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First Computer ENIAC
Was invented by J. Presper Eckert. He began in 1943 and was not completed until 1946. The first large-scale computer to run at electronic speed without being slowed by any mechanical parts.It could have for a decade more until, a lightning strike, ENIAC may have run more calculations than all mankind had done up to that point.
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Direct Keyboard Input to Computers
Computer users of the time fed their programs into a computer using punched cards or paper tape. Doug Ross wrote a memo advocating direct access in February. He used Flexowriter connected to an MIT computer could function as a keyboard input device due to its low cost and flexibility. An experiment conducted 5 months later on MIT. Whirlwind computer confirmed how useful a keyboard input device could be.
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RAMAC
. The computer was based on the new technology of the hard disk drive — the world’s first. The RAMAC disk drive consisted of 50 magnetically coated metal platters capable of storing about 5 million characters of data. RAMAC allowed real-time random access to large amounts of data, unlike magnetic tape or punched cards.
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FORTRAN
Some programmers were skeptical that FORTRAN could be as efficient as hand coding, but that sentiment disappeared when FORTRAN proved it could generate efficient code. Over the ensuing decades, FORTRAN became the most often used language for scientific and technical computing. FORTRAN is still in use today.
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First Computer Scanned Image
Working with the SEAC team, Kirsch designed a rotating drum scanner, allowing him to digitize an image of his young son, Walden. The image, a five-by-five centimeter black-and-white shot, was the first image to be scanned into a computer.
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Digital Phone Line
Phone companies develop digital transmission for internal uses, specifically to put more calls on each of the main lines connecting their own switching centers. By 1958, this produces the T1 standard still used in North America. By the 1980s, phone companies will be leasing digital lines to commercial customers.
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SAGE system goes online
The first large-scale computer communications network, SAGE connects 23 hardened computer sites in the US and Canada. Its task was to detect incoming Soviet bombers and direct interceptor aircraft to destroy them. Operators directed actions by touching a light gun to the SAGE airspace display.
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Bryant Chucking Grinder Company magnetic disk drive
Bryant Chucking Grinder Company, a computer drum manufacturer, explores new storage ideas. They began developing a disk drive in 1959—made up of a horizontal shaft with eight or more 39-inch magnesium disks. Few sold.
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NEAC 2203 goes online
An early transistorized computer, the NEAC (Nippon Electric Automatic Computer) includes a CPU, console, paper tape reader and punch, printer and magnetic tape units. It was sold exclusively in Japan, but could process alphabetic and Japanese kana characters. Only about thirty NEACs were sold.
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IBM Introduces 1400 series
The 1401 mainframe, the first in the series, replaces earlier vacuum tube technology with smaller, more reliable transistors. Demand called for more than 12,000 of the 1401 computers, and the machine´s success made a strong case for using general-purpose computers rather than specialized systems.
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CDC 6600 supercomputer introduced
The Control Data Corporation 6600 performs up to 3 million instructions per second —three times faster than that of its closest competitor, the IBM 7030 supercomputer. The 6600 retained the distinction of being the fastest computer in the world until surpassed by its successor, the CDC 7600, in 1968.
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SABRE
Unimatic terminal for United Airline’s competing system
SABRE
Networking & The Web
Online transaction processing makes its debut in IBM´s SABRE reservation system, set up for American Airlines. Using telephone lines, SABRE links 2,000 terminals in 65 cities to a pair of IBM 7090 computers, delivering data on any flight in less than three seconds.
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SABRE comes on-line
SABRE is a joint project between American Airlines and IBM. Operational by 1964, it was not the first computerized reservation system, but it was well publicized and became very influential. Running on dual IBM 7090 mainframe computer systems, SABRE was inspired by IBM’s earlier work on the SAGE air-defense system.
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ARPANET
ARPANET was initially funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the United States Department of Defense. First packet switching network that developed into today's modern internet
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World Wide Web
Research at CERN in Switzerland by British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee resulted in the World Wide Web, linking hypertext documents into an information system, accessible from any node on the network. Since the mid-1990s, the Internet has had a revolutionary impact on culture, commerce, and technology, including the rise of near-instant communication
