Timeline: Significant Events in the History of Computing

The history of computer sciences has been filled with many creative inventions and intriguing people. Here are some of the milestones and achievements in the field.

c300-500 BCE	The counting board, known as the ancient abacus, is used. (Babylonia)
CE 1200	The modern abacus is used. (China)
c1500	Leonardo da Vinci drafts a design for a calculator. (Italy)
1614	John Napier suggests the use of logarithms. (Scotland)
1617	John Napier produces calculating rods, called "Napier's Bones." (Scotland)
	Henry Briggs formulates the common logarithm, Base 10. (England)
1620	Edmund Gunter devises the "Line of Numbers," the precursor to slide rule. (England)
1623	Wilhelm Schickard conceives a design of a mechanical calculator. (Germany)
1632	William Oughtred originates the slide rule. (England)
1642	Blaise Pascal makes a mechanical calculator, which can add and subtract. (France)
1666	Sir Samuel Morland develops a multiplying calculator. (England)
1673	Gottfried von Leibniz proposes a general purpose calculating machine. (Germany)
1777	Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Stanhope, Lord Mahon, invents a logic machine. (England)
1804	Joseph-Marie Jacquard mechanizes weaving with Jacquard's Loom, featuring punched cards. (France)
1820	Charles Xavier Thomas (Tomas de Colmar) creates a calculating machine, a prototype for the first commercially successful calculator. (France)
1822	Charles Babbage designs the Difference Engine. (England)
1834	Charles Babbage proposes the Analytical Engine. (England)
1838	Samuel Morse formulates the Morse Code. (United States)
1842	L. F. Menabrea publishes a description of Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine. (Published, Italy)

1843	Ada Byron King, Countess of Lovelace, writes a program for Babbage's Analytical Engine. (England)
1854	George Boole envisions the Laws of Thought. (Ireland)
1870	William Stanley Jevons produces a logic machine. (England)
1873	William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, devises the analog tide predictor. (Scotland)
	Christopher Sholes, Carlos Glidden, and Samuel W. Soule invent the Sholes and Glidden Typewriter; produced by E. Remington & Sons. (United States)
1875	Frank Stephen Baldwin constructs a pin wheel calculator. (United States)
1876	Alexander Graham Bell develops the telephone. (United States)
	Bell's rival, Elisha Gray, also produces the telephone. (United States)
1878	Swedish inventor Willgodt T. Odhner makes a pin wheel calculator. (Russia)
1884	Dorr Eugene Felt creates the key-driven calculator, the Comptometer. (United States)
	Paul Gottlieb Nipkow produces the Nipkow Disk, a mechanical television device. (Germany)
1886	Herman Hollerith develops his punched card machine, called the Tabulating Machine. (United States)
1892	William Seward Burroughs invents his Adding and Listing (printing) Machine. (United States)
1896	Herman Hollerith forms the Tabulating Machine Company. (United States)
1901	Guglielmo Marconi develops wireless telegraphy. (Italy)
1904	John Ambrose Fleming constructs the diode valve (vacuum tube). (England)
	Elmore Ambrose Sperry concocts the circular slide rule. (United States)
1906	Lee De Forest invents the triode vacuum tube (audion). (United States)
1908	Elmore Ambrose Sperry produces the gyrocompass. (United States)
1910	Sperry Gyroscope Company is established. (United States)
1912	Frank Baldwin and Jay Monroe found Monroe Calculating Machine Company. (United States)
1914	Leonardo Torres Quevado devises an electromechanical calculator, an electromechanical chess machine (End Move). (Spain)
	Thomas J. Watson Sr. joins the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) as General Manager. (United States)

1919	W. H. Eccles and F. W. Jordan develop the flip-flop (memory device). (England)
1922	Russian-born Vladimir Kosma Zworykin develops the iconoscope and kinescope (cathode ray tube), both used in electronic television for Westinghouse. (United States)
1924	The Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR), formed in 1911 by the merger of Herman Hollerith's Tabulating Machine Company with Computing Scale Company and the International Time Recording Company, becomes the IBM (International Business Machines) Corporation. (United States)
1927	The Remington Rand Corporation forms from the merger of Remington Typewriter Company, Rand Kardex Bureau, and others. (United States)
1929	Vladimir Kosma Zworykin develops color television for RCA. (United States)
1931	Vannevar Bush develops the Differential Analyzer (an analog machine). (United States)
1933	Wallace J. Eckert applies punched card machines to astronomical data. (United States)
1937	Alan M. Turing proposes a Theoretical Model of Computation. (England)
	George R. Stibitz crafts the Binary Adder. (United States)
1939	John V. Atanasoff devises the prototype of an electronic digital computer. (United States)
	William R. Hewlett and David Packard establish the Hewlett-Packard Company. (United States)
1940	Claude E. Shannon applies Boolean algebra to switching circuits. (United States)
	George R. Stibitz uses the complex number calculator to perform Remote Job Entry (RJE), Dartmouth to New York. (United States)
1941	Konrad Zuse formulates a general-purpose, program-controlled computer. (Germany)
1942	John V. Atanasoff and Clifford Berry unveil the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC). (United States)
1944	The Colossus, an English calculating machine, is put into use at Bletchley Park. (England)
	Howard Aiken develops the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC), the Harvard Mark I, which is the first American program-controlled computer. (United States)
	Grace Hopper allegedly coins the term "computer bug" while working on the Mark I. (United States)
1946	J. Presper Eckert Jr. and John W. Mauchly construct the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer),

	the first American general-purpose electronic computer, at the Moore School, University of Pennsylvania. (United States)
	J. Presper Eckert Jr. and John W. Mauchly form the Electronic Control Company, which later becomes the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation. (United States)
1947	John Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain, and William B. Shockley invent the transistor at Bell Laboratories. (United States)
	J. Presper Eckert Jr. and John W. Mauchly develop the EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer), a stored-program computer. (United States)
1948	F. C. Williams, Tom Kilburn, and G. C. (Geoff) Tootill create a small scale, experimental, stored-program computer (nicknamed "Baby") at the University of Manchester; it serves as the prototype of Manchester Mark I. (England)
1949	F. C. Williams, Tom Kilburn, and G. C. (Geoff) Tootill design the Manchester Mark I at the University of Manchester. (England)
	Maurice V. Wilkes develops the EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator) at Cambridge University. (England)
	Jay Wright Forrester invents three dimensional core memory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (United States)
	Jay Wright Forrester and Robert Everett construct the Whirlwind I, a digital, real-time computer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (United States)
1950	J. H. Wilkinson and Edward A. Newman design the Pilot ACE (Automatic Computing Engine) implementing the Turing proposal for a computing machine at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL). (England)
	Remington Rand acquires the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation. (United States)
1951	Engineering Research Associates develops the ERA 1101, an American commercial computer, for the U.S. Navy and National Security Agency (NSA). (United States)
	The UNIVAC I (Universal Automatic Computer), an American commercial computer, is created by Remington Rand for the U.S. Census Bureau. (United States)
	Ferranti Mark I, a British commercial computer, is unveiled. (England)
	Lyons Tea Co. announces Lyons Electronic Office, a British commercial computer. (England)
1952	UNIVAC I predicts election results as Dwight D. Eisenhower sweeps the U.S. presidential race. (United States)

	Remington Rand Model 409, an American commercial computer, is originated by Remington Rand for the Internal Revenue Service. (United States)
	Remington Rand acquires Engineering Research Associates. (United States)
1953	The IBM 701, a scientific computer, is constructed. (United States)
1954	The IBM 650 EDPM, electronic data processing machine, a stored-program computer in a punched-card environment, is produced. (United States)
1955	Sperry Corp. and Remington Rand merge to form the Sperry Rand Corporation. (United States)
1957	Robert N. Noyce, Gordon E. Moore, and others found Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation. (United States)
	Seymour Cray, William Norris, and others establish Control Data Corporation. (United States)
	Kenneth Olsen and Harlan Anderson launch Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). (United States)
1958	Jack Kilby at Texas Instruments invents the integrated circuit. (United States)
1959	Robert N. Noyce at Fairchild Semiconductor invents the integrated circuit. Distinct patents are awarded to both Texas Instruments and Fairchild Semiconductor, as both efforts are recognized. (United States)
1960	The first PDP-1 is sold by Digital Equipment Corporation, which uses some technology from the Whirlwind Project. (United States)
	The UNIVAC 1100 series of computers is announced by Sperry Rand Corporation. (United States)
1961	The Burroughs B5000 series dual-processor, with virtual memory, is unveiled. (United States)
1964	The IBM/360 family of computers begins production. (United States)
	The CDC 6600 is created by Control Data Corporation. (United States)
1965	The UNIVAC 1108 from Sperry Rand Corporation is constructed. (United States)
	The PDP-8, the first minicomputer, is released by Digital Equipment Corporation. (United States)
1968	Robert N. Noyce and Gordon E. Moore found Intel Corporation. (United States)
1969	The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) launches ARPANET, the beginning of the Internet. (United States)
1970	The PDP-11 series of computers from Digital Equipment Corporation is put into use.(United States)

	The Xerox Corporation's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) begins to study the architecture of information. (United States)
1971	Ken Thompson devises the UNIX Operating System at Bell Laboratories. (United States)
	Marcian E. (Ted) Hoff, Federico Faggin, and Stanley Mazor at Intel create the first microprocessor—a 4-bit processor, 4004. (United States)
1972	Seymour Cray founds Cray Research Inc. (United States)
	Intel releases the 8008 microprocessor, an 8-bit processor. (United States)
1974	Intel announces the 8080 microprocessor, an 8-bit processor. (United States)
	Motorola Inc. unveils the Motorola 6800, its 8-bit microprocessor. (United States)
	Federico Faggin and Ralph Ungerman co-found Zilog, Inc., a manufacturer of microprocessors. (United States)
1975	Bill Gates and Paul Allen establish the Microsoft Corporation. (United States)
	The kit-based Altair 8800 computer, using an 8080 microprocessor, is released by Ed Roberts with MITS (Model Instrumentation Telemetry Systems) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. (United States)
	MITS purchases a version of the BASIC computer language from Microsoft. (United States)
	The MOS 6502 microprocessor, an 8-bit microprocessor, is developed by MOS Technologies, Chuck Peddle, and others, who had left Motorola, (United States)
1976	Gary Kildall creates the CP/M (Control Program/Monitor or Control Program for Microprocessors) Operating System of Digital Research; this operating system for 8-bit microcomputers is the forerunner of DOS 1.0. (United States)
	Steven Jobs and Stephen Wozniak found Apple Computer, Inc. and create the Apple I. (United States)
	Seymour Cray devises the Cray-1 supercomputer. (United States)
	Commodore Business Machines acquires MOS Technologies. (Canada)
1977	The Commodore PET (Personal Electronic Transactor) personal computer, developed by Jack Tramiel and Chuck Peddle for Commodore Business Machines, features the 6502 8-bit Microprocessor. (Canada)
	The Apple II personal computer from Apple Computer, Inc., is released featuring a 6502 microprocessor. (United States)

	The TRS-80 personal computer from Tandy Radio Shack, equipped with the Zilog Z80 8-bit microprocessor from Zilog, is unveiled. (United States)
1978	Intel announces the 8086 16-bit microprocessor. (United States)
	Digital Equipment Corporation launches the VAX 11/780, a 4.3 billion byte computer with virtual memory. (United States)
1979	Intel presents the 8088 16-bit microprocessor. (United States)
	Motorola Inc. crafts the MC 68000, Motorola 16-bit processor. (United States)
1980	Tim Patterson sells the rights to QDOS, an upgrade operating system of CP/M for 8088 and 8086 Intel microprocessors, 16-bit microprocessor, to Microsoft. (United States)
1981	The IBM Corporation announces the IBM Personal Computer featuring an 8088 microprocessor. (United States)
	The Microsoft Operating System (MS-DOS) is put into use. (United States)
	The Osborne I, developed by Adam Osborne and Lee Felsenstein with Osborne Computer Corporation, invent the first portable computer. (United States)
1982	Scott McNealy, Bill Joy, Andy Bechtolsheim, and Vinod Khosla found Sun Microsystems, Inc. (United States)
1984	The Macintosh PC from Apple Computer Inc., running with a Motorola 68000 microprocessor, revolutionizes the personal computer industry. (United States)
	Richard Stallman begins the GNU Project, advocating the free use and distribution of software. (United States)
1985	The Free Software Foundation is formed to seek freedom of use and distribution of software. (United States)
	Microsoft releases Windows 1.01. (United States)
1986	Sperry Rand and the Burroughs Corporation merge to form Unisys Corporation. (United States)
1989	SPARCstation I from Sun Microsystems is produced. (United States)
1991	Tim Berners-Lee begins the World Wide Web at CERN. (Switzerland)
	Linus Torvalds builds the Linux Operating System. (Finland)
	Paul Kunz develops the first web server outside of Europe, at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). (United States)

1993	Marc Andreesen and Eric Bina create Mosaic, a web browser, at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign. (United States)
1994	Marc Andreesen and James H. Clark form Mosaic Communications Corporation, later Netscape Communications Corporation. (United States)
	Netscape Navigator is launched by Netscape Communications Corporation. (United States)
1995	Java technology is announced by Sun Microsystems. (United States)
1996	World chess champion Garry Kasparov of Russia defeats Deep Blue, an IBM computer, in a man vs. computer chess matchup, four to two. (United States)
1997	IBM's Deep Blue defeats world chess champion Garry Kasparov in a rematch, 3.5 to 2.5. (United States)
	An injunction is filed against Microsoft to prohibit the company from requiring customers to accept Internet Explorer as their browser as a condition of using the Microsoft operating system Windows 95. (United States)
1998	America OnLine (AOL) acquires Netscape. (United States)
	Compaq Computer Corporation, a major producer of IBM compatible personal computers, buys Digital Equipment Corporation. (United States)
	America OnLine (AOL) and Sun form an alliance to produce Internet technology. (United States)
1999	Shawn Fanning writes code for Napster, a music file-sharing program. (United States)
	The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) files a lawsuit against Napster for facilitating copyright infringement. (United States)
2000	Zhores I. Alferov, Herbert Kroemer, and Jack Kilby share the Nobel Prize in Physics for contributions to information technology. Alferov, a Russian, and Kroemer, a German-born American, are acknowledged for their contributions to technology used in satellite communications and cellular telephones. Kilby, an American, is recognized for his work on the integrated circuit. (Sweden)

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