History of Computers: A Brief
Timeline
Famed mathematician Charles Babbage designed a Victorian-era computer called the Analytical Engine. This is a portion of
the mill with a printing mechanism.
Credit: Science Museum | Science & Society Picture Library
The computer was born not for entertainment or email but out of a need to solve a
serious number-crunching crisis. By 1880, the U.S. population had grown so large that it
took more than seven years to tabulate the U.S. Census results. The government
sought a faster way to get the job done, giving rise to punch-card based computers that
took up entire rooms.
Today, we carry more computing power on our smartphones than was available in
these early models. The following brief history of computing is a timeline of how
computers evolved from their humble beginnings to the machines of today that surf
the Internet, play games and stream multimedia in addition to crunching numbers.
1801: In France, Joseph Marie Jacquard invents a loom that uses punched wooden
cards to automatically weave fabric designs. Early computers would use similar punch
cards.
1822: English mathematician Charles Babbage conceives of a steam-driven calculating
machine that would be able to compute tables of numbers. The project, funded by the
English government, is a failure. More than a century later, however, the world’s first
computer was actually built.
1890: Herman Hollerith designs a punch card system to calculate the 1880 census,
accomplishing the task in just three years and saving the government $5 million. He
establishes a company that would ultimately become IBM.
1936: Alan Turing presents the notion of a universal machine, later called the Turing
machine, capable of computing anything that is computable. The central concept of the
modern computer was based on his ideas.
1937: J.V. Atanasoff, a professor of physics and mathematics at Iowa State University,
attempts to build the first computer without gears, cams, belts or shafts.
1941: Atanasoff and his graduate student, Clifford Berry, design a computer that can
solve 29 equations simultaneously. This marks the first time a computer is able to store
information on its main memory.
1943-1944: Two University of Pennsylvania professors, John Mauchly and J. Presper
Eckert, build the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator (ENIAC). Considered
the grandfather of digital computers, it fills a 20-foot by 40-foot room and has 18,000
vacuum tubes.
1946: Mauchly and Presper leave the University of Pennsylvania and receive funding
from the Census Bureau to build the UNIVAC, the first commercial computer for
business and government applications.
1947: William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain of Bell Laboratories invent
the transistor. They discovered how to make an electric switch with solid materials and
no need for a vacuum.
1953: Grace Hopper develops the first computer language, which eventually becomes
known as COBOL. Thomas Johnson Watson Jr., son of IBM CEO Thomas Johnson
Watson Sr., conceives the IBM 701 EDPM to help the United Nations keep tabs on
Korea during the war.
1954: The FORTRAN programming language is born.
1958: Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce unveil the integrated circuit, known as the computer
chip. Kilby was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2000 for his work.
1964: Douglas Engelbart shows a prototype of the modern computer, with a mouse and
a graphical user interface (GUI). This marks the evolution of the computer from a
specialized machine for scientists and mathematicians to technology that is more
accessible to the general public.
1969: A group of developers at Bell Labs produce UNIX, an operating system that
addressed compatibility issues. Written in the C programming language, UNIX was
portable across multiple platforms and became the operating system of choice among
mainframes at large companies and government entities. Due to the slow nature of the
system, it never quite gained traction among home PC users.
1970: The newly formed Intel unveils the Intel 1103, the first Dynamic Access Memory
(DRAM) chip.
1971: Alan Shugart leads a team of IBM engineers who invent the “floppy disk,” allowing
data to be shared among computers.
1973: Robert Metcalfe, a member of the research staff for Xerox, develops Ethernet for
connecting multiple computers and other hardware.
1974-1977: A number of personal computers hit the market, including Scelbi & Mark-8
Altair, IBM 5100, RadioShack’s TRS-80 —affectionately known as the “Trash 80” — and
the Commodore PET.
1975: The January issue of Popular Electronics magazine features the Altair 8080,
described as the "world's first minicomputer kit to rival commercial models." Two
"computer geeks," Paul Allen and Bill Gates, offer to write software for the Altair, using
the new BASIC language. On April 4, after the success of this first endeavor, the two
childhood friends form their own software company, Microsoft.
1976: Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak start Apple Computers on April Fool’s Day and
roll out the Apple I, the first computer with a single-circuit board.
The TRS-80, introduced in 1977, was one of the first machines whose documentation was intended for non-
geeks
Credit: Radioshack
1977: Radio Shack's initial production run of the TRS-80 was just 3,000. It sold like
crazy. For the first time, non-geeks could write programs and make a computer do what
they wished.
1977: Jobs and Wozniak incorporate Apple and show the Apple II at the first West
Coast Computer Faire. It offers color graphics and incorporates an audio cassette drive
for storage.
1978: Accountants rejoice at the introduction of VisiCalc, the first computerized
spreadsheet program.
1979: Word processing becomes a reality as MicroPro International releases WordStar.
The first IBM personal computer, introduced on Aug. 12, 1981, used the MS-DOS operating system.
Credit: IBM
1981: The first IBM personal computer, code-named “Acorn,” is introduced. It uses
Microsoft’s MS-DOS operating system. It has an Intel chip, two floppy disks and an
optional color monitor. Sears & Roebuck and Computerland sell the machines, marking
the first time a computer is available through outside distributors. It also popularizes the
term PC.
1983: Apple’s Lisa is the first personal computer with a GUI. It also features a drop-
down menu and icons. It flops but eventually evolves into the Macintosh. The Gavilan
SC is the first portable computer with the familiar flip form factor and the first to be
marketed as a “laptop.”
1985: Microsoft announces Windows, its response to Apple’s GUI. Commodore unveils
the Amiga 1000, which features advanced audio and video capabilities.
1985: The first dot-com domain name is registered on March 15, years before the World
Wide Web would mark the formal beginning of Internet history. The Symbolics
Computer Company, a small Massachusetts computer manufacturer,
registers Symbolics.com. More than two years later, only 100 dot-coms had been
registered.
1986: Compaq brings the Deskpro 386 to market. Its 32-bit architecture provides as
speed comparable to mainframes.
1990: Tim Berners-Lee, a researcher at CERN, the high-energy physics laboratory in
Geneva, develops HyperText Markup Language (HTML), giving rise to the World Wide
Web.
1993: The Pentium microprocessor advances the use of graphics and music on PCs.
1994: PCs become gaming machines as "Command & Conquer," "Alone in the Dark 2,"
"Theme Park," "Magic Carpet," "Descent" and "Little Big Adventure" are among the
games to hit the market.
1996: Sergey Brin and Larry Page develop the Google search engine at Stanford
University.
1997: Microsoft invests $150 million in Apple, which was struggling at the time, ending
Apple’s court case against Microsoft in which it alleged that Microsoft copied the “look
and feel” of its operating system.
1999: The term Wi-Fi becomes part of the computing language and users begin
connecting to the Internet without wires.
2001: Apple unveils the Mac OS X operating system, which provides protected memory
architecture and pre-emptive multi-tasking, among other benefits. Not to be outdone,
Microsoft rolls out Windows XP, which has a significantly redesigned GUI.
2003: The first 64-bit processor, AMD’s Athlon 64, becomes available to the consumer
market.
2004: Mozilla’s Firefox 1.0 challenges Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, the dominant Web
browsers. Facebook, a social networking site, launches.
2005: YouTube, a video sharing service, is founded. Google acquires Android, a Linux-
based mobile phone operating system.
2006: Apple introduces the MacBook Pro, its first Intel-based, dual-core mobile
computer, as well as an Intel-based iMac. Nintendo’s Wii game console hits the market.
2007: The iPhone brings many computer functions to the smartphone.
2009: Microsoft launches Windows 7, which offers the ability to pin applications to the
taskbar and advances in touch and handwriting recognition, among other features.
2010: Apple unveils the iPad, changing the way consumers view media and
jumpstarting the dormant tablet computer segment.
2011: Google releases the Chromebook, a laptop that runs the Google Chrome OS.
2012: Facebook gains 1 billion users on October 4.
2015: Apple releases the Apple Watch. Microsoft releases Windows 10.
