Major Events and People in the History of Computers

Charles Babbage

Sep 10, 1834

designed the first automatic calculator

Herman Hollerith

Sep 10, 1890

Invented a machine that made collecting census data easier

Z1 computer

Sep 10, 1936

first computer to have a control unit and separate memory functions

ENIAC

Sep 10, 1944

first successful high speed electronic

UNIVAC

Sep 10, 1951

First successful digital computer

1st generation computers

Sep 10, 1951

were the last to use vacuum tubes for memory

2nd generation computers

Sep 10, 1952

transistors were limited to how small they could be made

3rd generation computers

Sep 10, 1958

had integrated circuit capable of containing thousands of trasistors

Jack Kilby

Sep 10, 1958

invented the worlds first integrated circuit

BASIC

Sep 10, 1964

A language programming students could understand easily.

4th generation computers

Sep 10, 1971

microprocessor chip capable of containing millions of transistors

Altair computer

Sep 10, 1975

Could create their own programs at home

Steve Jobs

Sep 10, 1976

Formed Apple computer company

Apple II

Sep 10, 1977

First to have a color monitor, sound, and game paddles. used a ROM memory

Visicalc

Sep 10, 1978

first electronic spreadsheet application

Wordstar

Sep 10, 1979

first word processing computer

Bill Gates

Sep 10, 1980

Founder of Microsoft

Osborne computer

Sep 10, 1981

first portable computer

Intro of the GUI

Sep 10, 1983

allowed users to interact with the computer easier

Excel

Sep 10, 1985

one of the first spreadsheets to use a graphical interface

Pagemaker

Sep 10, 1985

first desktop publishing software

Mosiac

Sep 10, 1993

Web browser that allowed users to view multimedia on the web

Netscape

Sep 10, 1994

Quickly became a predominant player for browser software