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The Pre-History of Computing
Before the scale of this timeline, the human race was already making bounds towards a computer. Inventions such as the abacus had already been invented and some individuals were alreday dreaming of the things that were to come. -
Alan Turing Concieves The Idea Of The First Modern Computer
In 1937, Alan Turing, a Cambridge University mathemetician as well as an avid tinkerer and wartime codebreaker, was in search of a machine that could quickly and efficiently decipher secret codes between army contingents. Turing was brainstorming one day and drew up a crude computer, a device capable of following a rule to decipher a code. This device was way ahead of its time, though, so he never managed to make one. -
World War 2 Begins
The 1st September, 1939 was the date that World War 2 was (infamously) declared open. It may seem unrelated, but it was actually a huge step for computers. These steps were mostly in the form of code-breaking machines. If the enemy sent an encoded message and it was intercepted, you could plug it into a basic computing devide that would try out all combinations and give you the most probable one.
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V3 Programmable Computer
The V3 programmable computer is invented in Germany. This is the first computer which can be personally programmed to do specific tasks by the user.
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Still Developing...
1943 "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM. This quote from Tom Watson, president of IBM, really expresses that computing was making huge leaps, but still was in its very early developing stages. However, much more was to come.
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Harvard Mark 1
The Harvard Mark 1, another programmable computer, is invented. However, this is different from the V3 because it uses punch cards, little cards with special code marked in hole punches, as input.
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Breaking the 1-Ton Barrier
"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons." says Popular Mechanics, predicting the incredible weight treatment computers would receive in the far future.
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The Floppy Disk Is Invented! (Probably)
In 1950, Doctor Yoshiro Nakamats claims to invent the floppy disk, a computing revelation. He then appartently sells the rights to computing giant IBM. The disk allows files to be stored and transferred from one computer to another. It was also claimed to have been officially invented by David Noble, an IBM employee, in 1971. -
UNIVAC- 1
UNIVAC-1 is the first realistic personal computer. It was the first device of its kind to be available on a commercial scheme.
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Magnetic Storage
Magnetic storage came in to the scope with IBM's 350 RAMAC drive. It had 50 magnetic platters stacked on top of each other and could store a whopping 5 million bytes of data.
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A Game of Cat- and- Mouse
The computer “mouse” is invented by Douglas Engelbart. Nicknamed a “mouse” because of the “tail” of wire coming out of its end, it provided the first way for computing to become a visual experience instead of code on a screen.
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The Beauty of Language
A year of language. IBM brings to the public scope the radical word processor, a software program that allows the user to input text. Also in the same year, one of the most popular programming languages, BASIC, is invented by a pair of American and Hungarian computer scientists.
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Ooh... Lasers...
The first laser printer is invented by Gary Starkweather. He worked at Xerox, a company that would soon be known far and wide for its printing products. His printer was important because it allowed high-tech computer data to be changed into good, old-fashioned paper hard copies.
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LCD and E-mail
The LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) is introduced. This is a common material for making computer monitors, even today. Also, E-mail is thought up by Ray Tomlinson. It revolutionized how we share data and is still going strong today.
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Pong & CDs
Pong, the first real video game, is released by Atari. Also, in my opinion more importantly, The CD (compact disk) was invented. It is equivalent to a floppy disk, except it has faster data transfer and isn’t, well, floppy.
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Apple!
Apple is invented by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak! One of the world’s largest computing companies, Apple was the first company to focus on ease of use in their machines and they were immediately taken up by many members of society.
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Half a Million and Still Going Strong...
Over half a million computers are in use in the United States alone. Computing is now officially a phenomenon.
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Computers on the Rise
Remember what I said about half a million computers being in use in the US in 1979? Well that number soon skyrocketed to over 10 million! Wow!
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Macintosh: A Legend is Born
Apple introduces the Macintosh. This line of computers has been extremely successful and known for its ease of use. The first model is one of the first to include a mouse and monitor.
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Create the Internet? No Problem.
Revelation! The World Wide Web, or internet, is introduced to the public. It allows for data to be produced, consumed and shared faster than ever. It was created by Tim Berners-Lee and is probably one of the biggest computing breakthroughs in history.
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Google
Google, one of the biggest technology corporations in the world today, is started by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Nowadays, it is not only a search engine, but also a phone maker, a social networking hub and an e-mail client, and also so much more.
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The Importance of Technology in our Lives- Part 1
This timeline has been about the history of computers. If you are reading this right now, you are on a computer, so technology does govern your life to some extent. In fact, technology is all around us, any time, anywhere we might be, because in its essence, technology is everything man-made. Ant let me tell you, these days, there’s not much stuff around that’s not man-made. -
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Questions
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The Importance of Technology in our Lives- Part 2
Everything you use daily, from the food you eat to the home you live in, from your PC to the language this blurb is written in, is all technology. Think about it: everything that is man-made. Humans have been around for a good chunk of time, and man oh man, they’ve made a HUGE impact on the planet. The technology that the human race creates is constantly moving, getting ever better, and changing our planet in ways that a few years ago most would have thought impossible. -
The Importance of Technology in our Lives- Part 3
If you really think about all the things the humble mobile phone lets you do that you take for granted, it’s amazing. You can:
Take photo or videos of the world around you.
The camera on your smartphone is an amazing tool that lets you relive the moments an image has captured.
Access the internet, a collective knowledge base of so much stuff that given a lifetime you couldn't even read a tiny fraction of it. -
The Importance of Technology in our Lives- Part 4
Heck, you can even talk to people halfway round the world as if they were right next to you! You can see them through video chats! These days, who even needs to go anywhere anymore? You can just call in, Skype in, whatever! And ALL OF THIS STUFF IS FREE! I hope this blurb has helped you appreciate the technology that we nowadays take for granted and given you an insight on just how mind-bogglingly awesome and useful technology is. Thank you for reading. -
The Importance of Technlology in our Lives: Part 5
computers are to our lives. Thanks for reading. -
The Current State of Technology
Nowadays, technology is getting faster, lighter and better by the minute. New companies are setting up and making it easier than ever to connect, share, build, and live our lives however we want. Fifteen years ago, a touchscreen tablet, a phone you can fit in your pocket, even the internmet woud have been inconceivable. The current state of technology is ever-changing and will continue to be so forever. -
The Future of Technology
Technology is always improving. It will copntinue to do so. It is escalating so quickly that before we know it, we will be surrounded by fater, lighter, better gadgets then ever before. Humans have seemingly endless ingenuity, as you can see in the timeline, and I am sure that we will find ways to advance technology to a state higher than ever before. -
Creative Commons License
A Hinstory of Computing by Dylan Sloan is Licensed under a Creative Commons V2.0 BY-SA License. All of the images used in this work were licensed under Creative Commons or similar licenses. Sorry for any broken or missing links.
