Technology Innovations Timeline - Biggest Database Online

A black and white image of the first Zeppelin on its first flight over Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen in southern Germany. In the background, there's the sky and a large ship.

First Flight of The Zeppelin

The German inventor and retired army officer Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin is the pioneer of rigid airship development. He formulated and developed in detail his notions in the 1980s, making the term ‘zeppelin’ standard for all rigid airships. He made his first flight with the LZ 1 over Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen in southern Germany on the 2nd of July, 1900. Theodor Kober, a twentieth-century German aviation engineer, also contributed to building the first Zeppelin. He produced technical drawings and detailed designs.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeppelin

First Powered Vacuum Cleaner

English engineer Hubert Cecil Booth invented and patented the first successful vacuum cleaner on the 30th of August, 1901. While Booth was known for designing suspension bridges, factories, and fairground Ferris wheels, he came up with the idea of sucking away dust instead of blowing it away. He saw a fatal flaw in the displayed machine at London’s Empire Music Hall and decided to fix it. The first successful vacuum cleaner, the ‘Puffing Billy’, was a large, horse-drawn, petrol-driven unit with a 5 Hp piston pump.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_cleaner

First Engine-Powered Airplane

American inventors, pioneers of aviation, and brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright dedicated four years to R&D to create the 1903 Wright Flyer, the first successful powered airplane. The first flight utilized a heavier-than-air flying machine at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. It stayed aloft for 12 seconds and covered 120 feet on its inaugural flight. However, the brothers surpassed themselves with the first fully practical airplane only two years later.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_Flyer

The image portrays the first thermionic vacuum tube, also known as the Fleming valve, two-electrode diode, and oscillation valve, invented by Sir John Ambrose Fleming.

First Two-Electrode Diode

English electrical engineer and physicist Sir John Ambrose Fleming invented the first thermionic vacuum tube, the two-electrode diode, which he called the oscillation valve in 1904. Due to the inventor’s name, we recognize it as the Fleming valve. Fleming’s diode was used in radio receivers and radars for decades until solid-state electronic technology was developed. Many even consider it the beginning of electronics. Fleming also designed the radio transmitter and established the right-hand rule used in physics.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diode

The image displays an open book with physicist Albert Einstein on the left side and his 1905 Special Theory of Relativity on the right.

Photoelectric Effect and Relativity Explained

Physicist Albert Einstein published the Special Theory of Relativity in 1905. He demonstrated that light consists of ‘discrete packets,’ contradicting the widely accepted wave theory of light, i.e., the speed of light in a vacuum is independent of the motion of all observers. Einstein expanded this theory a decade later, in 1915.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photoelectric_effect

The image portrays the triode called audion, invented by Lee de Forest in 1906. It consists of three elements.

Electronic Amplifying Tube (Triode)

American inventor and early pioneer in electronics Lee de Forest invented a triode called audion in 1906. The three-element “Audion” triode vacuum tube was the first electronic device for controlling current flow, setting the base for the development of the electronic amplifier and oscillator, radio broadcasting, long-distance telephone lines, and talking motion pictures.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triode

The image shows the first electric clothes washer sold commercially in the US, designed by engineer Alva J. Fisher. Thor, the invention, is shown on the left side, while there’s a newspaper excerpt on the right of the screen regarding its functionality.

First Automatic Washing Machine

Engineer Alva J. Fisher designed the first electric clothes washer sold commercially in the US, the Thor washing machine. Chicago-based Hurley Electric Laundry Equipment Company produced Thor, and it got its patent on the 9th of August, 1910, three years after the invention.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor_washing_machine

A black and white image of the first mass-produced vehicle, the Ford Model T. It has two rows of seats and four large wheels, a left-sided steering wheel, an enclosed four-cylinder engine with a detachable cylinder head, and a one-piece block.

World’s First Truly Affordable Car

Henry Ford introduced the first Model T as one of the first mass-production vehicles, with a total of 16.5 million units in 1908. With this car, Ford achieved his aim of manufacturing the universal car. It was affordable, simple, and durable. The Ford Model T cost approximately $950 nominal dollars in the first year, with 10,000 units sold. However, mass production enabled Ford Motor Company to sell 2 million units costing approximately $300 per unit in 1924. Interestingly, Henry Ford didn’t turn this into profits but passed the savings on to the buyers.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Model_T

The black and white image refers to Ernst Ruhmer’s groundbreaking demonstration of the instantaneous transmission of images in 1909.

First Demonstrations of Instantaneous Images Transmission

German physicist Ernst Ruhmer first demonstrated the instantaneous transmission of images, or television broadcasts, in 1909. He successfully demonstrated the transmission of simple images at a distance of 115 km. Two French scientists, Georges Rignoux and A. Fournier in Paris announced similar research they had been conducting in the same year, transmitting an updated image several times each second.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_television

First Commercial Slot Cars

American toy manufacturer and holding company of retailers Lionel (USA) made the first commercial slot cars and displayed them in their catalogs in 1912. They were pretty similar to modern slot cars and drew power from a toy train rail sunk in a trough or wide slot between the rails. However, customers could only get the independent speed control as an optional extra.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slot_car

The black and white image displays men working on Henry Ford’s first large-scale moving assembly line in 1913, producing the Model T, tires and other automotive parts surrounding them.

First Moving Assembly Line for Mass Production

Henry Ford installed the first large-scale moving assembly line in 1913, enabling them to produce the Model T in two-and-a-half minutes. It marked the start of mass production and granted the Ford Motor Company a competitive advantage in the market. They made cars faster and cheaper than their rivals, setting the ground for Ford’s dominance in the automotive industry.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_line

The image portrays Charlie Chaplin on the screen of the film Making a Living, released in 1914. Chaplin is standing next to another man and еxplains something to his ear, while the man is stunned by what he hears with wide eyes and his hand at his waist.

Charlie Chaplin’s Debut In Silent Film

English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer Charlie Chaplin marked his film acting debut in the one-reeler Making a Living, released on the 2nd of February 1914. Chaplin’s career spanned over 75 years. He reached worldwide fame in the silent film era through his screen persona, the Tramp, making him one of the most important figures in the film industry.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Chaplin_filmography

The image displays Alexander Graham Bell placing the first transcontinental phone call in 1915, surrounded by dozens of men witnessing the groundbreaking invention.

First Transcontinental Telephone Call

Alexander Graham Bell placed the first transcontinental phone call on the 25th of January, 1915. The media recognizes this date as it coincides with the Panama–Pacific International Exposition celebrations. Dr. Bell rang up Thomas A. Watson from New York to San Fransisco, marking a distance of the 3,400-mile wire.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_transcontinental_telephone_call

The image portrays the first crystal-controlled oscillator invented by Alexander M. Nicholson at Bell Telephone Laboratories.

First Crystal Oscillator

American scientist Alexander M. Nicholson invented the first crystal-controlled oscillator using a piece of Rochelle salt in 1917. At the time, Nicholson was working at Bell Telephone Laboratories. The company got the patent the following year, in 1918.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_oscillator

An image of Edwin Howard Armstrong’s superheterodyne radio circuit invention from 1918.

Prototype Armstrong Superheterodyne Receiver

Edwin Howard Armstrong invented a superheterodyne radio circuit and filed for a patent in 1918. It increased radio receivers’ sensitivity and selectivity. Nowadays, every radio or TV set incorporates this invention.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superheterodyne_receiver

The image portrays a newspaper advertisement extract announcing the earliest electric pop-up toaster and its benefits, invented by Charles Perkins in 1919.

First Electric Pop-Up Toaster

American inventor Charles Perkins Strite created the first easy-to-use, modern timed pop-up bread toaster for restaurants in 1919. He got a patent for the innovation in 1921 and established the Waters Genter Company to make the pop-up toaster publicly available in 1926.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Strite

The black and white image displays a scene from the science-fiction play “R.U.R” from 1920, a significant one due to the first mention of the term ‘robot.’ A woman is sitting on a sofa and looking at three men, two dressed in shields and without facial expressions, imitating artificial humans.

The First Use of The Term Robot

Czech writer Karel Čapek first coined the term ‘robot’ in the science-fiction play “R.U.R” ( Rossumovi Univerzální Roboti/Rossum’s Universal Robots), referring to artificial humans. The term was based on the Czech word for “forced labor” and entered the English dictionary in 1923. The play premiered in the National Theater in Prague, the capital of Czechoslovakia. However, the play is largely unknown today.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot

First Electric Blender

Polish-American Stephen J. Poplawski developed the first electric blender for his business to make malts and milkshakes at soda fountains in 1922. He wired a series of small, spinning blades to an electric motor and attached them to a clear glass container, marking the beginning of blenders and milkshakes as popular beverage choices in diners. Hamilton Beach purchased Stephen’s Tool Company in 1926, while the inventor received a patent a decade later, in 1932.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blender

The image shows illustrations of Garrett Morgan’s invention of 1923, a revolutionary three-way traffic signal with a warning light. There are details of the inside and outside of the device.

Electric Traffic Signals

African-American inventor Garrett Morgan submitted his patent for an electric automatic traffic signal in 1923. He was an observer, problem-fixer, and the first black man to own a car in Cleveland. After witnessing a horrible accident, Morgan developed a new type of traffic signal with a warning light, alerting drivers they need to stop. It set the base for the modern three-way traffic light. Morgan acquired a patent soon after, but General Electric bought his rights.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_traffic_lights

First Electrodynamic Cone Loudspeaker

Inventors Edward Kellogg and Chester Rice announced the first electrodynamic cone loudspeaker at General Electric laboratories in Schenectady, New York, in 1925, setting the base for modern loudspeakers. Its advantage over horn speakers was that it had a flatter frequency response and could reproduce adequate bass with a shorter sound path length. The product was sold commercially in 1929 for $250 at the time.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudspeaker

The Yagi–Uda Antenna

Shintaro Uda of Tohoku Imperial University and his colleague Hidetsugu Yagi invented the Yagi-Uda Antenna in 1926. The directional antenna was primarily used in broadcast, domestic, and commercial radio communications during WWII. They were developed into home television antennas after the war.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yagi–Uda_antenna

A black and white image displays the first filly electronic television system developed by American inventor Philo Taylor Farnsworth.

Modern Electronic Television

American inventor Philo Taylor Farnsworth developed the first filly electronic television system. Amazingly, the inventor lived without electricity until 14 years old. Shortly after, he developed his prototype based on an “image dissector.” However, he was involved in a long legal battle with RCA and Sarnoff for the patent, which Farnsworth won. Still, no single inventor gets all the credit for modern TV. Many scientists and engineers contributed to building what we recognize as television today.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television

The image displays one of the earliest automobile radios produced by Galvin Manufacturing Corporation, the Motorola car radio.

Mass-Produced Automobile Radios

While Chevrolet offered car radios as an option in 1922, they were incredibly bulky and expensive. The speakers, antennas, and batteries could barely fit into an automobile. A few years later, Galvin Manufacturing Corporation began mass production of automobile radios on the 26th of September, 1928. The company introduced the Motorola car radio two years later, in 1930, which many consider the first successful commercial automobile radio.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola

The black and white image displays Dr. Hans von Ohain and Sir Frank Whittle, the co-inventors of the modern jet engine. They are standing with drawings of their inventions in their hands, looking and smiling at the camera.

The Beginning of Modern Jet Engines

While many inventors paved the way for today’s engines, Dr. Hans von Ohain and Sir Frank Whittle are considered the co-inventors of the modern jet engine. Still, they worked separately and knew nothing of each other’s work. Whittle registered for his schematics of a prototype patent in 1930 but took off for the first time in 1941. On the other hand, Von Ohain got his prototype patent in 1936 and flew in 1939.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_jet_engine

The image uses graphs and axes to explain the shape-memory effect in metal alloys, gold, and cadmium. It represents the connection between austenite, twinned martensite, and deformed martensite.

Shape Memory Effect in A Gold-Cadmium Alloy

Swedish chemist Arne Olander discovered the shape-memory effect in metal alloys, gold, and cadmium. This invention set the base for developing commercial shape-memory alloys with medical and other applications.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shape-memory_alloy

A black and white image displays two men working on the Telex messaging network, the first medium for the international recording of communications. It connected teleprinters over voice telephone lines. One of the men is holding the paper out of the teleprinter while the other is looking at it.

Telex, First Worldwide Text Messaging Network

The Telex messaging network came online on the 1st of January, 1933. It connected teleprinters over voice telephone lines. It was first created to distribute military messages at approximately 66 words per minute. However, it quickly spread all over Europe and the world. The Telex messaging network was the first medium for the international recording of communications, a unique worldwide official and commercial text messaging network.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_messaging

The image displays the first simple road stud, also known as the “cat’s eye,” invented by English businessman Percy Shaw.

First Reflective Road Studs

English businessman Percy Shaw invented the simple road stud, also known as the “cat’s eye.” Shaw observed the removal of tram lines and understood that he was using the old polished steel strips to navigate. So, he devised the idea to guide drivers using a simple reflective device buried in the road surface. He patented the invention in 1934 and set up a company the following year to manufacture it. Today, over 90% of Britain’s roads utilize his invention as a safety device.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat%27s_eye_(road)

The World’s First Parking Meter

Park-O-Meter No. 1, the world’s first parking meter, was installed in Oklahoma City on the 16th of July, 1935. It was patented by Carl Magee and designed by Holger George Thuesen and Gerald A. Hale.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parking_meter

Reed Switch Technology

While Valentin Kovalenkov at Leningrad Electrotechnical University set the grounds for the notion, W. B. Elwood invented and got the patent for the reed switch technology at Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1936. It’s an electrical switch operated by an applied magnetic field, and one of its common applications are detection of the opening of a door or windows on security alarms.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed_switch

A white background image displaying the early binary adder, Model K, built by George Stibitz in 1937. It combines light bulbs, batteries, relays, and metal strips cut from tin cans.

Early Relay Binary Adder

George Stibitz, a research mathematician at Bell Telephone Labs, built an early binary adder, the Model K, in 1937. He used a few light bulbs, batteries, relays, and metal strips cut from tin cans to build the first electromechanical computer built in America on his kitchen table. The original version could add two binary digits. Later, he turned it into a relay-based computer, the Complex Number Calculator.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_K_(calculator)

The image portrays the first voice-controlled robot, Elektro, seven feet/2.1 meters tall and weighing 265 pounds/120.2 kilograms, at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. A man stands next to Elektro, demonstrating the difference in height and width compared to a human.

Elektro, The Voice-Controlled Robot

Westinghouse Electric Corporation built the robot Elektro in 1937-1938. Elektro was seven feet/2.1 meters tall and weighed 265 pounds/120.2 kilograms. He was voice-controlled, could walk, speak about 700 words, make jokes, blow up balloons, smoke cigarettes, and even distinguish red and green lights. Elektro was first displayed at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. The following year, he was on the exhibit with Sparko, a dog-like robot that could bark, beg, and sit.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elektro

An image of the replica of the Z3, the first working programmable electromechanical computer.

Z3 Fully Automatic Digital Computer

German scientist Konrad Zuse completed the first working programmable electromechanical computer, the Z3, in 1941. He first presented it at the German Laboratory for Aviation in Berlin, forever changing computing. It was primarily used for aerodynamic calculations but not for everyday operations. Zuse also asked for funding to replace the relays with fully electronic switches; however, the government denied him during WWII. The original Z3 was destroyed during an Allied bombardment of Berlin in 1943. But Zuse’s company, Zuse KG, built a fully functioning replica in 1961.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z3_(computer)

The image portrays Clifford Berry, who, alongside his professor Dr. John Vincent Atanasoff, built the ABC (Atanasoff Berry Computer) in 1942. He is standing next to his invention, hands-on with the device.

ABC Electronic ALU Digital Computer

Physics and mathematician professor Dr. John Vincent Atanasoff at Iowa State University, and his graduate student, Clifford Berry, built the Atanasoff Berry Computer (ABC) in 1942. It was an early digital, general-purpose computer that sped up computing by using vacuum tubes for arithmetic calculations. Today, every modern processor integrates its revolutionary ALU (arithmetic logic unit) design.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atanasoff–Berry_computer

Hand-Held Mechanical Calculator

Curt Herzstark designed the first Curta, a hand-held mechanical calculator, while working in the “Gustloffwerke” factory under the supervision of the SS in the Buchenwald camp. It was an extremely compact, small cylinder resembling a hand grenade that could calculate basic arithmetic functions. Herzstark registered for a patent in 1946 and began production in 1949. Curtas dominated the market as the best portable calculators until electronic calculators took over in the 1970s.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curta

The image portrays the Colossus, the first programmable, electronic, digital computer, built in 1944.

Colossus Electronic Computer

British codebreakers developed a set of computers to help decipher the Lorenz-encrypted messages between Hitler and his generals during WWII. GPO research telephone engineer Tommy Flowers designed the Colossus. Although it was programmed by switches and plugs, the Colossus is considered the first programmable, electronic, digital computer. Colossus Mark 1, the prototype, was put to use by early 1944, while the improved version of Colossus Mark 2 was on the 1st of June 1944. Both machines remained secret until the 1970s.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus_computer

The image displays elements of the Plankalkül, also known as Plain Calculus, programming language on a white background.

Plankalkül, First High-Level Programming Language for Computers

Konrad Zuse designed Plankalkül, also known as Plain Calculus, a programming language for engineering purposes between 1942 and 1945. Zuse was self-taught and developed the functional program-controlled Turing-complete Z3 and its predecessors. He invented his own diagram and notation system, which he called “combinatorics of conditionals,” to describe logical circuits. Many recognize Zuse as the inventor of the modern computer due to his many innovations.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_programming_languages

The ENIAC Computing System

John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering of the University of Pennsylvania started building the ENIAC computing system in 1943. ENIAC was the first programmable, electronic, general-purpose digital computer. It combined all features of previous computers into one package and boosted computer speeds by 1,000 times compared to its predecessors. It was first put to work on the 10th of December, 1945, but the US Army Ordnance Corps formally accepted it in July 1946.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENIAC

The image displays written code and a drawing of a bug in a notebook. It refers to the first moth found disrupting the electronics in the Mark II computer in 1947.

The First Actual Computer Bug

A team of computer scientists and engineers, including Dr. Grace Hopper, reported the first ever bug found in a computer at Harvard University on the 9th of September, 1947. While Thomas Edison reported bugs (flaws or glitches in a system) in the 1800s, this was a real bug. The Mark II computer was continually displaying errors. When they opened its hardware, they found a trapped insect disrupting the electronics, more specifically, a moth.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_bug

A display of the Manchester Baby, the first stored-program electronic digital computer SSEM, on a red background.

The Manchester Baby, First Computer Program to Run on a Computer

Tom Kilburn, Freddie Williams, and Geoff Toothill designed and built the first stored-program electronic digital computer Small-Scale Experimental Machine (SSEM), also known as the Manchester “Baby” and Mark 1 prototype.” It ran its first program at Manchester University on the 21st of June, 1948. The program consisted of seventeen instructions, and they developed it to test a new memory technology, the Williams Tube. The Williams Tube soon became the first high-speed electronic RAM for computers.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Baby

The black and white image shows two men standing in front of EDSAC, the first full-size stored-program computer built in 1947.

EDSAC, First Full-Size Stored-Program Computer

A team led by Maurice Wilkes at the University of Cambridge built the first full-size stored-program computer, EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator), in 1947. It ran its first successful program on the 6th of May, 1949, and remained operational until 1965. Its successor, EDSAC 2, took over on the 11th of July, 1958. J. Lyons & Co. Ltd. supported the project and used its design to develop a commercially applied computer.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EDSAC

ERA 1101, One of The First Commercially Produced Computers

The Engineering Research Associates (ERA) designed and built the ERA 1101, later renamed UNIVAC 1101, in 1950. It was one of the first commercially produced computers intended for high-speed computing. ERA 1101 was one of the earliest magnetic storage devices, storing 1 million bits on its magnetic drum. The company’s main customer was the US Navy. But once the Remington Rand corporation purchased ERA, it continued selling its innovation and used it as a base for further developing a series of machines.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNIVAC_1101

The image displays UNIVAC’s UNISERVO invention, the first tape unit for data storage. Multiple examples of the same device are spread into three separate glass windows marked with the numbers 0, 1, and 2.

UNIVAC’s UNISERVO, The First Tape Unit for Data Storage

UNIVAC introduced the first magnetic tape drive for a commercial computer, the UNISERVO tape drive for the UNIVAC I computer, in 1951. It instantly gained popularity due to its affordable price, portability, and unlimited offline capacity. The magnetic drive supported writing and reading in forward and backward directions. Due to its one-block dedicated memory, the processor could also execute instructions simultaneously while data was being transferred to/from the UNISERVO. UNIVAC pursued to use of the name in later models. But while it was the first contemporary tape, the company later had to become compatible with IBM technology, as they set the data interchange standard.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNIVAC

IBM’s First Magnetic Tape Storage Unit

IBM announced Model 726, its first magnetic tape storage unit, on the 21st of May, 1952. It was offered for sale with its first electronic digital computer, IBM Model 701. The 8-inch diameter tape reels could store 2 million digits and start and stop the tape in a split second due to the system’s unique ‘vacuum channel’ method. The company’s engineers experimented with high-speed moving tape to deliver fast data access. In turn, IBM made magnetic tape the standard data storage technology, still popular and with a wide range of applications to date.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_726

IBM 650, The First Mass-Produced Computer

IBM announced the Model 650 Magnetic Drum Data-Processing Machine as the world’s first mass-produced computer in 1953 but installed the first one on the 8th of December 1954. Unlike the IBM 701 and I B M 702 computers, which were limited to scientific and business purposes, the company marketed the 650 computer as a general-purpose version. People found it cheap and easy to program, so it quickly became widespread for various applications, especially in universities. The company produced almost 2,000 systems until 1962, making it the first meaningfully profitable computer.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_650

The Complex Number Calculator (CNC)

George Stibitz set the base for the CNC in 1937 and turned it into the first computer accessed over a phone line shortly after. The scientist completed the Complex Number Calculator in 1939 and displayed it for the first time at an American Mathematical Society conference held at Dartmouth College in 1940. It consisted of 450 telephone relays. And unlike its predecessor, which could only add two binary digits, CNC could divide and multiply 8-digit numbers.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Stibitz

Zenith Space Command, The First Successful Wireless Remote

Eugene Polley developed the first wireless remote control, the “Flashmatic,” in 1955, yet, it was not as functional as it was supposed to be. The user had to point very precisely at one of four photoelectric cells. In addition, the device couldn’t distinguish between light from the remote and light from other sources. The following year, Robert Adler developed the “Zenith Space Command.” Users could use the wireless remote with four buttons, each emitting a different fundamental frequency with ultrasonic harmonics. The TV’s circuits detected these sounds and interpreted their meaning, which is why the remote control was commonly called a “clicker.”

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenith_Electronics

A black and white image of the early HDD by IBM, the model 350. The model consists of a processing unit, IBM 370 printer, IBM 323 card punch, IBM 380 console, IBM 340 power supply, a utility table adjacent to the console, and the IBM 350 disk storage unit.

Model 350 Disk Storage Unit, IMB’s First HDD

IBM introduced the first commercial Hard Disk Drive (HDD) in June 1956 as part of the IBM 305 RAMAC system. The 350 RAMAC was as large as two medium-sized refrigerators and contained 52 disks, storing five million six-bit characters. Its “random access” arm could retrieve data stored on any of the spinning disks in less than a second, making disk technology the industry standard at the time. The company later published variants of the 350 model, including the IBM 355, IBM 7300, and IBM 1405. Even today, when customers mainly prefer SSDs, HDDs have maintained a strong market position.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_IBM_magnetic_disk_drives

The image displays the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite, Sputnik 1, into orbit as part of the Soviet space program.

The Launch of The Sputnik Space Satellite

The Soviet Union began the launch of a series of three artificial Earth satellites on the 4th of October, 1957. Sputnik 1 was the first one to be launched into orbit as part of the Soviet space program. It set signals to Earth for three weeks and remained in orbit for three months when it fell back into the atmosphere on the 4th of January 1958. The launch of Sputnik 1 marked the beginning of the “space race” between the Soviets and the US. The satellites also included the first probes to Venus and Mars and five missions in the Korabl-Sputnik program; testing crewed Vostok spacecraft before Yuri Gagarin’s flight in 1961.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1

The image displays elements of Lisp, the second-oldest high-level programming language. It lists data and programs in parentheses, allowing programs to treat one another as data.

Lisp Programming Language

John McCarthy developed Lisp, the second-oldest high-level programming language still in common use, at MIT in 1958. Lisp, which stands for List Processing, lists data and programs in parentheses, allowing programs to treat one another as data. McCarthy proved to everyone he could build a Turing-complete language for algorithms with a few simple operators and a notation for anonymous functions. He published his innovation in the“Recursive Functions of Symbolic Expressions and Their Computation by Machine, Part I” paper in Communications of the ACM in 1960.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisp_(programming_language)

An illustration of the MOSFET (Metal-Oxide-Silicon Field-Effect- Transistor) or MOS Transistor explained with four elements represented by the letters D, B, S, and G.

MOSFET or MOS Transistor (MOST)

Mohamed M. Atalla and Dawon Kahng at Bell Labs developed the first successful insulated-gate field-effect transistor (FET) in 1959. They named it MOSFET (Metal-Oxide-Silicon Field-Effect- Transistor), popularly known as MOS. Attalla and Kahng made a revolution in computers, controls, and communication since their innovation was smaller, cheaper, faster, and more reliable than other bipolar transistors present on the market. However, researchers in Fairchild and RCA soon recognized its potential, i.e., “ease of fabrication and the possibility of application in integrated circuits,” and developed their transistors. Today, over 99% of microchips utilize MOS transistors.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOSFET

The image displays PDP-1, Programmable Data Processor, the first mini computer in its series, on a white background.

PDP-1, First Mini Computer

Benjamin Gurley was the engineer on the team at Digital Equipment Corporation that produced the PDP-1, Programmable Data Processor, as the first mini computer in its series. They showed its prototype at the Eastern Joint Computer Conference in 1959 and delivered the first PDP-1 to BBN in November 1960. It was the first commercial computer to focus on interaction with the user instead of the efficient use of computer cycles only. Furthermore, the PDP-1 contained hardware to support the first game in history, Steve Russell’s Spacewar and started the hacking culture.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDP-1

The image displays Unimate, the first industrial robot, surrounded by four men laughing and speaking to one another.

Unimate, First Industrial Robot

George Devol invented Unimate, the very first industrial robot, in 1954 and got a patent in 1961. Together with his business associate Joseph Engelberger, the Father of Robotics, they started the first robot manufacturing company worldwide, Unimation. They installed the prototype on a General Motors assembly line in New Jersey. However, the Unimate 1900 series quickly became the first mass-produced robotic arm for factory automation by 1961, with approximately 450 Unimate robotic arms employed in diecasting.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unimate

The image displays IBM’s 1311 disk storage drive model. It combines elements of both tapes and disks and features a smaller space between the head and the disk.

IBM 1311 Disk Storage Drive

IBM announced the 1311 model, as its first disk drive with a removable disk pack, on the 11th of October, 1962. It reduced the space between the head and the disk, delivering twice the recording density and storage for 2 million characters. Since the product combined the advantages of both tapes and disks at a low rental cost, it quickly gained immense popularity. IBM’s innovation opened space for a new phase in disk storage and signaled the passing of the punched card era.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_IBM_magnetic_disk_drives

A black-and-white image displays Ivan Sutherland, the developer of Sketchpad, working on his computer graphics invention. He is wearing a suit and glasses and looking at the computer.

Sketchpad, A Computer-Aided Design Program

Ivan Sutherland developed Sketchpad, also known as Robot Draftsman, for his Ph.D. thesis in 1963. It was one of the first computer-aided design programs, paving the way for human-computer interaction (HCI). It was a significant invention in computer graphics development, being the ancestor of contemporary computer-aided design (CAD) programs and setting the base for graphical user interface (GUI) and cutting-edge object-oriented programming. Sutherland received recognition in the Turing Award in 1988 and the Kyoto Prize in 2012 for designing Sketchpad.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sketchpad

The image displays the first computer mouse prototype, the Bug, with a charger. The mouse consists of a wooden box with two metal wheels connecting the surface and only one key.

The Bug, The First Computer Mouse Prototype

SRI International’s Douglas Engelbart began developing the first mouse in the early 1960s. He wrote his initial idea in his notebook, calling the device a “Bug.” According to Engelbart, the Bug would grant the users better coordination with the keyboard. It would also be easier and more natural to use than the stylus. Bill English joined ARC in 1964 and built the first mouse prototype together. They filed for a patent in 1967 and issued it in 1970. SRI licensed Apple, Xerox, and other companies to utilize the mouse technology, making it commercially available in 1984.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_mouse

The image portrays a graph displaying the functionality of Dendral, an early expert system from 1965. It explains the process consisting of five elements, i.e., external interfaces, knowledge base, inference engine, user interface, and user.

Dendral, Computer Software Expert System

AI researcher Edward Feigenbaum and the geneticist Joshua Lederberg, both from Stanford University in California, developed Dendral as an early expert system. Its primary goal was to study hypothesis formation and discovery in science and automate decision-making processes and problem-solving. The project began in 1965 and spanned approximately half the AI research history. Today, we have many similar technologies. However, we recognize them as structure searchers, not artificial intelligence.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendral

First Digital-To-Optical Recording and Playback System

American inventor James T. Russell developed the first system to record digital information at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory of Battelle Memorial Institute in Richland in 1965. He applied for a patent in 1966 and got it in 1970. Russell continued to refine and adapt the CD-ROM to any form of data. However, the idea was way ahead of its time, so it took years to attract interested investors. He built the prototype in 1973, displayed his invention to Sony and Philips, and sent brochures to other interested parties. Eli S. Jacobs, a New York venture capitalist, formed the Digital Recording Corporation in 1971 and hired Russell and a team of technicians, which created a 20-minute video disc in 1973.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_recording

Logo, First Computer Language For Children

Wally Feurzeig, Cynthia Solomon, and Seymour Papert from BBN created Logo to help kids learn to program. The interactive, flexible, modular, and extensible Logo programming language used simple words and directions instead of complicated programming structures. The original version utilized virtual turtles for immediate visual feedback and debugging of graphic programming. In some cases, Logo also included a pen for drawing shapes and patterns. The Logo language has 197 variations, the UCBLOGO version being the most robust.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo_(programming_language)

A black-and-white image of Douglas Engelbart giving his computer demonstration at the ACM/IEEE Computer Society’s Fall Joint Computer Conference, later called “The Mother of All Demos.” He is sitting on a chair in front of a computer and talking to the audience. There’s a board written all over and a TV in the background.

The Mother of All Demos

Douglas Engelbart gives a landmark computer demonstration at the ACM/IEEE Computer Society’s Fall Joint Computer Conference in San Francisco on the 9th of December, 1968. His 90-minute presentation was later called “The Mother of All Demos.” Engelbart introduced the oN-Line System, also known as NLS, a complete computer hardware and software system, including many fundamental elements of modern personal computing. He was the first to publicly demonstrate the computer mouse, hypertext, windows, graphics, word processing, dynamic file linking, and a few remaining elements in a single system. These underlying technologies and concepts then affected Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows GUI OS decades later.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mother_of_All_Demos

The image portrays the screen of a computer, a black background, with green letters in code, displaying ‘CICS.’ It’s short for Customer Information Control System and refers to the transaction processing system introduced by IBM in 1969.

CICS Transaction Processing System

IBM introduced CICS (Customer Information Control System), as a transaction processing system, shortly after the IMS database management system, on the 8th of July, 1969. CICS revolutionized how companies interacted with customers, significantly speeding up online transactions. Initially, the company named it Public Utility Customer Information Control System (PU-CICS), and its intended use was in the public utility industry. However, it quickly spread to other industries, so IBM removed the prefix. Interestingly, CICS is still in use to date.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CICS

The image displays Cal Tech, the first handheld calculator from 1970, next to an adapter on a silky red background.

Cal Tech, First Handheld Calculator

Jack Kilby at Texas Instruments led the development of the first handheld calculator, the Cal Tech, in a research project to produce a portable calculator in 1967. It was a 45-ounce device with 18 keys on a small keyboard and paper tape as the output device that could display up to 12 decimal digits. The Cal Tech could add, subtract, multiply, and divide. However, the company released the product commercially in 1970. That same year, Japan also released and marketed commercially produced portable calculators, including the Sanyo ICC-0081 “Mini Calculator,” the Canon Pocketronic, and the Sharp QT-8B “micro Compet.”

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calculator

The image displays Intel 4004, the first single-chip microprocessor from 1971. It’s as small as the size of a fingernail.

Intel 4004, First Single-Chip Microprocessor

Intel designed the 4004 processor as part of a set of four chips known as the MCS-4 for one of its clients, Nippon Calculating Machine Corporation. Two years later, the company repurchased its rights and launched the 4004 processor and its chipset on the 15th of November, 1971, thus revolutionizing integrated electronics. Intel 4004 was the world’s first general-purpose programmable processor engineers could utilize for various purposes. While it was the size of a fingernail, the processor could deliver as much computing power as the 1946 electronic computer, which was the size of an entire room.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_4004

The black and white image displays the 1972 Pong electronic game, the first commercially successful video game, with four men standing around it, smiling and looking at the camera.

Pong, First Commercially Successful Video Game

American game manufacturer Atari released the Pong electronic game in 1972. One of its employees, Allan Alcorn, designed it as a training exercise assigned by the company’s co-founder, Nolan Bushnell. The original version was a table tennis–themed twitch in 2D graphics with two paddles players volleyed a small ball back and forth across a screen. As a groundbreaking invention and one of the earliest arcade video games, Pong gained huge popularity and contributed to the launch of the video game industry together with the Magnavox Odyssey. The company pursued adding new features to the original gameplay, releasing several sequels to Pong. However, competitors also began producing similar gameplay, so Atari moved beyond Pong to new innovative games.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pong

The image displays an Ethernet connection, i.e., a plugged-in cable into a machine.

Rise of Local Area Networks (LANs)

Research laboratories and universities marked an increased demand and usage of computers in late 1960. So, there was a need for high-speed interconnections between computer systems, as demonstrated by the growth of the Octopus network. Early links to peripheral devices like printers and terminals set the base for LANs. In turn, many experimental and early commercial LAN technologies were developed in the 1970s, including the Ethernet at Xerox PARC in 1973-1974, Cambridge Ring starting in 1974, and Datapoint’s ARCNET in 1976.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_area_network

An illustration that demonstrates the functionality of the Transmission Control Program using icons of a monitor, two cases, and two routers.

Transmission Control Program, The Basis for The Modern Internet

Vinton Cerf and Robert E. Kahn published the paper “A Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunication” in May 1974. They described an internetworking protocol for sharing resources, whereas the central component is the Transmission Control Program. TCP refers to a communications standard that enables computers and programs to exchange messages over a network and ensures the successful delivery of messages and data over networks. This invention set the base for the modern Internet.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_Control_Protocol

Altair 8800, The First Commercially Successful PC

MITS designed the Altair 8800 microcomputer based on the Intel 8080 CPU in 1974. It featured Microsoft’s founding product, the BASIC programming language. The company’s co-founder was also the first to coin the term “personal computer.” Soon after its development, Popular Electronics featured the new computer kit on its cover in January 1975, creating huge interest among buyers. Many recognize the Altair 8800 as the first commercially successful personal computer, revolutionizing the microcomputer industry.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altair_8800

The image displays the Apple I computer from 1976, including its internal hardware and display, on a white background.

Release of Apple I

The Apple Computer Company released Apple I, an 8-bit desktop computer, in 1976. In July, Steve Wozniak demonstrated the prototype at the Homebrew Computer Club in Palo Alto, California. But while Wozniak was the one to design it, his friend Steve Jobs came up with the idea to sell the computer. Both sold their assets to be able to finance the idea. Still, the company introduced its successor, Apple II, in the following year and discontinued the Apple I production.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_I

The image displays the Apple II, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputers worldwide that targeted the consumer market, on a dark blue background.

Release of Apple II

Immediately after selling the Apple I computer in 1976, Wozniak started designing an improved version in August. The company demonstrated the prototype and introduced Apple II to the public in April 1977. Apple II was one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputers worldwide that targeted the consumer market, American households, instead of businesses or IT teams. It immediately boosted personal computer sales and made Apple the industry leader. The company sold 2 million Apple II computers until 1984, or the release of the Macintosh.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_II_series

An image of the first laser-disc technology, the DiscoVision, the predeccessor of the CDs and DVDs.

The First LaserDisc (LD)

MCA and Philips introduced the LaserDisc as DiscoVision on 11th December 1978 on the market in Atlanta, Georgia. The film Jaws was the first LaserDisc sold in North America, delivering improved audio and video quality than its rivals. Still, many customers found the technology pretty expensive. So, it only managed to get limited popularity in parts of Asia. Still, LaserDiscs were the direct forerunner of the CD and DVD. CDs entered the market four years later and used laser-disc technology as a base.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaserDisc

An image of the Apple II computer displaying VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet computer program for personal computers. The computer is on a cream desk with blinds in the background.

VisiCalc, First Spreadsheet Computer Program for Personal Computers

VisiCorp introduced Visible Calculator as the first spreadsheet computer program for personal computers in 1979. VisiCalc, also known as “The Killer App,” was initially designed for the Apple II computer. It was incredibly easy to use, replaced the manual spreadsheet management method, and enabled data sorting and storing in tabular rows and columns. So, it sold up to one million copies over its existence. It was also crucial for popularizing PCs for everyday consumers.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VisiCalc

ENQUIRE Software Project

Tim Berners-Lee at CERN wrote the ENQUIRE software project in 1980 as the predecessor of the World Wide Web. While working as a consultant at the CERN, Berners-Lee didn’t like how the information was stored. He couldn’t access data in the way the human brain works, i.e., by random association of concepts and ideas. So, he wrote the program ENQUIRE as a simple hypertext to keep track of his projects. Although never published, ENQUIRE set the conceptual basis of the World Wide Web.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENQUIRE

The image displays the IBM 5150 personal computer with a system unit, a keyboard, and a color/graphics capability on a white background.

The Birth of The IBM PC

IBM announced its own PC, the IBM 5150, on the 12th of August 1981 at the Waldorf Astoria ballroom in New York City, Estridge. The first development team included about a dozen people. Twelve strategists, with Don Estridge as the head of the project, worked round the clock to devise hardware, software, manufacturing setup, and sales strategy. Compared to its predecessors, the new IBM was way cheaper, processed information faster, harbored more words, and users could connect it to the home TV set or play games. The base price included a system unit, a keyboard, and a color/graphics capability. However, customers could optionally add a display, extra memory, two diskette drives, a printer, communications, a game adapter, and application packages.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_Computer

The image displays the insides of the Apple II computer and its first clone in the US, the Franklin Ace 100, next to each other. They are practically identical, down to the computer’s ROM code.

The First Clone of The Apple II

The Franklin Computer Corporation released the Franklin Ace 100, the first clone of the Apple II in the US, in March 1982. It was a complete copy down to the computer’s ROM code, except for a better keyboard with a numeric keypad and better upper and lowercase text entry support. At the time, no law prohibited copying computer code. So, while Apple had patents on its hardware, Franklin used the loophole to copy processes, systems, and functions. Shortly after, Apple sued Franklin for copyright violation, yet it was unsuccessful. Franklin pursued updating its Apple II clone and making new releases, the first in June 1982.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_II_clones

A black and white image from the early days of the Internet. One man is sitting on a chair and working on a computer, while the other one is standing next to him and observing his work.

The Official Birthday of The Internet

Dozens of pioneering scientists, programmers, and engineers have contributed to the technology we now recognize as the Internet. The existence of worldwide networks of information was recognized in the early 1900s, and the first schematics for the internet arrived in the early 1960s, with the idea of an “Intergalactic Network” of computers. Still, the creation of ARPANET marked the first workable prototype of the Internet in the late 1960s, enabling multiple computers on one network to communicate. ARPANET sent its first message, “LOGIN,” a node-to-node communication from one computer to another, on the 29th of October, 1969. However, only the first two letters arrived. The Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol, or TCP/IP, by scientists Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf, also played a crucial role in the growth of the technology, setting the standard for how data could be transmitted between multiple networks. However, it was not until the 1st of January, 1983, that ARPANET adopted TCP/IP and began to assemble the “network of networks,” i.e., the modern Internet.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Internet

The First Macintosh

Steve Jobs introduced the first Macintosh on the 24th of January, 1984. Unlike its predecessors, which featured a command-line interface, it came with a mouse and a graphical user interface (GUI). MacWrite and MacPaint were bundled in the design to show off its interface. The first Macintosh was the idea of Jef Raskin, an Apple employee who wanted an affordable and easy-to-use PC for the average person. He named the innovation after his favorite apple.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_128K

The First Edition of The C++ Programming Language

Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup began working on “C with Classes” in 1979. His goal was to enhance the general-purpose, fast, and widely-used C language with Simula-like features. Soon after, he started to develop its C++ successor in 1982, adding new features, such as references, constants, virtual functions, function names, and operator overloading. Stroustrup implemented the first stream input/output library in 1984 and released the first edition of The C++ Programming Language in 1985.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_C%2B%2B_Programming_Language

An image of SCSI, the standard for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices, on a white background.

The SCSI-1 Standardization

SCSI, “Small Computer System Interface,” derived from “SASI,” the “Shugart Associates System Interface,” was standardized in 1986. Since then, it has been available on even the largest computer systems. SCSI sets the standard for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices, including commands, protocols, and electrical, optical, and logical interfaces.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCSI

Release of Perl 1

Unisys Larry Wall started working on Perl in 1987 and released the first version on the 18th of December. However, he pursued expanding the dynamic programming language. The following year, Wall released the second version, in 1988, delivering a better regular expression engine. He continued to the third release in 1989, adding binary data stream support. Yet, the official documentation and reference to Perl, the “Camel Book”, was published in 1991, referring to Perl 4. Today, Perl references Perl 5, while Perl 6 is named Raku.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perl

The image presents a computer with the Wolfram Mathematica programming language on the screen.

Release of Mathematica

British scientist Stephen Wolfram conceived and Wolfram Research of Champaign developed Wolfram Mathematica, a symbolic mathematical programming language with applications in mathematics, science, academics, and engineering. The first version of Mathematica 1.0 was released on the 23rd of June, 1988, in California. It enabled entering mathematical functions, equations, and graphical results display.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfram_Mathematica

The image displays the Macintosh Portable manufactured in September 1989, a battery-powered device with an active matrix display.

Macintosh Portable, First Battery-Powered Macintosh

Apple Computer, Inc. designed, manufactured, and sold the Macintosh Portable from September 1989 to October 1991. It was battery-powered, featured an active matrix display and removable trackball, and delivered high performance. But while it was truly portable, it was still very heavy and expensive. So, although critics demonstrated great excitement, the company didn’t achieve its projected sales, so they cut the line shortly after.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_Portable

A black image displaying green text regarding the World Wide Web project, including a general definition and its elements.

The Birth of The World Wide Web

Initially conceived as a document management system for internal use, English computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee at CERN invented the World Wide Web. He wrote the first proposal in 1989 and implemented a working system with the WWW browser and an HTTP server by the end of 1990. As a common means of accessing data online, the Web achieved great success at CERN. Soon after, they released the technology for research institutions in January 1991 and for the general public in August 1991. It began quickly spreading, leading to 50 websites within two years.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_World_Wide_Web

The image displays Linus Torvalds holding a device with the first version of the Linux kernel. Torvalds is wearing a polo shirt, glasses, and a watch. He is looking at and smiling at the camera. In the background, there’s a library, shelves with books, and a computer displaying code.

The First Version of Linux

Finnish university student Linus Torvalds released the first official Linux version on the 5th of October, 1991, version 0.02. The first version was never announced to the public, as it wasn’t executable. By 1991, the collaboratively written computer operating system could run Bash and GCC. However, it was intended as a hacker’s system. It never addressed any other issues that kernel development as its primary focus. Enthusiasts quickly recognized its potential and began improving it. Linux evolved into free software, or what we today recognize as open-source, in 1998.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Linux

The image shows the JPEG compression and decompression processes, i.e., the whole circle of the JPEG standard for digital images. It consists of 12 steps, simplified with brief phrases, simple illustrations, and arrows.

Original JPEG Specification Published

The Joint Photographic Experts Group developed the JPEG standard for digital images, which was formally accepted worldwide in 1992. The standard specifies the codec on how images are compressed and decompressed from a stream of bytes into images. JPEG compression enables a trade-off between photo quality and file size. Since its introduction, JPEG has become the most popular and widely used image compression standard, with billions of JPEG images produced daily since 2015.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JPEG

An image of a desktop displaying Windows NT, its first proprietary graphical operating system. It has two open windows on a turquoise background, with written Microsoft WindowsNT Version 3.1.

Windows NT, First Microsoft Operating System

Microsoft released Windows NT, its first proprietary graphical operating system, on the 27th of July, 1993. The first version, Windows NT 3.1, was designed for workstations and server computers. As a commercially-focused OS, it complemented consumer versions of Windows based on MS-DOS. NT was a purely 32-bit version, while its consumer-oriented counterparts, Windows 3.1x and Windows 9x, were 16-bit/32-bit hybrids. However, with time, the Windows NT family has grown into a general-purpose operating system product line for personal computers. The NT was removed from the product name, starting with Windows 2000.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NT

An image of Masahiro Hara, the inventor of the QR system, with a print of his invention on paper. He is showing the piece of paper with his hand and talking to someone.

First QR Code System

Masahiro Hara from the Japanese company Denso Wave invented the QR system in 1994. It was a two-dimensional barcode influenced by the black and white pieces on a Go board. Initially, Hara developed it to keep track of the automotive parts produced by his company. However, the quick response code quickly became widespread outside this industry due to its fast readability and greater storage capacity than standard UPC barcodes.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code

The image displays the computer desktop with the Windows 95 operating system, a turquoise background with two open windows, and the recycle bin.

The Launch of Microsoft Windows 95

Microsoft released Windows 95, internally referred to as Chicago, as part of its Windows 9x family of operating systems on the 24th of August 1995. Windows 95 significantly improved its predecessor, integrating formerly separate MS-DOS and Windows products. The main differences were in its GUI, simplified “plug and play” features, and the move on the lower levels of the OS from a mainly 16-bit architecture to a pre-emptively multitasked 32-bit architecture. The product achieved huge success on the market and soon became the most successful OS in history.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_95

The image displays the original single-sided DVD-1 with a capacity of 1.46 gigabytes, first sold in Japan in 1996. The top half shows the front of the device, while the bottom half shows its backside with all the plug-ins.

First DVDs Launched

Not a single entity can take credit for the DVD invention. Several companies agreed on a common format for their competing second-generation CD technologies, leading to the creation of the first DVD players. The original single-sided DVD-1 had a capacity of 1.46 gigabytes. The first DVDs were sold in Japan in November 1996, offering far more storage capacity than CDs while keeping the same size. The innovation entered the US market in March of the following year, with 32 titles available on launch day.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD

The image portrays the first Sony VAIO laptop, model PCG-505 “SuperSlim,” produced with a four-panel magnesium body.

First Sony VAIO Laptop Computers

Sony reentered the worldwide computer market under the VAIO brand in 1996. The VAIO line prioritized audio-visual elements, design, and portability. The company introduced its first desktop in 1996. PCV-90 featured a 3D graphical interface on top of Windows 95 to entice computer novices. The following year, the company followed up with its VAIO laptops. The PCG-505 “SuperSlim” was produced with a four-panel magnesium body. In 1997, Sony also launched the Vaio PCG-707, including an extended battery to boost battery life, setting the trend for other VAIO laptops in the upcoming years.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaio

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)

The US Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) on the 12th of October, 1998, to regulate the recent increase in copying and sharing of digital content directly violating copyright law. It implements two 1996 treaties of the WIPO, thus criminalizing bypassing the measures that control access to copyrighted works and circumventing access control. In addition, those who try to circumvent copy protection face higher penalties. The DMCA has become an influential law, setting the grounds for similar legislation worldwide.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Millennium_Copyright_Act

An image of two iBooks, the world’s first notebooks with Wi-Fi, on a white background. One iBook is white with blue while the other is white with orange. Both highly resemble modern laptops.

Wi-Fi Introduced for Home Use

Committee 802.11 was invented and first released Wi-Fi commercially in 1997. The event was followed by the creation of IEEE802.11, a set of standards that define communication for WLANs that provide up to 2 Mbit/s link speeds. However, as a trade association, the Wi-Fi Alliance formed to hold the trademark and rebranded the standard into Wi-Fi in 1999. The updated 1999 version permitted 11 Mbit/s link speeds. Still, the major breakthrough came with Apple Inc. adopting Wi-Fi connectivity into new laptops (iBooks) and releasing its “Airport” Wi-Fi router. Cable-free connections soon gained immense popularity at home, in the workplace, and in cafes.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi

A black and white image from the 1920s showing traffic lights at the time. It’s pretty foggy, with trees, buildings, and cars in the background. There are also a few policemen, one of which is inside the enormous traffic light and citizens walking down the city.

The First Yellow Traffic Light

Detroit policeman William Potts invented the first four-way and three-colored traffic lights in 1920. He added the yellow caution light to the traffic signal to indicate the light would change soon. They installed the first modified traffic light at the corner of Woodward Avenue and Michigan Avenue, Detroit. Still, it wasn’t until 1923 when Garrett Morgan patented an electric automatic traffic signal with a T-shaped pole with three positions.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_traffic_lights

A black and white image of three men and one woman in an office, dressed formally, testing MIT’s Whirlwind, the first computer with magnetic core memory in 1953.

MIT’s Whirlwind, The First Computer with Magnetic Core Memory

MIT’s Whirlwind initially used cathode ray tube (CRT) memory, leading to slow speeds and unreliability. MIT researcher and manager Jay Forrester then used the core instead and perfected the crucial “coincident current” method that controls how core memory reads and writes information. Whirlwind became the first computer to use magnetic core memory, swiftly swiping away competitors. It was not until 1971 when Intel 1103 DRAM integrated circuit took over.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic-core_memory

An image of one of the earliest USB flash drives in the 2000s. The device is light blue with dark blue, with a cap, highly resembling modern USBs, yet slightly larger.

First USB Flash Drive

USB flash drives in the 2000s were faster and offered more data capacity than earlier storage media devices. They could be used for storage, backing up, and transferring files. They were also resilient to magnetic erasure so they couldn’t be scratched like the floppy disks. Multiple individuals have claimed to invented the USB flash drive, including IBM engineer Shimon Shmueli in 1999, Singaporean company Trek 2000 International, and Malaysian engineer Pua Khein-Seng. Still, Amir Ban, Dov Moran, and Oron Ogdan of Israeli company M-Systems filed for a patent on the 5th of April, 1999, and have been granted the recognition.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_flash_drive

The Founding of Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia

Jimmy Wales founded Nupedia, a free online encyclopedia with Larry Sanger as editor-in-chief. However, it was a traditional model with advisory boards and lengthy review processes. To speed up the process, Wales proposed an open-source encyclopedia based on wiki software, i.e., Wikipedia. Initially, they launched it as a feature of Nupedia.com, but since the advisory board objected, they had to relaunch it as a separate website. Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger registered the domain and began the first Wikipedia edit on the 15th of January, 2001. The website expanded to 20,000 articles in 18 languages in a single year. Today, Wikipedia is a free Internet-based encyclopedia under open-source management, overseen by the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation. It receives over 100 million unique monthly visits from the US alone.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Wikipedia

The image displays one of the earliest Roomba vacuum-cleaning robots cleaning a rug. The surface around it is dirty, while the place where the Roomba has passed is extremely clean.

The First Roomba Vacuum Cleaning Robot

The company iRobot released the first version of the Roomba in the series of autonomous vacuum cleaning robots in September 2002. The Roomba was battery-powered, had three buttons for room size, and sensors that detected dirty spots and obstacles, thus allowing it to safely navigate the floor area and change directions. The company offered three Roombas, each with the same core robot and cleaning system, the original silver-colored Roomba, the blue Roomba Pro, and the maroon Roomba Pro Elite. Customers could also get additional accessories with the latter two models.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roomba

A screenshot of MySpace’s website, a social networking site, in the early 2000s.

The First Version of MySpace

Several eUniverse employees with Friendster accounts prepared the first MySpace version for launch using ColdFusion within ten days in August 2003. They set up a complete infrastructure overseen by eUniverse’s founder, chairman, and CEO, Brad Greenspan. Initially, its users were the eUniverse employees. However, MySpace has grown into the first social network to reach a worldwide audience, and competitors couldn’t keep up with its development speed. It was the largest social networking site globally from 2005 to 2008 and played a key role in the early growth of companies like YouTube.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myspace

Google’s IPO (Initial Public Offering)

Google held its highly anticipated IPO on the 19th of August, 2004, six years after its establishment. By then, the company was already a powerful force. Still, it was the first company to go public after the dot-com bubble. So, the IPO auction went worse than expected. Google ended up cutting its IPO share price from the expected range of $108-$135 to $85 per share. However, on its first day of trading, the stock price increased by 18%. Google’s IPO marked the beginning of a period of expansion for the Web, followed by many other IPOs to this date.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google

The representatives of Lenovo and IBM are shaking hands, smiling at each other, and wearing business attire.

Lenovo Buys IBM’s PC Business

Lenovo acquired IBM’s PC business, its iconic ThinkPad brand, and its sales force, setting it to become the no. 1 PC maker worldwide in a $1.75 billion worth deal in 2005. It was a win-win situation. The purchase has enabled IBM to switch its focus to hardware, software, and services, while China’s largest computer manufacturer, Lenovo, has obtained global power. Lenovo’s strategy has revolved around defending the existing market share in mature markets and expanding its share in emerging countries. Later, Lenovo also bought IBM’s server line of computers.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acquisition_of_the_IBM_PC_business_by_Lenovo

The Launch of AWS (Amazon Web Services)

Amazon launched its subsidiary, Amazon Web Services, Inc., on the 3rd of March, 2006. The company began offering web services, which we today recognize as cloud computing. It allowed entities to save and replace up-front capital infrastructure expenses with low variable costs and on-demand scale. Today, AWS has data center locations worldwide, serving hundreds of thousands of customers in 190 countries. All AWS customers benefit from a highly reliable, secure, scalable, open, flexible infrastructure on a pay-as-you-go basis on the cloud.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Web_Services

The Launch of Dropbox

MIT students Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi founded Dropbox in 2007 after repeatedly forgetting the USB flash drive. They designed Dropbox as a cloud-based service for convenient storage and file access. Users could install Dropbox on a range of devices and instantly access all of their uploaded files stored on Dropbox’s vast server farms. The innovation also included sharing functionalities for multiple users and had a free and paid version. Houston initially founded Evenflow, Inc. as the company behind Dropbox. Soon after, seed accelerator Y Combinator provided funding for the project, followed by Sequoia.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dropbox

The image portrays a device from Apple Inc.’s first line of Intel-based MacBook Air notebook computers from 2008. The MacBook Air features a 13.3-inch screen and is portrayed on a white background.

First Macbook Air

Apple Inc. introduced its first line of Intel-based MacBook Air notebook computers in January 2008. It was the world’s thinnest notebook in the ultrabook family, featuring a 13.3-inch screen. While thin and light, the MacBook Air had a high-capacity battery and incorporated many features of the previous MacBook laptops, including Wi-Fi capabilities and an integrated camera. Moreover, the MacBook Air was the first ever mass-market computer with a solid-state disk (SSD) instead of the traditional hard drive.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacBook_Air

The image displays the first Apple iPad, from front and back. It has a nine-inch screen and incorporates many popular capabilities of the iPhone.

Release of Apple iPad, First Touchscreen Tablet Computer

Steve Jobs announced the first-generation iPad on the 27th of January 2010 at an Apple press event. The original iPad, unofficially referred to as the iPad 1, was the first device in the iPad lineup of tablet computers. It incorporated many popular capabilities of the iPhone on a nine-inch screen, including the iOS operating system, iTunes Store, audio-video capabilities, browsing capabilities, and high-definition camera, but without the phone. Users could also play games and benefit from other apps, accessories, and functions, leading to positive reviews and immense popularity. The company sold 3 million iPads in the first 80 days and over 15 million iPads until the release of the iPad 2 in 2011.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad

An image of the early Siri edition from 2010. It resembles a FAQ section, with a question and multiple possible answers. It also consists of the popular Siri mic button, i.e., the dictation feature.

Siri, Voice-Activated Personal Assistant

Initially, Siri was released as an app for iOS in February 2010. Apple Inc. acquired it, removed it from the iOS App Store, and integrated it into iPhone 4S only two months later. The company made it available to the public on the 4th of October, 2011. Still, the original release received mixed reviews; positive comments for the voice recognition and contextual knowledge of user information and negative ones for requiring stiff user commands, lack of flexibility, lack of information, and inability to understand certain accents. Today, Siri is an integral part of Apple products. The virtual assistant is part of the iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, macOS, tvOS, and audioOS operating systems.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siri

Microsoft’s Big Push

The Microsoft Corporation released a new Windows version, an updated mobile operating system, and the Microsoft Surface (an iPad rival) in 2012. It launched Windows Server 2012, codenamed “Windows Server 8”, on the 4th of September, 2012. It’s the sixth version and part of the Windows NT family of operating systems. The company mixed a traditional desktop experience with an innovative, playful touchscreen interface for tablets, traditional computers, and hybrid machines. The Microsoft Surface, the company’s first tablet, also ran a truncated version of the new Windows 8 OS, while the Windows Phone 8 was a major revamp of its smartphone OS.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft

HTML5 Markup Language

While its initial release was on the 22nd of January, 2008, HTML5 got a major update and “W3C Recommendation” status in October 2014. HTML5 is a markup language for structuring and presenting content on the Web. It’s the fifth and final major HTML version with a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommendation. We recognize the current specification as the HTML Living Standard maintained by the WHATWG.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML

Skype Translator, Real-Time Voice Translation

Skype announced Skype Translator, a speech-to-speech translation application, on the 15th of December, 2015. It enables users to converse in their native languages while it translates the speech in near real-time with a computer-generated speech synthesis presenting the output translation. The app also features on-screen text transcripts in both the native language and the translation and instant message translations in over 70 languages supported by Microsoft Translator. Still, speech translation is not new. It dates back to 1983 when NEC Corporation demonstrated it as a concept exhibit at the ITU Telecom World. The C-Star-2 consortium also demonstrated speech-to-speech translation of five languages in 1999.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skype_Translator

Oculus Go, Facebook’s Standalone Virtual Reality Headset

Facebook Technologies has partnered with Qualcomm and Xiaomi to develop Oculus Go, a standalone VR headset. The company unveiled its first device in the category of standalone VR headsets on the 11th of October, 2017, at the Oculus Connect developer conference and released it in May of the following year. While the Oculus Go isn’t as advanced as its more expensive counterparts due to having less physical space for computing power, the company’s goal was to make the most accessible device, not the most realistic one.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oculus_Go

The image portrays Google’s first quantum computer from 2019. It’s in the middle of an office with various office supplies in the background.

Google’s Quantum Supremacy

Google researchers claim to have achieved a milestone known as quantum supremacy in October 2019. The company has created the first quantum computer that could perform a calculation impossible for a standard computer. More precisely, their computer Sycamore performed an abstruse calculation they said would tie up a supercomputer for 10,000 years in 200 seconds. However, other market participants countered Google’s claim. According to them, the company hadn’t done anything special.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_supremacy

An illustration of Thomas Newcomen’s atmospheric engine from 1712, used for pumping water from mines.

First Commercially Successful Engine (1712)

Thomas Newcomen invented the atmospheric engine in 1712. It was the first commercially successful engine to transmit continuous power to a machine. Newcomen worked for ten years for his invention to work, and it was primarily used to pump water from mines. But while he improved Savery’s steam pump, Newcomen’s engine was still pretty inefficient. Still, it was not until 1780 that James Pickard improved his design.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_steam_engine

An image of the first voltaic pile, the first battery with a steady electricity supply, invented by Alessandro Volta in 1800. It consists of pairs of copper and zinc discs with an electrolyte between them stacked one atop the other.

Voltaic Pile, First Battery (1800)

Alessandro Volta invented the voltaic pile as the first device with a steady electricity supply in 1800. He initially agreed with Luigi Galvani, the inventor of the electrical basis of nerve impulses, but as soon as he began his experiments, he developed his own theories. He proved his ideas after many tests, and his two-metal theory of electricity eventually led him to produce the voltaic pile or the first “wet cell battery.”

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltaic_pile

An image of the first working telegraph with static electricity by Francis Ronalds in 1816.

First Working Telegraph (1816)

English inventor Francis Ronalds built the first working telegraph with static electricity in 1816. However, the Admiralty rejected his invention as wholly unnecessary in July. Still, his work was the first published on electric telegraphy that incorporated the risk of signal retardation due to induction. Two decades later, during the subsequent commercialization of the telegraph, inventors utilized elements of his designs.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_telegraph

The Niépce Heliograph, the first known photograph in history from 1827, is portrayed in a white rounded frame.

Niépce Heliograph, The First Photograph (1827)

Joseph Nicephore Niepce used the Camera Obscura to make the first known photograph in history, Niépce Heliograph, in 1827. He conducted photographic experiments to copy prints and record real-life scenes with the camera. Niepce started in 1816 when he produced legible but fleeting camera pictures. However, he tested various chemicals, materials, and techniques, to improve the process over the next decade, which he ultimately called héliographie or ‘sun writing.’ His heliographs, also known as sun prints, were the prototype for modern photography.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicéphore_Niépce

A black and white drawing of a man using the first commercially successful reaper. Two horses draw the machine to harvest wheat.

First Mechanical Reaper (1831)

Industrialist and inventor Cyrus H. McCormick developed the first commercially successful reaper. McCormick was born and grew up on a family farm. His father, Robert McCormick, tested designs for a mechanical reaper since his son’s birth. However, he turned the work over to his son. Cyrus made a few modifications and developed a horse-drawn machine to harvest wheat. The reaper could efficiently replace hundreds of laborers. He demonstrated his invention at Steele’s Tavern, Virginia, in July 1831 and patented it in 1834.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_McCormick

An image of the world’s first telegraph message, “WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT,” from 1844.

World’s First Telegraph Message (1844)

William Fothergill Cooke and Charles Wheatstone codeveloped and successfully demonstrated the first electrical and commercially successful telegraph system. They installed it between Euston and Camden Town in London. The next day, they set up the system along thirteen miles of the Great Western Railway and patented their invention in May 1837. Samuel Morse also independently developed and patented a recording electric telegraph in 1837. He sent the first telegram across two miles in the US on the 11th of January 1838. However, he sent the first message, “WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT,” over the 44 miles from the Capitol in Washington to the old Mt. Clare Depot in Baltimore in 1844.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_telegraph

An illustration of the first mechanical dishwasher invented by Joel Houghton in 1850.

First Mechanical Dishwasher (1850)

Joel Houghton invented the first mechanical dishwashing device and registered for a patent in 1850 in the US. He developed a wooden box with a hand-turned wheel that splashed water on dirty dishes and scrubbers. But while many users found the invention slow and unreliable, it served as a good basis for L.A. Alexander’s patent, which added a geared mechanism, enabling users to spin racked dishes through a tub of water.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dishwasher

The no-color image portrays the first traffic light installed outside the Houses of Parliament in 1868. It resembles a railway signal of the time and consists of waving semaphore arms and gas-operated lamps.

First Traffic Light (1868)

English railway manager and inventor J. P. Knight invented the first traffic light, installed outside the Houses of Parliament on the 9th of December, 1868. It looked like any railway signal of the time and aimed to replace police officer control of vehicular traffic. It consisted of waving semaphore arms and red-green lamps operated by gas and was intended for night use. However, it exploded and caused an accident, discouraging further development until the era of the internal combustion engine.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_traffic_lights

An illustration of the QWERTY Typewriter Keyboard, the first practical typewriter from 1878. On the left is a drawing of the entire device, while on the right is a close-up of the keyboard and its letters arrangement.

The QWERTY Typewriter Keyboard, First Practical Typewriters (1878)

Typing visionary, former journalist, and customs inspector Christopher Latham Sholes equipped a typewriter with a QWERTY keyboard. Its letters arrangement slightly slowed typewriters’ fingers, thus preventing them from jamming. However, he didn’t invent the typewriter alone; a succession of visionaries gradually developed it starting in the mid-1700s. Still, Christopher’s invention was the practical typewriter that went on sale. E. Remington and Sons commercialized the machine as the Sholes and Glidden Type-Writer and began production on the 1st of March, 1873. Moreover, the QWERTY keyboard layout still remains the standard for computer keyboards.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QWERTY

An image of Thomas Edison’s electric light invention of 1880. The first incandescent light bulb highly resembles modern ones and is portrayed on a white background.

First Incandescent Light Bulb (1880)

Thomas Edison received the historic patent that paved the way for the universal domestic use of electric light on the 27th of January, 1880. While Edison improved electric lamps and did not start a whole new design, he made design and material changes that created reliable, safe, and practical electric lamps. His bulbs could last for 1,200 hours. In turn, he has illuminated homes and businesses nationwide, thus helping create a culture that defined its days by the clock rather than by sunrise and sundown. Edison is one of the most prolific inventors, with 1,093 patented inventions and innovations.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incandescent_light_bulb

A black and white image of Guglielmo Marconi with his 1895 invention, the first practical radio transmitters and receivers.

Radio-Based Wireless Telegraphy (1895)

Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi came up with transmitting messages through radio waves in the mid-1890s. He invented the first practical radio transmitters and receivers in 1894–1895. Because his country didn’t encourage his invention, Marconi moved to England, where he formed a wireless telegraph company. His technology was sending messages across the English Channel and from ships by 1898. Furthermore, his radiotelegraphy set the means of radio communication, and it was the only type of radio transmission during the “wireless telegraphy era” until World War I.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_telegraphy

Technology Timeline

First Flight of The Zeppelin

First Powered Vacuum Cleaner

First Engine-Powered Airplane

First Two-Electrode Diode

Photoelectric Effect and Relativity Explained

Electronic Amplifying Tube (Triode)

First Automatic Washing Machine

World’s First Truly Affordable Car

First Demonstrations of Instantaneous Images Transmission

First Commercial Slot Cars

First Moving Assembly Line for Mass Production

Charlie Chaplin’s Debut In Silent Film

First Transcontinental Telephone Call

First Crystal Oscillator

Prototype Armstrong Superheterodyne Receiver

First Electric Pop-Up Toaster

The First Use of The Term Robot

First Electric Blender

Electric Traffic Signals

First Electrodynamic Cone Loudspeaker

The Yagi–Uda Antenna

Modern Electronic Television

Mass-Produced Automobile Radios

The Beginning of Modern Jet Engines

Shape Memory Effect in A Gold-Cadmium Alloy

Telex, First Worldwide Text Messaging Network

First Reflective Road Studs

The World’s First Parking Meter

Reed Switch Technology

Early Relay Binary Adder

Elektro, The Voice-Controlled Robot

Z3 Fully Automatic Digital Computer

ABC Electronic ALU Digital Computer

Hand-Held Mechanical Calculator

Colossus Electronic Computer

Plankalkül, First High-Level Programming Language for Computers

The ENIAC Computing System

The First Actual Computer Bug

The Manchester Baby, First Computer Program to Run on a Computer

EDSAC, First Full-Size Stored-Program Computer

ERA 1101, One of The First Commercially Produced Computers

UNIVAC’s UNISERVO, The First Tape Unit for Data Storage

IBM’s First Magnetic Tape Storage Unit

IBM 650, The First Mass-Produced Computer

The Complex Number Calculator (CNC)

Zenith Space Command, The First Successful Wireless Remote

Model 350 Disk Storage Unit, IMB’s First HDD

The Launch of The Sputnik Space Satellite

Lisp Programming Language

MOSFET or MOS Transistor (MOST)

PDP-1, First Mini Computer

Unimate, First Industrial Robot

IBM 1311 Disk Storage Drive

Sketchpad, A Computer-Aided Design Program

The Bug, The First Computer Mouse Prototype

Dendral, Computer Software Expert System

First Digital-To-Optical Recording and Playback System

Logo, First Computer Language For Children

The Mother of All Demos

CICS Transaction Processing System

Cal Tech, First Handheld Calculator

Intel 4004, First Single-Chip Microprocessor

Pong, First Commercially Successful Video Game

Rise of Local Area Networks (LANs)

Transmission Control Program, The Basis for The Modern Internet

Altair 8800, The First Commercially Successful PC

Release of Apple I

Release of Apple II

The First LaserDisc (LD)

VisiCalc, First Spreadsheet Computer Program for Personal Computers

ENQUIRE Software Project

The Birth of The IBM PC

The First Clone of The Apple II

The Official Birthday of The Internet

The First Macintosh

The First Edition of The C++ Programming Language

The SCSI-1 Standardization

Release of Perl 1

Release of Mathematica