The History of Computers "Who invented the computer?" is not a question with a simple answer.

. The real answer is that many inventors contributed to the history of computers and that a computer is a complex piece of machinery made up of many parts, each of which can be considered a separate invention. This series covers many of the major milestones in computer history (but not all of them) with a concentration on the history of personal home computers. Comput er History Year/En ter 1936

Computer History Inventors/Inventions

Computer History Description of Event First freely programmable computer. Who was first in the computing biz is not always as easy as ABC. The Harvard Mark 1 computer. 20,000 vacuum tubes later... Baby and the Williams Tube turn on the memories. No, a transistor is not a computer, but this invention greatly affected the history of computers. First commercial computer & able to pick presidential winners. IBM enters into 'The History of Computers'. The first successful high level programming language. The first bank industry computer - also MICR (magnetic ink character recognition) for reading checks. Otherwise known as 'The Chip'

Konrad Zuse - Z1 Computer John Atanasoff & Clifford 1942 Berry ABC Computer Howard Aiken & Grace Hopper 1944 Harvard Mark I Computer John Presper Eckert & John W. 1946 Mauchly ENIAC 1 Computer Frederic Williams & Tom Kilburn 1948 Manchester Baby Computer & The Williams Tube John Bardeen, Walter Brattain 1947/48 & Wiliam Shockley The Transistor John Presper Eckert & John W. 1951 Mauchly UNIVAC Computer International Business 1953 Machines IBM 701 EDPM Computer John Backus & IBM 1954 FORTRAN Computer Programming Language Stanford Research Institute, 1955 Bank of America, and General (In Use Electric 1959) ERMA and MICR 1958 Jack Kilby & Robert Noyce

1962 1964 1969 1970 1971

The Integrated Circuit Steve Russell & MIT Spacewar Computer Game Douglas Engelbart Computer Mouse & Windows ARPAnet Intel 1103 Computer Memory

The first computer game invented. Nicknamed the mouse because the tail came out the end. The original Internet. The world's first available dynamic RAM chip. The first microprocessor. Nicknamed the "Floppy" for its flexibility. Networking. The first consumer computers. More first consumer computers. Any product that pays for itself in two weeks is a surefire winner. Word Processors. From an "Acorn" grows a personal computer revolution From "Quick And Dirty" comes the operating system of the century. The first home computer with a GUI, graphical user interface. The more affordable home computer with a GUI. Microsoft begins the friendly war with Apple. CONTINUED

Faggin, Hoff & Mazor Intel 4004 Computer Microprocessor Alan Shugart &IBM 1971 The "Floppy" Disk Robert Metcalfe & Xerox 1973 The Ethernet Computer Networking Scelbi & Mark-8 Altair & IBM 1974/75 5100 Computers Apple I, II & TRS-80 & 1976/77 Commodore Pet Computers Dan Bricklin & Bob Frankston 1978 VisiCalc Spreadsheet Software Seymour Rubenstein & Rob 1979 Barnaby WordStar Software IBM 1981 The IBM PC - Home Computer Microsoft 1981 MS-DOS Computer Operating System 1983 1984 1985 SERIES Apple Lisa Computer Apple Macintosh Computer Microsoft Windows TO BE