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1947 - Transistor - William Shockley, John Bardeen & Walter Brattain (Bell Labs)
The first transistor was invented and successfully demonstrated at Bell Labs in 1947. This is important because transistors eventually replaced vacuum tubes in computers as they are smaller, use less power, and have better longevity overall. -
1950 - EDVAC - John Presper Eckert and John William Mauchly
In 1950 the first electronic discrete variable automatic computer also known as EDVAC was completed. This was the first stored program computer. -
1954 - TRADIC - Jean Howard Felker & Others at Bell Labs
In 1954 the first computer using transistors was invented, this machine was known as the TRADIC. The transistors were to replace the use of the vacuum tubes used in previous computers such as the EDVAC and ENIAC. -
1956 - IBM 305 RAMAC - IBM
In 1956 IBM introduced their first commercial computer using a hard disk drive, the IBM 305 RAMAC "Random Access Method of Accounting and Control". The system weighed 1 ton and could store 5 megabytes of data, this was groundbreaking for the time. -
1957 - FORTRAN - John Backus (IBM)
In 1957 IBM and a team led by John Backus distributed the formula translating software, FORTRAN. This computer program language differed than previous assemblies because it simplified mathematics and code, making it easier for people to understand and use. Computer programming became standardized because of FORTRAN and the language is still widely used in systems today.
