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Charles Babbage
Designed the first automatic calculator. His invention gave him the title "father of computing". -
Herman Hollerith
The first to take Jacquard's punchcard concept and apply it to computing with his Hollerith Tabulating machine. His machine was so successful that he left the Census Bureau in 1896. -
Eniac
The first successful high-speed electronic digital computer. Served its purpose and remained in use until 1955. -
Univac
The first commercially successful electronic digital computer. It gained notoriety when, in a 1951 publicity stunt, it was used to predict the outcome of Stevenson Eisenhower presidential race. -
1st Generation Computers
The Univac and the computers like the Univac were considered the first generation computers. They were the last to use vacuum tubes to store data. -
2nd Generation Computers
A year after the Eniac was completed, scientists at the Bell Telephone Laboratories in New Jersey invented the second generation computers. Still, translators were limtied as to how small they could be made. -
Jack Kilby
Invented the world's first integrated circuit. A small chip capable of containing thousands of transistors. -
3rd Generation Computers
A design that enabled computers to become smaller and lighter. -
Z1 Computer
The first to include certain features integral to today's systems, such as control unit and separate memory function. -
BASIC
Language that beginning programming students to learn easily. -
4th Generation Computers
These are computers that use a micro processor chip. (brains of the computer) The Intel Core i7 is one of Intel's most powerful processors. -
Introduction of the GUI
Allowed users to interact with the computer more easily. Apple was the company to take full advantage of this. -
Altair Computer
The first personal computer. No keyboard, no monitor, and completely not user friendly. -
Bill Gates
Him and Paul Allen are the founders of Microsoft. -
Steve Jobs
Him and Steve Wozhials form the apple computer. -
Apple 2
Spreadsheet program, word processor, and desktop publishing software. Encouraged less technically oriented computer enthusiasts to write their own programs. -
Visicalc
The first electronic spreadsheet application. Bob Frankstop created the program and more than 100,000 copies were sold in it's first year. -
WordStar
The first processing application. -
Osborne Computer
The first portable computer. -
PageMaker
The first desktop publishing software. -
Excel
One of the first spreadsheets to use a graphical user interface. This was so popular it put Visicalc out of business, which is huge! -
Mosaic
The first to be able to creat graphics. -
NetScape
It was launched by a team of developers and soon became a predominant player in browser software.