2400 BC 500 BC 300 BC 87 BC 60 AD 724 1492

Abacus: The abacus, the first known calculator, was invented in Babylonia Panini: Introduced the forerunner to modern formal language theory Pingala: Pingala invented the binary number system Antikythera Mechanism: Built in Rhodes to track movement of the stars Heron of Alexandria: Heron of Alexandria invents machines which follow a series of instructions Liang Ling-Can: Liang Ling-Can invents the first fully mechanical clock 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 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 William Oughtred: William Oughtred develops slide rules Calculating Clock: Invented by Wilhelm Schickard Blaise Pascal: Blaise Pascal invents the the "Pascaline", a mechanical adding machine Gottfried Leibniz: Gottfried Leibniz is known as one of the founding fathers of calculus Joseph-Marie Jacquard: Joseph-Marie Jacquard invents an automatic loom controlled by punched cards

1614

1622 1623 1642 1671 1801

1820

Arithmometer: The Arithmometer was the first mass-produced calculator invented by Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar Charles Babbage: Charles Babbage designs his first mechanical computer Analytical Engine: The Analytical Engine was invented by Charles Babbage Morse code: Samuel Morse invents Morse code Boolean algebra: Boolean algebra is invented by George Boole Tabulating Machine: Per Georg Scheutz and his son Edvard invent the Tabulating Machine William Stanley Jevons: William Stanley Jevons designs a practical logic machine Ramon Verea: Ramon Verea invents a fast calculator with an internal multiplication table Alexander Graham Bell: Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone called the Photophone Comptometer: The Comptometer is an invention of Dorr E. Felt which is operated by pressing keys Herman Hollerith: Herman Hollerith invents a counting machine which increment mechanical counters Guglielmo Marconi: Radio signals were invented by Guglielmo Marconi Tabulating Machine Company: Herman Hollerith forms the Tabulating Machine Company which later becomes IBM

1822 1834 1835 1848 1853 1869 1878 1880 1884 1890 1895 1896

1898 1906 1911 1923 1924

Nikola Tesla: Remote control was invented by Nikola Tesla Lee De Forest: Lee De Forest invents the electronic tube IBM: IBM is formed on June 15, 1911 Philo Farnsworth: Television Electronic was invented by Philo Farnsworth John Logie Baird: Electro Mechanical television system was invented by John Logie Baird Walther Bothe: Walther Bothe develops the logic gate

1930 1931 1937 1938 1939

Vannevar Bush: Vannevar Bush develops a partly electronic Difference Engine Kurt Godel: Kurt Godel publishes a paper on the use of a universal formal language Alan Turing: Alan Turing develops the concept of a theoretical computing machine Konrad Zuse: Konrad Zuse creates the Z1 Computer a binary digital computer using punch tape 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 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

1945

1946

F.C. Williams: F.C. Williams develops his cathode-ray tube (CRT) storing device the forerunner to random-access memory (RAM) 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

1947

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 1954 1955

The IBM 701 becomes available and a total of 19 are sold to the scientific community. John Backus & IBM: John Backus & IBM develop the FORTRAN Computer Programming Language Bell Labs introduces its first transistor computer.

1956 1957 1958

Optical fiber was invented by Basil Hirschowitz, C. Wilbur Peters, and Lawrence E. Curtiss Sputnik I and Sputnik II: Sputnik I and Sputnik II are launched by the Russians 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 COBOL: The Common Business-Oriented Language (COBOL) programming language is invented. Unimate: General Motors puts the first industrial robot, Unimate, to work in a New Jersey factory. The first computer game: The first computer game Spacewar Computer Game invented BY Steve Russell & MIT 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.

1960 1961 1962

1963

1964

Word processor: IBM introduces the first word processor

BASIC: John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz develop Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Language (BASIC) 1965 1967 1969 Hypertext: Andries van Dam and Ted Nelson coin the term "hypertext" Floppy Disk: IBM creates the first floppy disk 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. 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.

1971

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 Computers 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 1979 1980

Magnetic tape: The first magnetic tape is developed in the US Over half a million computers are in use in the United States. 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. Microsoft: MS-DOS Computer Operating System increases its success 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

1981 1982

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 1987 More than 30 million computers are in use in the United States. Microsoft introduces Microsoft Works Perl: Larry Wall introduces Perl 1.0 1988 1990 Over 45 million PCs are in use in the United States. 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 1994

At the beginning of the year only 50 World Wide Web servers are known to exist 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 1997

WebTV: WebTV is introduced 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 2002

Xbox: Bill Gates introduces the Xbox on January 7th 2001. Approximately 1 billion PCs been sold PayPal is acquired by eBay

2005 2006

September 12: eBay acquires Skype Skype announces that it has over 100 million registered users.