History of Technology

1950-1969

By Maxine Asmussen, Dylan Clark, and Renee Brogan

 Contents
Computer/technology companies

Components

Networking

Robots and Artificial Intelligence

Software and computer languages

Graphics and games

Pop culture and people

Computer & Technology Companies
 The Univac l
(Universal Automatic
Computer l)
First Commercial Computer Sold

● Invented by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly

● Used 5,200 vacuum tubes and weighed 29,000
pounds
1951 ● Insurance Companies and the US Military used
them
 701 EDPM
IBM* first electric and
mass-produced computer
1953
*International Business Machines Corporation
● The IBM rented for $15,000 a month
● Arthur Samuels used the 701 to write
the first computer program to play
checkers
● Used electrostatic storage tube
memory
Electrostatic Storage & Vacuum Tube
Components
Jack Kilby’s
Integrated
Circuit
First working integrated
circuit (IC) ● Designed by Jack Kilby
● Solved the ongoing problem known as
“Tyranny of numbers that many
1958 computer engineers faced”
● Used a semiconductor and germanium
 Computer
Mouse
● Developed by Douglas Engelbart
The First Computer Mouse ● Consisted of a wooden shell, circuit
board, and two metal wheels that
came into contact with the surface it
was being used on
1964 ● Engelbart thought of the mouse when
he was thinking of ways to move a
screen cursor
Networking
 SABRE
Semi-Automatic Business
Research Environment ● Allowed computers to be connected
around the world through a network
● SABRE linked more than 2,000
1964 terminals in 65 cities that were all
paired with IBM 7090
● Travelocity uses SABRE
 ARPANET
Advanced Research Projects
Agency
● The first ever computer to computer
link
1969
● Precursor of the internet
Robots & Artificial Intelligence
 Squee: The
Robot Squirrel
The First True Robot

● Constructed by Edmund C. Berkeley

● Collected nuts, golf balls, and tennis
1951 balls
● First robot to carry out tasks
Stanford Arm
First successful electrically
powered and computer
● The arm contains 6 joints
controlled robot arm
● The camera attached to the arm scans
for objects on the table and stacks
1969 them
● Used in industrial assembly lines
Software & Computer Languages
FORTRAN
FORmula TRANslation
● Created by John Backus
● Became the most used language for
scientific and technical computing
1957 ● Shortened the process of
programming which made computer
programming more accessible
 COBOL
Common Business-Oriented
Language
● Programs in COBOL could run on
more than one manufacturer’s
computer.
1960
● Aimed for easy readability of computer
programs
Ivan Sutherland
Sketchpad
Best known drawing application
of its time ● Invented by Ivan Sutherland
● Using a pen and a sketchpad you can
draw and manipulate geometric
1963 shapes on a computer
● Mostly used for engineer drawing
Graphics & Games
 OXO
The First Video and Graphic
Game ● Programmed by Alexander Douglas
● An electronic version of TIc-Tac-Toe
● Platformed on the Electronic Delay
1952 Storage Automatic Calculator
(EDSAC).The University of Cambridge
housed the only EDSAC computer
Tennis For Two
A 2-D Tennis Game
● Created by William Higinbotham
● Tennis For Two wasn’t intended to be
a multibillion-dollar game industry.
Higinbotham wanted to make the
1958 annual visitors day at Brookhaven
National Laboratory
 Spacewars!
First Popular Computer Game
1962
http://www.masswerk.at/spacewar/
● Created by Steve Russell
● Inspired by the Lensman series novels
written by E.E “Doc” Smith
● Took about 200 hours to program the
first version of Spacewars
People & Pop Culture
 Premiere
First commercially sponsored
TV Program to broadcast in
● George Balanchine Ballet from
color
“Premiere”
● Live in New York City, Washington,
1951 D.C., Baltimore, Boston, and
Philadelphia
JTM45 Amplifier
First Guitar Amplifier
● Developed by Jim Marshall
● The first ever built model was made
out of all-aluminum chassis by Ken
1962 Bran and Dudley Craven
Philips Compact
Cassette Tape
Audio Cassette ● Allowed people to make recordings
without having training or to have to
pay a lot
● Introduced in the Berlin Radio Show
1963 by Philips in Europe; was the highlight
of the show
 Texas
Instruments
First handheld calculator ● The battery-powered device could
accept 6-digits, perform all four basic
operations, and print at most 12-digits
● Jack Kilby invented the calculator
1967 using the integrated circuited he
developed
Citations
Slide 24
Slide 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17,18, 20,

Slide 12 and 18 Slide 25

Slide 12 Slide 28

Slide 17 Slide 30, 31, 32

Slide 18 Slide 31

Slide 23 Slide 32