This Computer History Timeline is meant to provide a general overview of the famous people, inventions, discoveries and events involved in the development of the computer.
2400 BC Abacus: The abacus, the first known calculator, was invented in Babylonia
500 BC Panini: Introduced the forerunner to modern formal language theory
300 BC Pingala: Pingala invented the binary number system
87 BC Antikythera Mechanism: Built in Rhodes to track movement of the stars
60 AD Heron of Alexandria: Heron of Alexandria invents machines which follow a series of instructions
724 Liang Ling-Can: Liang Ling-Can invents the first fully mechanical clock
1492 Leonardo da Vinci: Drawings by Leonardo da Vinci depict inventions such as flying machines, including a helicopter, the first mechanical calculator and one of the first programmable robots
1614 John Napier: John Napier invents a system of moveable rods (Napier's Rods) based on logarithms which was able to multiply, divide and calculate square and cube roots
1622 William Oughtred: William Oughtred develops slide rules
1623 Calculating Clock: Invented by Wilhelm Schickard
1642 Blaise Pascal: Blaise Pascal invents the the "Pascaline", a mechanical adding machine
1671 Gottfried Leibniz: Gottfried Leibniz is known as one of the founding fathers of calculus
1801 Joseph-Marie Jacquard: Joseph-Marie Jacquard invents an automatic loom controlled by punched cards
1820 Arithmometer: The Arithmometer was the first mass-produced calculator invented by Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar
1822 Charles Babbage: Charles Babbage designs his first mechanical computer
1834 Analytical Engine: The Analytical Engine was invented by Charles Babbage
1835 Morse code: Samuel Morse invents Morse code
1848 Boolean algebra: Boolean algebra is invented by George Boole
1853 Tabulating Machine: Per Georg Scheutz and his son Edvard invent the Tabulating Machine
1869 William Stanley Jevons: William Stanley Jevons designs a practical logic machine
1878 Ramon Verea: Ramon Verea invents a fast calculator with an internal multiplication table
1880 Alexander Graham Bell: Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone called the Photophone
1884 Comptometer: The Comptometer is an invention of Dorr E. Felt which is operated by pressing keys
1890 Herman Hollerith: Herman Hollerith invents a counting machine which increment mechanical counters
1895 Guglielmo Marconi: Radio signals were invented by Guglielmo Marconi
1896 Tabulating Machine Company: Herman Hollerith forms the Tabulating Machine Company which later becomes IBM
1898 Nikola Tesla: Remote control was invented by Nikola Tesla
1906 Lee De Forest: Lee De Forest invents the electronic tube
1911 IBM: IBM is formed on June 15, 1911
1923 Philo Farnsworth: Television Electronic was invented by Philo Farnsworth
1924 John Logie Baird: Electro Mechanical television system was invented by John Logie Baird
Walther Bothe: Walther Bothe develops the logic gate
1930 Vannevar Bush: Vannevar Bush develops a partly electronic Difference Engine
1931 Kurt Godel: Kurt Godel publishes a paper on the use of a universal formal language
1937 Alan Turing: Alan Turing develops the concept of a theoretical computing machine
1938 Konrad Zuse: Konrad Zuse creates the Z1 Computer a binary digital computer using punch tape
1939 George Stibitz: George Stibitz develops the Complex Number Calculator - a foundation for digital computers
Hewlett Packard: William Hewlett and David Packard start Hewlett Packard
John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry: John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry develop the ABC (Atanasoft-Berry Computer) prototype
1943 Enigma: Adolf Hitler uses the Enigma encryption machine
Colossus: Alan Turing develops the the code-breaking machine Colossus
1944 Howard Aiken & Grace Hopper: Howard Aiken and Grace Hopper designed the MARK series of computers at Harvard University
1945 ENIAC: John Presper Eckert & John W. Mauchly: John Presper Eckert & John W. Mauchly develop the ENIAC ( Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer)
Computer Bug: The term computer 'bug' as computer bug was first used by Grace Hopper
1946 F.C. Williams: F.C. Williams develops his cathode-ray tube (CRT) storing device the forerunner to random-access memory (RAM)
1947 Pilot ACE: Donald Watts Davies joins Alan Turing to build the fastest digital computer in England at the time, the Pilot ACE
William Shockley: William Shockley invents the transistor at Bell Labs
Douglas Engelbart: Douglas Engelbart theorises on interactive computing with keyboard and screen display instead of on punchcards
1948 Andrew Donald Booth: Andrew Donald Booth invents magnetic drum memory
Frederic Calland Williams & Tom Kilburn: Frederic Calland Williams & Tom Kilburn develop the SSEM "Small Scale Experimental Machine" digital CRT storage which was soon nicknamed the "Baby"
1949 Claude Shannon: Claude Shannon builds the first machine that plays chess
Howard Aiken: Howard Aiken develops the Harvard-MARK III
1950 Hideo Yamachito: The first electronic computer is created in Japan by Hideo Yamachito.
Alan Turing: Alan Turing publishes his paper Computing Machinery and Intelligence which helps create the Turing Test.
1951 LEO: T. Raymond Thompson and John Simmons develop the first business computer, the Lyons Electronic Office (LEO) at Lyons Co.
UNIVAC: UNIVAC I (UNIVersal Automatic Computer I) was introduced - the first commercial computer made in the United States and designed principally by John Presper Eckert & John W. Mauchly
EDVAC: The EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer) begins performing basic tasks. Unlike the ENIAC, it was binary rather than decimal
1953 The IBM 701 becomes available and a total of 19 are sold to the scientific community.
1954 John Backus & IBM: John Backus & IBM develop the FORTRAN Computer Programming Language
1955 Bell Labs introduces its first transistor computer.
1956 Optical fiber was invented by Basil Hirschowitz, C. Wilbur Peters, and Lawrence E. Curtiss
1957 Sputnik I and Sputnik II: Sputnik I and Sputnik II are launched by the Russians
1958 ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) and NASA is formed
Silicon chip: The first integrated circuit, or silicon chip, is produced by the US Jack Kilby & Robert Noyce
1959 Paul Baran: Paul Baran theorises on the "survivability of communication systems under nuclear attack", digital technology and symbiosis between humans and machines
1960 COBOL: The Common Business-Oriented Language (COBOL) programming language is invented.
1961 Unimate: General Motors puts the first industrial robot, Unimate, to work in a New Jersey factory.
1962 The first computer game: The first computer game Spacewar Computer Game invented BY Steve Russell & MIT
1963 The Computer Mouse: Douglas Engelbart invents and patents the first computer mouse (nicknamed the mouse because the tail came out the end)
The American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) is developed to standardize data exchange among computers.
1964 Word processor: IBM introduces the first word processor
BASIC: John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz develop Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Language (BASIC)
1965 Hypertext: Andries van Dam and Ted Nelson coin the term "hypertext"
1967 Floppy Disk: IBM creates the first floppy disk 1969 Seymour Cray: Seymour Cray develops the CDC 7600, the first supercomputer
Gary Starkweather: Gary Starkweather invents the laser printer whilst working with Xerox
ARPANET: The U.S. Department of Defense sets up the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET ) this network was the first building blocks to what the internet is today but originally with the intention of creating a computer network that could withstand any type of disaster.
1970 RAM: Intel introduces the world's first available dynamic RAM ( random-access memory) chip and the first microprocessor, the Intel 4004.
1971 E-mail: E-mail was invented by Ray Tomlinson
Liquid Crystal Display ( LCD ): Liquid Crystal Display ( LCD ) was invented by James Fergason
Pocket calculator: Pocket calculator was invented by Sharp Corporation
Floppy Disk: Floppy Disk was invented by David Noble with IBM - Nicknamed the "Floppy" for its flexibility.
1972 First Video Game: Atari releases Pong, the first commercial video game
The CD: The compact disc is invented in the United States.
1973 Robert Metcalfe and David Boggs: Robert Metcalfe creates the Ethernet, a local-area network (LAN) protocol
Personal computer: The minicomputer Xerox Alto (1973) was a landmark step in the development of personal computers
Gateways: Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn develop gateway routing computers to negotiate between the various national networks
1974 SQL: IBM develops SEQUEL (Structured English Query Language ) now known as SQL
WYSIWYG: Charles Simonyi coins the term WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) to describe the ability of being able to display a file or document exactly how it is going to be printed or viewed
1975 Portable computers: Altair produces the first portable computer
Microsoft Corporation: The Microsoft Corporation was founded April 4, 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800
1976 Apple: Apple Computers was founded Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs 1977 Apple Computer's Apple II, the first personal computer with color graphics, is demonstrated
MODEM: Ward Christensen writes the programme "MODEM" allowing two microcomputers to exchange files with each other over a phone line
1978 Magnetic tape: The first magnetic tape is developed in the US
1979 Over half a million computers are in use in the United States.
1980 Paul Allen and Bill Gates: IBM hires Paul Allen and Bill Gates to create an operating system for a new PC. They buy the rights to a simple operating system manufactured by Seattle Computer Products and use it as a template to develop DOS.
1981 Microsoft: MS-DOS Computer Operating System increases its success
1982 WordPerfect: WordPerfect Corporation introduces WordPerfect 1.0 a word processing program
Commodore 64: The Commodore 64 becomes the best-selling computer of all time.
SMTP: SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is introduced
1983 More than 10 million computers are in use in the United States
Domain Name System (DNS): Domain Name System (DNS) pioneered by Jon Postel, Paul Mockapetris and Craig Partridge. Seven 'top-level' domain names are initially introduced: edu, com, gov, mil, net, org and int.
Windows: Microsoft Windows introduced eliminating the need for a user to have to type each command, like MS-DOS, by using a mouse to navigate through drop-down menus, tabs and icons
1984 Apple Macintosh: Apple introduces the Macintosh with mouse and window interface
Cyberspace: William Gibson coins the word cyberspace when he publishes Neuromancer
1985 Paul Brainard: Paul Brainard introduces Pagemaker for the Macintosh creating the desktop publishing field.
Nintendo: The Nintendo Entertainment System makes its debut.
1986 More than 30 million computers are in use in the United States. 1987 Microsoft introduces Microsoft Works
Perl: Larry Wall introduces Perl 1.0
1988 Over 45 million PCs are in use in the United States.
1990 The Internet, World Wide Web & Tim Berners-Lee: Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau propose a 'hypertext' system starting the modern Internet
Microsoft and IBM stop working together to develop operating systems
1991 The World Wide Web: The World Wide Web is launched to the public on August 6, 1991
1993 At the beginning of the year only 50 World Wide Web servers are known to exist
1994 The World Wide Web Consortium is founded by Tim Berners-Lee to help with the development of common protocols for the evolution of the World Wide Web
YAHOO: YAHOO is created in April, 1994.
1995 Java: Java is introduced
Amazon: Amazon.com is founded by Jeff Bezos
EBay: EBay is founded by Pierre Omidyar
Hotmail: Hotmail is started by Jack Smith and Sabeer Bhatia.
1996 WebTV: WebTV is introduced
1997 Altavista introduces its free online translator Babel Fish
Microsoft acquires Hotmail
1998 Google: Google is founded by Sergey Brin and Larry Page on September 7, 1998
PayPal is founded by Peter Thiel and Max Levchin
2001 Xbox: Bill Gates introduces the Xbox on January 7th 2001.
2002 Approximately 1 billion PCs been sold
PayPal is acquired by eBay
2005 September 12: eBay acquires Skype 2006 Skype announces that it has over 100 million registered users.
Computer History Timeline
2400 BC Abacus: The abacus, the first known calculator, was invented in Babylonia
500 BC Panini: Introduced the forerunner to modern formal language theory
300 BC Pingala: Pingala invented the binary number system
87 BC Antikythera Mechanism: Built in Rhodes to track movement of the stars
60 AD Heron of Alexandria: Heron of Alexandria invents machines which follow a series of instructions
724 Liang Ling-Can: Liang Ling-Can invents the first fully mechanical clock
1492 Leonardo da Vinci: Drawings by Leonardo da Vinci depict inventions such as flying machines, including a helicopter, the first mechanical calculator and one of the first programmable robots
1614 John Napier: John Napier invents a system of moveable rods (Napier's Rods) based on logarithms which was able to multiply, divide and calculate square and cube roots
1622 William Oughtred: William Oughtred develops slide rules
1623 Calculating Clock: Invented by Wilhelm Schickard
1642 Blaise Pascal: Blaise Pascal invents the the "Pascaline", a mechanical adding machine
1671 Gottfried Leibniz: Gottfried Leibniz is known as one of the founding fathers of calculus
1801 Joseph-Marie Jacquard: Joseph-Marie Jacquard invents an automatic loom controlled by punched cards
1820 Arithmometer: The Arithmometer was the first mass-produced calculator invented by Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar
1822 Charles Babbage: Charles Babbage designs his first mechanical computer
1834 Analytical Engine: The Analytical Engine was invented by Charles Babbage
1835 Morse code: Samuel Morse invents Morse code
1848 Boolean algebra: Boolean algebra is invented by George Boole
1853 Tabulating Machine: Per Georg Scheutz and his son Edvard invent the Tabulating Machine
1869 William Stanley Jevons: William Stanley Jevons designs a practical logic machine
1878 Ramon Verea: Ramon Verea invents a fast calculator with an internal multiplication table
1880 Alexander Graham Bell: Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone called the Photophone
1884 Comptometer: The Comptometer is an invention of Dorr E. Felt which is operated by pressing keys
1890 Herman Hollerith: Herman Hollerith invents a counting machine which increment mechanical counters
1895 Guglielmo Marconi: Radio signals were invented by Guglielmo Marconi
1896 Tabulating Machine Company: Herman Hollerith forms the Tabulating Machine Company which later becomes IBM
1898 Nikola Tesla: Remote control was invented by Nikola Tesla
1906 Lee De Forest: Lee De Forest invents the electronic tube
1911 IBM: IBM is formed on June 15, 1911
1923 Philo Farnsworth: Television Electronic was invented by Philo Farnsworth
1924 John Logie Baird: Electro Mechanical television system was invented by John Logie Baird
Walther Bothe: Walther Bothe develops the logic gate
1930 Vannevar Bush: Vannevar Bush develops a partly electronic Difference Engine
1931 Kurt Godel: Kurt Godel publishes a paper on the use of a universal formal language
1937 Alan Turing: Alan Turing develops the concept of a theoretical computing machine
1938 Konrad Zuse: Konrad Zuse creates the Z1 Computer a binary digital computer using punch tape
1939 George Stibitz: George Stibitz develops the Complex Number Calculator - a foundation for digital computers
Hewlett Packard: William Hewlett and David Packard start Hewlett Packard
John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry: John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry develop the ABC (Atanasoft-Berry Computer) prototype
1943 Enigma: Adolf Hitler uses the Enigma encryption machine
Colossus: Alan Turing develops the the code-breaking machine Colossus
1944 Howard Aiken & Grace Hopper: Howard Aiken and Grace Hopper designed the MARK series of computers at Harvard University
1945 ENIAC: John Presper Eckert & John W. Mauchly: John Presper Eckert & John W. Mauchly develop the ENIAC ( Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer)
Computer Bug: The term computer 'bug' as computer bug was first used by Grace Hopper
1946 F.C. Williams: F.C. Williams develops his cathode-ray tube (CRT) storing device the forerunner to random-access memory (RAM)
1947 Pilot ACE: Donald Watts Davies joins Alan Turing to build the fastest digital computer in England at the time, the Pilot ACE
William Shockley: William Shockley invents the transistor at Bell Labs
Douglas Engelbart: Douglas Engelbart theorises on interactive computing with keyboard and screen display instead of on punchcards
1948 Andrew Donald Booth: Andrew Donald Booth invents magnetic drum memory
Frederic Calland Williams & Tom Kilburn: Frederic Calland Williams & Tom Kilburn develop the SSEM "Small Scale Experimental Machine" digital CRT storage which was soon nicknamed the "Baby"
1949 Claude Shannon: Claude Shannon builds the first machine that plays chess
Howard Aiken: Howard Aiken develops the Harvard-MARK III
1950 Hideo Yamachito: The first electronic computer is created in Japan by Hideo Yamachito.
Alan Turing: Alan Turing publishes his paper Computing Machinery and Intelligence which helps create the Turing Test.
1951 LEO: T. Raymond Thompson and John Simmons develop the first business computer, the Lyons Electronic Office (LEO) at Lyons Co.
UNIVAC: UNIVAC I (UNIVersal Automatic Computer I) was introduced - the first commercial computer made in the United States and designed principally by John Presper Eckert & John W. Mauchly
EDVAC: The EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer) begins performing basic tasks. Unlike the ENIAC, it was binary rather than decimal
1953 The IBM 701 becomes available and a total of 19 are sold to the scientific community.
1954 John Backus & IBM: John Backus & IBM develop the FORTRAN Computer Programming Language
1955 Bell Labs introduces its first transistor computer.
1956 Optical fiber was invented by Basil Hirschowitz, C. Wilbur Peters, and Lawrence E. Curtiss
1957 Sputnik I and Sputnik II: Sputnik I and Sputnik II are launched by the Russians
1958 ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) and NASA is formed
Silicon chip: The first integrated circuit, or silicon chip, is produced by the US Jack Kilby & Robert Noyce
1959 Paul Baran: Paul Baran theorises on the "survivability of communication systems under nuclear attack", digital technology and symbiosis between humans and machines
1960 COBOL: The Common Business-Oriented Language (COBOL) programming language is invented.
1961 Unimate: General Motors puts the first industrial robot, Unimate, to work in a New Jersey factory.
1962 The first computer game: The first computer game Spacewar Computer Game invented BY Steve Russell & MIT
1963 The Computer Mouse: Douglas Engelbart invents and patents the first computer mouse (nicknamed the mouse because the tail came out the end)
The American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) is developed to standardize data exchange among computers.
1964 Word processor: IBM introduces the first word processor
BASIC: John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz develop Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Language (BASIC)
1965 Hypertext: Andries van Dam and Ted Nelson coin the term "hypertext"
1967 Floppy Disk: IBM creates the first floppy disk 1969 Seymour Cray: Seymour Cray develops the CDC 7600, the first supercomputer
Gary Starkweather: Gary Starkweather invents the laser printer whilst working with Xerox
ARPANET: The U.S. Department of Defense sets up the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET ) this network was the first building blocks to what the internet is today but originally with the intention of creating a computer network that could withstand any type of disaster.
1970 RAM: Intel introduces the world's first available dynamic RAM ( random-access memory) chip and the first microprocessor, the Intel 4004.
1971 E-mail: E-mail was invented by Ray Tomlinson
Liquid Crystal Display ( LCD ): Liquid Crystal Display ( LCD ) was invented by James Fergason
Pocket calculator: Pocket calculator was invented by Sharp Corporation
Floppy Disk: Floppy Disk was invented by David Noble with IBM - Nicknamed the "Floppy" for its flexibility.
1972 First Video Game: Atari releases Pong, the first commercial video game
The CD: The compact disc is invented in the United States.
1973 Robert Metcalfe and David Boggs: Robert Metcalfe creates the Ethernet, a local-area network (LAN) protocol
Personal computer: The minicomputer Xerox Alto (1973) was a landmark step in the development of personal computers
Gateways: Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn develop gateway routing computers to negotiate between the various national networks
1974 SQL: IBM develops SEQUEL (Structured English Query Language ) now known as SQL
WYSIWYG: Charles Simonyi coins the term WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) to describe the ability of being able to display a file or document exactly how it is going to be printed or viewed
1975 Portable computers: Altair produces the first portable computer
Microsoft Corporation: The Microsoft Corporation was founded April 4, 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800
1976 Apple: Apple Computers was founded Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs 1977 Apple Computer's Apple II, the first personal computer with color graphics, is demonstrated
MODEM: Ward Christensen writes the programme "MODEM" allowing two microcomputers to exchange files with each other over a phone line
1978 Magnetic tape: The first magnetic tape is developed in the US
1979 Over half a million computers are in use in the United States.
1980 Paul Allen and Bill Gates: IBM hires Paul Allen and Bill Gates to create an operating system for a new PC. They buy the rights to a simple operating system manufactured by Seattle Computer Products and use it as a template to develop DOS.
1981 Microsoft: MS-DOS Computer Operating System increases its success
1982 WordPerfect: WordPerfect Corporation introduces WordPerfect 1.0 a word processing program
Commodore 64: The Commodore 64 becomes the best-selling computer of all time.
SMTP: SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is introduced
1983 More than 10 million computers are in use in the United States
Domain Name System (DNS): Domain Name System (DNS) pioneered by Jon Postel, Paul Mockapetris and Craig Partridge. Seven 'top-level' domain names are initially introduced: edu, com, gov, mil, net, org and int.
Windows: Microsoft Windows introduced eliminating the need for a user to have to type each command, like MS-DOS, by using a mouse to navigate through drop-down menus, tabs and icons
1984 Apple Macintosh: Apple introduces the Macintosh with mouse and window interface
Cyberspace: William Gibson coins the word cyberspace when he publishes Neuromancer
1985 Paul Brainard: Paul Brainard introduces Pagemaker for the Macintosh creating the desktop publishing field.
Nintendo: The Nintendo Entertainment System makes its debut.
1986 More than 30 million computers are in use in the United States. 1987 Microsoft introduces Microsoft Works
Perl: Larry Wall introduces Perl 1.0
1988 Over 45 million PCs are in use in the United States.
1990 The Internet, World Wide Web & Tim Berners-Lee: Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau propose a 'hypertext' system starting the modern Internet
Microsoft and IBM stop working together to develop operating systems
1991 The World Wide Web: The World Wide Web is launched to the public on August 6, 1991
1993 At the beginning of the year only 50 World Wide Web servers are known to exist
1994 The World Wide Web Consortium is founded by Tim Berners-Lee to help with the development of common protocols for the evolution of the World Wide Web
YAHOO: YAHOO is created in April, 1994.
1995 Java: Java is introduced
Amazon: Amazon.com is founded by Jeff Bezos
EBay: EBay is founded by Pierre Omidyar
Hotmail: Hotmail is started by Jack Smith and Sabeer Bhatia.
1996 WebTV: WebTV is introduced
1997 Altavista introduces its free online translator Babel Fish
Microsoft acquires Hotmail
1998 Google: Google is founded by Sergey Brin and Larry Page on September 7, 1998
PayPal is founded by Peter Thiel and Max Levchin
2001 Xbox: Bill Gates introduces the Xbox on January 7th 2001.
2002 Approximately 1 billion PCs been sold
PayPal is acquired by eBay
2005 September 12: eBay acquires Skype 2006 Skype announces that it has over 100 million registered users.
Computer History Timeline
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