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Atanasoff-Berry Computer
Professor John Vincent Atanasoff and graduate student Cliff Berry developed the ABC in 1937 and continued development until 1942 at the Iowa State College. -
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First Generation (Vacuum Tubes)
The first computers used vacuum tubes for circuitry and magnetic drums for memory, and were often enormous, taking up entire rooms. They were very expensive to operate and in addition to using a great deal of electricity, generated a lot of heat, which was often the cause of malfunctions. -
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Second Generation (Transistors)
The development of the integrated circuit was the hallmark of the third generation of computers. Transistors were miniaturized and placed on silicon chips, called semiconductors, which drastically increased the speed and efficiency of computers. -
Digital Equipment Corporation
The 12-bit PDP-8 was the first successful commercial minicomputer, produced by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in the 1960s. -
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Third Generation (Intergrated Circuits)
The development of the integrated circuit was the hallmark of the third generation of computers. Transistors were miniaturized and placed on silicon chips, called semiconductors, which drastically increased the speed and efficiency of computers. -
Minicomputer
The first successful minicomputer was the DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) PDP-8, introduced in 1965. -
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Fourth Generation (Microprocessor)
The microprocessor brought the fourth generation of computers, as thousands of integrated circuits were built onto a single silicon chip. What in the first generation filled an entire room could now fit in the palm of the hand. The Intel 4004 chip, developed in 1971, located all the components of the computer—from the central processing unit and memory to input/output controls—on a single chip. -
Mircoprocessor Chip
The first microprocessor chip was the 4004 developed by Intel in 1971 -
First Game console
AnswerIn 1972, the first commercial video game console that could be played in the home, the Odyssey was released by Magnavox and designed by Ralph BaerThe Magnavox Odyssey is the world's first video game console. -
Digital Camera
The first digital camera was invented by Steven Sasson who worked for Eastman Kodak in 1975. -
First Personal Computer
The records will show that Ed Roberts was the first to use the term. He used it to describe his invention, the Altiair 8800 which appeared in 1975 -
Apple I
The original Apple computer was invented in 1976 by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. The first Apple computer, known as the Apple I, featured 8k of RAM and a video interface. However, what made the first Apple computer so revolutionary was the fact it was a single circuit board operating system -
IBM PC
In July 1980, Microsoft's Bill Gates agreed to create an operating system for IBM's new computer for the home consumer, which IBM released on August 12 1981. The first IBM PC ran on a 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 microprocessor. IBM had now stepped into the home consumer market, sparking the computer revolution. -
First Laptop
The Osborne Computer Corporation released the first portable computer, the Osborne 1, in 1981. -
NES (Nintendo)
Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, dreamed up and built the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1983 -
First Webcam
The first webcam was invented back in 1991 by the Cambridge University science department. It is not known who the actual inventor was. -
First Smartphone
The first ever smartphone was designed by IBM in 1992. Their first smartphone was called 'SIMON'. Besides being a simple phone, it also contained a calendar, address book, world clock, calculator, note pad, e-mail, send and receive fax, and games which are basic features of mobile phones today. -
E-books
John Hendricks, the chairman of Discovery Communications, claims to be the inventor of ‘e-books’. He has sued both Amazon (Kindle) and Sony (e-book reader) for copyright infringement but the case is yet to be decided. -
First Digital Camera
In 1975 Kodak engineer Steven Sasson invented the first digital still camera, which used a Fairchild 100 x 100 pixel CCD. -
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Fifth Generation (Artificial Intelligence)
Fifth generation computing devices, based on artificial intelligence, are still in development, though there are some applications, such as voice recognition, that are being used today. The use of parallel processing and superconductors is helping to make artificial intelligence a reality.
