The Evolution of Computers

  • First steam driven calculating machine designed

    First steam driven calculating machine designed
    English mathematician Charles Babbage conceives of a steam-driven calculating machine that was be able to compute tables of numbers. More than a century later, The world’s first computer was actually built.
  • Punch card "computer"

    Herman Hollerith designs a punch card system to calculate the 1880 census, accomplishing the task in just three years and whitch saved the government $5 million. He establishes a company that would ultimately become IBM.
  • Birth of the all-electronic computer

    Birth of the all-electronic computer
    J.V. Atanasoff, a professor of physics and mathematics at Iowa State University, attempts to build the first computer without using gears, cams, belts or shafts.
  • using computers for school

    using computers for school
    Atanasoff and his graduate student, Clifford Berry, design a computer that can solve 29 equations simultaneously.
  • calculator

    calculator
    1943-1944: Two University of Pennsylvania professors—John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert—build the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator (ENIAC). Considered the grandfather of digital computers
  • univac

    univac
    Mauchly and Presper leave the University of Pennsylvania and receive funding for UNIVAC, the first commercial computer for business and government applications.
  • fortran language

    1954: The FORTRAN programming language is born.
  • computer chip

    computer chip
    Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce unveil the integrated circuit, known as the computer chip.
  • the birth of the mouse

    the birth of the mouse
    Douglas Engelbart shows a prototype of the modern computer, with a mouse and a graphical user interface (GUI). This marks the evolution of the computer from a specialized machine for scientists and mathematicians to technology that is more accessible to the general public.
  • apple came out

    apple came out
    Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak start Apple Computers on April Fool’s Day and roll out the Apple I, the first computer with a single-circuit board.
  • internet took a big step in life

    internet took a big step in life
    The first dot-com domain name is registered on March 15, years before the World Wide Web would mark the formal beginning of Internet history. The Symbolics Computer Company, a small Massachussets computer manufacturer, registers Symbolics.com. More than two years later, only 100 dot-coms had been registered.
  • rise of the world web

    rise of the world web
    : Tim Berners-Lee, a researcher at CERN, the high-energy physics laboratory in Geneva, develops HyperText Markup Language (HTML), giving rise to the World Wide Web.
  • play station 2

    play station 2
    Sony release the PlayStation 2. A game machine that also acts like a computer online
  • pro is introduced

    pro is introduced
    : Apple introduces the MacBook Pro, its first Intel-based, dual-core mobile computer, as well as an Intel-based iMac. Nintendo’s Wii hits the market.
  • ipad

    ipad
    Apple unveils the iPad, changing the way consumers view media and jumpstarting the dormant tablet computer segment.