlwind

    The Whirlwind
    Project Whirlwind begins. During World War II, the U.S. Navy approached the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) about building a flight simulator to train bomber crews.

  • The Complex Number Calculater

    The Complex Number Calculater
    The Complex Number Calculator (CNC) is completed. In 1939, Bell Telephone Laboratories completed this calculator, designed by researcher George Stibitz.

  • Z3 Computer

    Z3 Computer
    Konrad Zuse finishes the Z3 computer. The Z3 was an early computer built by German engineer Konrad Zuse working in complete isolation from developments elsewhere.

  • The Atanasoff Berry Computer

    The Atanasoff Berry Computer
    The Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) is completed. After successfully demonstrating a proof-of-concept prototype in 1939, Atanasoff received funds to build the full-scale machine.

  • The Harvard Mark-1

    The Harvard Mark-1
    Harvard Mark-1 is completed. Conceived by Harvard professor Howard Aiken, and designed and built by IBM, the Harvard Mark-1 was a room-sized, relay-based calculator.

  • The Colossus

    The Colossus
    The first Colossus is operational at Bletchley Park. Designed by British engineer Tommy Flowers, the Colossus was designed to break the complex Lorenz ciphers used by the Nazis during WWII.

  • ENIAC

    ENIAC
    In February, the public got its first glimpse of the ENIAC, a machine built by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert that improved by 1,000 times on the speed of its contemporaries.
    Start of project: 1943
    Completed: 1946
    Programmed: plug board and switches
    Speed: 5,000 operations per second
    Input/output: cards, lights, switches, plugs
    Floor space: 1,000 square feet
    Project leaders: John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert.

  • Electrical engineering

    Electrical engineering
    An inspiring summer school on computing at the University of Pennsylvania´s Moore School of Electrical Engineering stimulated construction of stored-program computers at universities and research institutions.

  • IMB's Selective seqeunce electronic calulator

    IMB's Selective seqeunce electronic calulator
    IBM´s Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator computed scientific data in public display near the company´s Manhattan headquarters. Before its decommissioning in 1952, the SSEC produced the moon-position tables used for plotting the course of the 1969 Apollo flight to the moon.
    Speed: 50 multiplications per second
    Input/output: cards, punched tape
    Memory type: punched tape, vacuum tubes, relays
    Technology: 20,000 relays, 12,500 vacuum tubes
    Floor space: 25 feet by 40 feet
    Project leader: Wallac

  • First commercially produced compter

    First commercially produced compter
    Engineering Research Associates of Minneapolis built the ERA 1101, the first commercially produced computer; the company´s first customer was the U.S. Navy.

  • The Alto

    The Alto
    Researchers at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center designed the Alto — the first work station with a built-in mouse for input.

  • The Apple ll

    The Apple ll
    The Apple II became an instant success when released in 1977 with its printed circuit motherboard, switching power supply, keyboard, case assembly, manual, game paddles, A/C powercord, and cassette tape with the computer game "Breakout."

  • The Pet

    The Pet
    The Commodore PET (Personal Electronic Transactor) — the first of several personal computers released in 1977 — came fully assembled and was straightforward to operate, with either 4 or 8 kilobytes of memory, two built-in cassette drives, and a membrane "chiclet" keyboard.

  • IBM computers

    IBM computers
    IBM introduced its PS/2 machines, which made the 3 1/2-inch floppy disk drive and video graphics array standard for IBM computers.