-
LASER
The word "laser" is actually an acronym that stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. The one credited to making the first laser is Theodore Harold Maiman. He worked at the Huges Research Lab and made the laser by exciting chromium atoms in a synthetic ruby with bright flashes from a photographers flash lamp. Currently, lasers are used for fiber-optic, DVD and Blu-Ray players, scanning barcodes, and much more. -
Personal Computer Mouse
Douglas Engelbart is the inventor of the mouse. The first version of the mouse has a wooden shell with two metal wheels. Over the course of a few years, it has evolved into the optical mouse. Today, the mouse is a very important part of a desktop computer. It can be a simple office mouse or a specialized gaming mouse that has a lot of buttons to help with game play. -
ATM
On June 27, 1967, John Shepherd-Barron installed the first ATM (Automated Teller Machine) in London. The ATM was designed so you can hold simple financial transactions without having to stop by a bank. ATMs make our lives much easier by letting us retrieve money at various locations throughout the world. -
DRAM
DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) was invented by Robert Heath Dennard. It is a type of semiconductor memory card that is common among household PCs and servers. Due to it's high memory capacity and low cost, DRAM is used widely in digital electronics. One downside, however, is that when there is no power, it loses data very quickly. This means that it's memory has to be externally refreshed often. -
ARPANET
The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was created by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Agency) and was the first computer network. The project created a network that allowed multiple computers to connect to and send messages to one another. Although ARPANET has been shut down, it has helped to create the Internet today.