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1450
Gutenberg Press Invented
Johannes Gutenberg, a german printer, invented the printing press in order to make books widely accessible. "Information Revolution."
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johannes-Gutenberg -
The Babbage Engine
Charles Babbage invents the first programable Mechanical Computer.
https://youtu.be/KBuJqUfO4-w
https://www.computerhistory.org/babbage/#:~:text=Charles%20Babbage%20(1791%2D1871),years%20after%20it%20was%20designed. -
1st Computer Programmer
Ada Lovelace, Countess of Lovelace, mathematician, and writer. The first computer programmer, which is a huge accomplishment at this time. She went beyond societal and computer science norms.
https://youtu.be/J7ITqnEmf-g?feature=shared -
1st Successful Telegraph
Samuel Morse sent a telegraph from Washington D.C to Baltimore. The telegraph enabled rapid long-distance communication, which set the foundation for networked communication.
https://www.elon.edu/u/imagining/time-capsule/150-years/back-1830-1860/ -
1st Transatlantic Telegraph
Telegraph cable between Europe and America has been made. A network can now be established across long distances.
https://www.history.com/news/first-transatlantic-telegraph-cable -
Bell Telephone
Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, marking another leap in communication by allowing voice transmissions. The development of telephone networks contributed to the idea of interconnected systems.
https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/alexander-graham-bell -
The Hollerith Machine
Herman Hollerith developed an electromechanical tabulator for the U.S. Census Bureau to process data using punch cards. This was one of the first applications of machines to manage information.
https://www.census.gov/about/history/bureau-history/census-innovations/technology/hollerith-machine.html -
Turing Machines
Alan Turing published a paper describing the concept of a “universal machine” (now called the Turing machine), which could compute any computable problem.
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/turing-machine/#:~:text=Turing%20machines%2C%20first%20described%20by,the%20computing%20of%20real%20numbers. -
Colossus Computer
During WWII, the first programmable digital computers were developed, including the Colossus (UK) and ENIAC (USA). These machines were primarily used for code-breaking and military calculations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus_computer -
1st Programmed and Operated Robot is Built
Inventor George Devol created the first digitally operated and programmable robot, Unimate, which he deployed on an assembly line in New Jersey.
https://www.invent.org/inductees/george-devol#:~:text=In%201961%2C%20the%20first%20Unimate,weld%2C%20print%2C%20and%20assemble. -
ARPANET
The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), an arm of the U.S. Defense Department, funded the development of the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) in the late 1960s. Its initial purpose was to link computers at Pentagon-funded research institutions over telephone lines.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/ARPANET -
First Email Sent
Ray Tomlinson, an engineer at Bolt, Beranek and Newman, to himself over ARPANET. The message was "QWERTYUIOP" and was sent between two computers in the same room.
Tomlinson's most important innovation was the use of the @ symbol to separate the user's name from the computer name. This is still a critical part of email messaging protocols today.
https://www.mail.com/blog/posts/fiftieth-anniversary-of-email/20/ -
Desktop Computers
he Xerox Alto, developed at Xerox PARC in 1973, was the first computer to use a mouse, the desktop metaphor, and a graphical user interface (GUI), concepts first introduced by Douglas Engelbart while at International.
https://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/1973/ -
Usenet
Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis, came up with a way to exchange messages and files between computers using UNIX-to-UNIX copy protocol (UUCP). As time went on there were thousands of discussion groups (called newsgroups), stored on special Internet servers, and millions of users. Users read and write posts, called articles, using software called a newsreader.
https://www.britannica.com/technology/USENET -
Hypertext Documents Accessible
Tim Berners-Lee, a scientist at CERN, proposed a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessible via the internet. This proposal evolved into the World Wide Web (WWW).
https://home.cern/science/computing/birth-web -
World Wide Web was Launched to Public
This allowed people to access information through websites using a new browser interface.
https://www.pbs.org/transistor/background1/events/www.html -
Mosaic Browser Released to Public
The Mosaic browser was released, making the internet accessible and user-friendly for the public. This period saw an explosion of interest and the rapid development of websites and internet services.
https://www.wired.com/2010/04/0422mosaic-web-browser/ -
Google
Google distinguished itself from other search engines by launching with a system that ranked search results based on relevance, rather than simply the occurrence of the searched term.
https://www.webdesignmuseum.org/gallery/google-in-1997 -
The Era of Social Media, Mobile Internet, and Big Data
Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube have become dominant ways for people to communicate, share content, and stay connected globally. The rapid adoption of smartphones transformed how people accessed the internet.
https://www.cnet.com/pictures/best-smartphones-of-2010-photos/ -
Everyday life
The internet is now integral to nearly every aspect of modern life, with ongoing advancements in 5G, artificial intelligence, and decentralized networks poised to shape its future.