History of technology

  • The Analytical Machine

    The Analytical Machine
    Charles Babbage designs an analytical engine to perform general calculations automatically. Ada Augusta (a.k.a. Lady Lovelace) is a programmer for this machine.
  • Holes in Cards

    Holes in Cards
    Herman Hollerith designs a system to record census data. The information is stored as holes in cards, which are interpreted by machines with electrical sensors. Hollerith starts a company that will eventually become IBM.
  • ENIAC

    ENIAC
    J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly design and build the ENIAC computer. It used 18,000 vacuum tubes and cost $500,000 to build.
  • Von Nuemann Architecture

    Von Nuemann Architecture
    John von Neumann proposes that a program be stored in a computer in the same way that data are stored. His proposal, called the "von Neumann architecture," is the basis for modern computers.
  • UNIVAC

    UNIVAC
    Eckert and Mauchly build the first general-purpose commercial computer, the UNIVAC.
  • high-level programming

    high-level programming
    An IBM team, led by John Backus, designs the first successful high-level programming language, FORTRAN, for solving engineering and science problems.
  • UNIX operating system

    UNIX operating system
    A first version of the UNIX operating system is running on the DEC PDP-7.
  • Altair

    Altair
    The first microcomputer, the Altair, is introduced.
  • CRAY-1

    CRAY-1
    The first supercomputer, the Cray-1, is announced.
  • Apple

    Apple
    Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs found Apple Computer.
  • PC

    PC
    The PC was invented in 1981
  • Macintosh

    Macintosh
    Apple made their own computer called the Macintosh computer.
  • Windows

    Windows
    Microsoft founded windows