CEBU TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY – MAIN CAMPUS

M.J. Cuenco Avenue corner R. Palma St., Cebu City, Philippines

Assignment #1

History of Electronics, Electricity,

Communication, and Computer

SHAINA SAMSON
BSECE 1-G Student

DR. JOEL BATULAN TADLE

Basic Electronics Professor
Electronics

In the early 19th century with significant discoveries in electricity and

magnetism began the history of electronics. The groundwork for electronics started
from the creation of first battery by Alessandro Volta and the telegraph by Samuel
Morse. The inventions of vacuum tubes by John Ambrose Fleming was marked as the
beginning of the electronics era which could convert alternative current (AC) into
direct current (DC) that enables to amplify electric signals. In the 1906 followed the
development of the triode by Lee De Forest enabled the amplification of electric
signals, widespread adoption of radios, telephones, and even early television
technologies.

The most remarkable shift marked in the mid-20 th century was replacing the
vacuum tubes and revolutionizing electronics through the invention of the transistor in
1947 by the scientists namely John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley
at Bell Labs. These made it possible to build smaller and more reliable radios
computers and other electronic devices. It led to the drastic reduced of the size and
cost of electronic devices through the development of integrated circuits (ICs) in the
late 1950’s that combined transistors, resistors, and capacitors into a single chip. In
the 1971, microprocessor was introduced by Intel which accelerated the growth of
personal computers until the 1980’s saw the rise of personal computers and consumer
electronics such as game consoles and early mobile phones.

The emergence of the internet, mobile devices, and cloud computing in the
late 20th and early 21st centuries revolutionized worldwide communication and
computing capacities. The iPhone's 2007 release marked the beginning of the
smartphone era and transformed mobile computing. As artificial intelligence,
quantum computing, and the Internet of Things (IoT) continue to advance, the
electronics industry is expected to see additional innovation in areas including
industry, communication, and healthcare.
Electricity
The history of electricity traces humanity's journey from early observations of
natural electrical phenomena to the development of technologies that power modern
civilization. In ancient Egypt, electric fish were called the “Thunderer of the Nile,”
and they appear in carvings dating from 2725 BC. These might be the first used of
electrical energy as medicine to treat epilepsy. Another type of electricity was
discover after was the static electricity which was noticed through rubbing the amber
with fur called Thales of Miletus from 600 BCE ancient Greeks. By years would pass
before humans could effectively use electricity, these early findings set up the
foundation for the study of it.

At that time, there was no such thing as "electricity” until the early 1600s,
when an English scientist named William Gilbert coined the word "electricus" to
describe objects that attracted dust "like amber” and also initiated the study of
electricity and magnetism.
Electricity underwent significant change throughout the 19th century, a time
of fast experimentation and revolutionary innovations. The Voltaic Pile, developed by
Alessandro Volta in 1800, produced a workable method of producing electrical
currents. The basic principles for controlling electricity and circuits were established
by André-Marie Ampère and Georg Ohm, while the foundation for power generation
was established by Michael Faraday's discovery of electromagnetic induction in 1831.
Later, James Clerk Maxwell's well-known equations describing electromagnetic
waves helped to unify electricity and magnetism. These developments paved the way
for the invention of tools and technology that would completely alter human society.

The era of electricity began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. With
Edison creating the first widely used incandescent light bulb and Tesla creating
alternating current (AC) energy, which later became the norm for power distribution,
these two men were instrumental in creating the contemporary electrical world.
Society started to become dependent on electrical energy as power systems grew and
electricity was introduced to households and businesses. Our understanding of
electricity was further enhanced by the discovery of the electron and the development
of quantum physics, which paved the way for the electronics revolution that produced
semiconductors, transistors, and contemporary computing gadgets.
Communication
Communication traces back from the earliest form of human expression and
has evolved drastically over time. The earliest form of communication began with
non-verbal methods such as signals, facial expression, and body language. It was
included in the pre-historic era the visual communication like cave paintings and
petroglyphs into symbols and carvings. These methods prepared the way for
increasingly complicated modes of communication, which in turn paved the way for
spoken language to emerge and enable more intricate and subtle interactions amongst
early human communities.
Through the introduction of writing, the communication advance significantly.
Around 3400 BCE, the Sumerians invented cuneiform script, and about 3200 BCE,
the Egyptians invented hieroglyphs. The recording of information on long-lasting
materials like clay tablets and papyrus was made possible by these early writing
systems. The Phoenician alphabet, which was created circa 1500 BCE, improved
communication even further. This alphabet later impacted the Greek and Latin
alphabets. Written communication became more widely available and accessible
thanks to this invention.
The mass production of books and papers made possible by Johannes
Gutenberg's development of the movable type printing machine in the fifteenth
century marked the beginning of the printing revolution that revolutionized
communication. Through making texts more accessible, this technical development
opened up knowledge and aided in the Reformation and Renaissance. The invention
of the telephone in 1876 and the telegraph in the 1830s, accordingly, allowed for
instantaneous long-distance speech and message transmission, further revolutionizing
communication. This trend continued in the 20th century which introduced the mass
media, such as radio and television, which could reach large audiences with news,
entertainment, and educational content.

The emergence of mobile technology and the internet in recent decades has
completely changed the way people communicate globally. The World Wide Web
made it easier to access and distributes information, and the internet, which emerged
in the 1990s, revolutionized information sharing and networking. Social media's
progression has further changed communication by making it possible for people to
engage and share content in real time anywhere in the world. Future-focused
technologies like as augmented reality, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence
further transform communication in the digital age.
Computer
The history of computers is decades long, starting with early mechanical
devices and progressing to powerful, programmable machines in the 20th century,
marked by important turning points like the creation of the first programmable
computer and the advancement of contemporary microprocessors. In the 16th century,
the term "computer" was originally used to describe a person who performed
computations. It wasn't until the 20th century that the word started to be employed as
a noun. Women had the opportunity to perform all types of computations and
calculations like human computers. By the end of the 1800s, the term was also applied
to devices that could perform calculations. The term is most commonly used in
modern use to refer to electrically powered, programmable digital devices.

Since the evolution of humans, devices have been used for calculations for
thousands of years. One of the earliest known calculating devices, the abacus, dates
back to around 2500 BCE and was used by the Sumerians. Then in 1822, the father of
computers, Charles Babbage began developing what would be the first mechanical
computer. And then in 1833 he actually designed an Analytical Engine which was a
general-purpose computer. It contained an ALU, some basic flow chart principles and the
concept of integrated memory. These early inventions laid the groundwork for the
development of more advanced calculating machines.

Our first general-purpose electronic computer came about more than a century
after the invention of computers. The acronym for Electronic Numerical Integrator
and Computer is ENIAC. This computer was created by J. Presper Eckert and John
W. Mauchly. As technology advanced, computers became more compact and had
quicker processing speeds. Computers became smaller after the transistor, which
replaced heavy vacuum tubes in 1947, revolutionized computing. Additional progress
was made in the 1970s when Intel developed the first microprocessor, ushering in the
era of personal computers. The first laptop was introduced by Adam Osborne and
EPSON in 1981.