The History of Computers

"Who invented the computer?" is not a question with a simple answer. The real answer is that many inventors contributed to the history of computers and that a computer is a complex piece of machinery made up of many parts, each of which can be considered a separate invention.

This series covers many of the major milestones in computer history (but not all of them) with a concentration on the history of personal home computers.

Computer History Year/ Enter	Computer Inventors/Inventions	Computer History Description Event
1936	Konrad Zuse - Z1 Computer	First freely programmable computer.
1942	John Atanasoff & Clifford Berry ABC Computer	Who was first in the computing biz is not always as easy as ABC.
1944	Howard Aiken & Grace Hopper Harvard Mark I Computer	The Harvard Mark 1 computer.
1946	John Presper Eckert & John W. Mauchly ENIAC 1 Computer	20,000 vacuum tubes later...
1948	Frederic Williams & Tom Kilburn Manchester Baby Computer & The Williams Tube	Baby and the Williams Tube turn on the memories.
1947/48	John Bardeen, Walter Brattain & Wiliam Shockley The Transistor	No, a transistor is not a computer, but this invention greatly affected the history of computers.
1951	John Presper Eckert & John W. Mauchly UNIVAC Computer	First commercial computer & able to pick presidential winners.
1953	International Business Machines IBM 701 EDPM Computer	IBM enters into 'The History of Computers'.
1954	John Backus & IBM FORTRAN Computer Programming Language	The first successful high level programming language.
1955 (In Use 1959)	Stanford Research Institute, Bank of America, and General Electric ERMA and MICR	The first bank industry computer - also MICR (magnetic ink character recognition) for reading checks.
1958	Jack Kilby & Robert Noyce The Integrated Circuit	Otherwise known as 'The Chip'
1962	Steve Russell & MIT Spacewar Computer Game	The first computer game invented.
1964	Douglas Engelbart Computer Mouse & Windows	Nicknamed the mouse because the tail came out the end.
1969	ARPAnet	The original Internet.
1970	Intel 1103 Computer Memory	The world's first available dynamic RAM chip.
1971	Faggin, Hoff & Mazor Intel 4004 Computer Microprocessor	The first microprocessor.
1971	Alan Shugart &IBM The "Floppy" Disk	Nicknamed the "Floppy" for its flexibility.
1973	Robert Metcalfe & Xerox The Ethernet Computer Networking	Networking.
1974/75	Scelbi & Mark-8 Altair & IBM 5100 Computers	The first consumer computers.
1976/77	Apple I, II & TRS-80 & Commodore Pet Computers	More first consumer computers.
1978	Dan Bricklin & Bob Frankston VisiCalc Spreadsheet Software	Any product that pays for itself in two weeks is a surefire winner.
1979	Seymour Rubenstein & Rob Barnaby WordStar Software	Word Processors.
1981	IBM The IBM PC - Home Computer	From an "Acorn" grows a personal computer revolution
1981	Microsoft MS-DOS Computer Operating System	From "Quick And Dirty" comes the operating system of the century.
1983	Apple Lisa Computer	The first home computer with a GUI, graphical user interface.
1984	Apple Macintosh Computer	The more affordable home computer with a GUI.
1985	Microsoft Windows	Microsoft begins the friendly war with Apple.
SERIES	TO BE	CONTINU

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First Computer Invented

Computer inventions according to abacus, calculators, tablet machines, difference machine, etc. are not accounted for in this document.

First programmable computer

The Z1 originally created by Germany's Konrad Zuse in his parents living room in 1936 to 1938 is considered to be the first electrical binary programmable computer.

The first digital computer

Short for Atanasoff-Berry Computer, the ABC started being developed by Professor John Vincent Atanasoff and graduate student Cliff Berry in 1937 and continued to be developed until 1942 at the Iowa State College (now Iowa State University). On October 19, 1973, US Federal Judge Earl R. Larson signed his decision that the ENIAC patent by Eckert and Mauchly was invalid and named Atanasoff the inventor of the electronic digital computer.

Because of the Judge ruling and because the case was never appealed like most we consider the ABC to be the first digital computer. However, because the ABC was never fully functional we consider the first functional digital computer to be the ENIAC.

The first stored program computer

The early British computer known as the EDSAC is considered to be the first stored program electronic computer. The computer performed its first calculation on May 6, 1949and was the computer that ran the first graphical computer game.

The first personal computer

In 1975 Ed Roberts coined the term personal computer when he introduced the Altair 8800. Although the first personal computer is considered to be the Kenback-1, which was first introduced for $750 in 1971. The computer relied on a series of switches for inputting data and output data by turning on and off a series of lights.

The Micral is considered the be the first commercial non-assembly computer. The computer used the Intel 8008 processor and sold for $1,750 in 1973.

The first workstation Although never sold the first workstation is considered to be the Xerox Alto, introduced in 1974. The computer was revolutionary for its time and included a fully functional computer, display, and mouse. The computer operated like many computers today utilizing windows, menus, and icons as an interface to its operating system. The first laptop or portable computer The first portable computer or labtop is considered to be the Osborne I, a portable computer developed by Adam Osborne that weighed 24 pounds, a 5-inch display, 64 KB of memory, two 5 1/4" floppy drives, and a modem. IBM PCD later released the IBM portable in 1984, it's first portable computer that weighed in at 30 pounds. IBM PCD later announced in 1986 it's first laptop computer, the PC Convertible, weighing 12 pounds. And in 1994 introduces the IBM ThinkPad 775CD, the first notebook with an integrated CD-ROM. The first PC (IBM compatible) computer In shipped its first electric computer, the 701. Later IBM introduced its first personal computer called the "IBM PC" in 1981. The computer was code named and still sometimes referred to as the "Acorn" and had a 8088 processor, 16 KB of memory, which was expandable to 256 and utilizing MS-DOS. The first PC clone The first PC clone was developed by Compaq, the "Compaq Portable" was release in March 1983 and was 100% compatible with IBM computers and software that ran on IBM computers. The first Apple computer Steve Woznizk designed the first Apple known as the Apple I computer in 1976. The first computer company The first computer company was the Electronic Controls Company and was founded in 1949 by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, the same individuals who helped create the ENIAC computer. The company was later renamed to EMCC or Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation and released a series of mainframe computers under the UNIVACname. The first multimedia computer In 1992 Tandy Radio Shack becomes one of the first companies to release a computer based on the MPC standardwith its introduction of the M2500 XL/2 and M4020 SX computers. Other major computer company firsts Below is a listing of some of the major computers companies first computers. Compaq - March 1983 Compaq released its first computer and the first 100% IBM compatible computer the "Compaq Portable." Digital - In 1960Digital Equipment Corporation released its first of many PDP computers the "PDP-1." Dell - In 1985 Dell introduced its first computer, the "Turbo PC." Hewlett Packard - In 1966 Hewlett Packard released its first general computer, the "HP-2115." NEC - In 1958 NEC builds its first computer the "NEAC 1101." Toshiba - In 1954 Toshiba introduces its first computer, the "TAC" digital computer.

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