Timeline: History of Computers

Sep 16, 1925

Television Launched To The Public

John Logie Baird showedand invented a working television system to the public.

Aug 2, 1952

First Trackball Invented

Invented by Tom Cranston and Fred Longstaff as part of a computerized battlefield information system called DATAR, initiated by the Canadian Navy. It used a standard five-pin bowling ball as its trackball, which is smaller than the more common 10-pin bowling ball.

Oct 3, 1958

First Ever Video Game Invented

Physicist William Higinbotham created what is thought to be the first video game. It was a very simple tennis game, similar to the classic 1970s video game Pong, and it was quite a hit at a Brookhaven National Laboratory open house.

Dec 2, 1962

First Playable Video Game

Spacewar! is a two-player game, with each player taking control of a starship and attempting to destroy the other. A star in the center of the screen pulls on both ships and requires maneuvering to avoid falling into it. In an emergency, a player can enter hyperspace to return at a random location on the screen, but only at the risk of exploding if it is used too often.

Oct 14, 1963

First Mouse

Invented by Douglas Engelbart at the Stanford Research Institute. The first mouse used two wheels positioned at a 90-degree angle to each other to keep track of the movement.

Jun 5, 1971

First Email Sent

Ray Tomlinson sent the first e-mail.

Oct 14, 1971

First Movie To Use CGI

The first film to use CGI was called Metadata.

Apr 3, 1973

First Ever Mobile Phone Call

Apr 4, 1975

Microsoft Invented

Apr 11, 1976

First Apple Computer

It was called the Apple I and was designed and hand-built by Steve Wozniak. The Apple I went on sale in 1976 for the price of $666.66. It was basically just a motherboard with a processor. To have a working computer, the buyer would have to add a power supply, a keyboard and a display (and a case to keep mount it all in).

Nov 13, 1979

First Laptop

It was called the Grid Compass 1100 (called the GRiD) and was designed by a British industrial designer, Bill Moggridge. It weighed 5 kg (11 lb) and cost $8-10,000. The GRiD was mainly used by NASA and the US military.

Jan 1, 1983

Internet Invented

Nov 4, 1983

Microsoft Word Invented

A piece of software to type stuff up. Also frequently used by businesses.

Sep 30, 1985

Microsoft Excel Invented

Used by most businesses, excel uses spreadsheets to calculate and keep track of things.

Aug 6, 1991

WWW Launched To The Public

Tim Berners-Lee introduced the World Wide Web, (WWW) and is what most people today consider the "Internet". The Internet as a whole had hundreds of people who helped developed the standards and technologies that make it what it is today, but without the WWW the Internet would not be as popular and useful as it is today.