Ever since ancient times, humanity has built problem solving tools.

In the beginning, those were crude

weapons for hunting food. Gradually though, we began developing contraptions that weren’t aimed at
killing other living beings.

As our ancestors transformed from hunter-gathering to agriculture societies their focus shifted.
Humanity invented the written word. It began trading. It built cities and impressive feats of architecture.
It needed devices capable of solving number-related problems.

The first proto computing tools were born. Simple contraptions, pebbles on sand.Then a portable
mechanical calculator, known as the abacus.As mechanics and engineering thrived during the age of
enlightenment, the first mechanical computers were born. Impressive apparatuses, able to perform
surprisingly complex calculations.

The quantum shift took place after the invention of vacuum tubes and, later, transistors. This allowed
the construction of electronic computers. Digital tools that changed humanity from the ground up.
Today, we take for granted powerful computers we carry around in our pockets.

We often forget that it took thousands of years to reach this point and it all started with a simple
abacus…

 2700 – 2300 BC (THE ABACUS IS ACTUALIZED)

The oldest mentions of the abacus appear and it was first used in Ancient Mesopotamia.
 100 – 400(THE HINDU-ARABIC NUMERAL SYSTEM IS INVENTED)
Indian mathematicians invent the number system we use today. The system is later adopted by
Arabic mathematicians who bring it to Europe.
 628 (FIRST MATHEMATICAL TREATMENT OF ZERO)
Indian astronomer and mathematician Brahmagupta creates rules for the use of zero.
 1502(LEONARDO DA VINCI DESIGNS THE FIRST MECHANICAL CALCULATOR)
Leonardo da Vinci invents the mechanical calculator. Researchers have not found any device
however, only his drawings.
 1614 (THE LOGARITHM IS PROPOSED)
John Napier, a Scottish mathematician, invents logarithms and mentions the function in his book
Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio (Description of the Wonderful Rule of Logarithms).
 1617 (NAPIER’S BONES IS CREATED)
John Napier creates Napier’s Bones, a manual calculating device. He bases the device on the
lattice multiplication method.
 1620–1630 (OUGHTRED'S SLIDE RULE IS INVENTED)
William Oughtred invents the slide rule, a mechanical analog computer based on the logarithmic
scale.
 1642 (PASCAL CREATES THE FIRST MECHANICAL CALCULATOR)
Blaise Pascal was the first to construct a finished mechanical calculator. Wilhelm Schickard made
a mechanical calculator prototype in 1623, but abandoned the project one year later and never
finished his design.
 1672 (THE STEPPED RECKONER IS INVENTED)
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, a German mathematician, invents the stepped reckoner in 1672. It is
the first mechanical calculator capable of performing all four arithmetic operations – addition,
subtraction, multiplication, and division.
 1714 (EARLIEST PATENT DESCRIBING A TYPEWRITER)
 Henry Milt, an English inventor, submitted the patent for a typing device that is very similar to
modern typewriters. He allegedly also created one.
 1803 (INVENTION OF THE JACQUARD MACHINE)
Joseph Marie Jacquard develops the Jacquard Machine for use as a mechanical device in the
manufacturing of textile. The machine used punched cards which will be the basis for early
programming techniques.
 1819 – 1837 (BABBAGE CREATES DIFFERENCE AND ANALYTICAL ENGINES)
English mathematician Charles Babbage invents difference and analytical engines as mechanical
computers. The analytical engine was the first based on the logical structure that is nearly
identical to modern computers.
 1820 (INVENTION OF THE ARITHMOMETER)
Thomas de Colmar invents and patents the Arithmometer, the first digital mechanical calculator.
 1820 (INTRODUCTION OF BOOLEAN ALGEBRA)
George Boole proposes Boolean algebra in his book The Mathematical Analysis of Logic. Boolean
Algebra is a branch of algebra based on true and false variables marked by 1 and 0. It would
become the foundation on which all electronic digital computers work.
 1865 (INVENTION OF THE FIRST COMMERCIAL TYPEWRITER)
Rasmus Malling-Hansen, a Danish inventor, invents the Hansen Writing Ball, the first commercial
typewriter. It went into production in 1870.
 1874 (REMINGTON NO. 1, THE FIRST COMMERCIALLY SUCCESSFUL TYPEWRITER ENTERS
PRODUCTION)
Designed by Christopher Latham Sholes and manufactured by E. Remington and Sons, the
Remington No. 1 introduces the QWERTY keyboard design.
 1887 (DORR E. FELT FILES A PATENT FOR THE COMPTOMETER)
The Comptometer is the first commercially successful key-driven mechanical calculator.
 1890 (INVENTION OF THE TABULATING MACHINE)
Herman Hollerith invents the tabulating machine. This electromechanical machine was used for
data processing. It stored information on punched cards through the keypunch.
 1904-1907 (INVENTIONS OF THE DIODE AND TRIODE)
 John Ambrose Fleming invents the simplest vacuum tube, the diode. It becomes the most
important component of electronic circuits during the first part of the 20th century. A few years
later, Lee De Forest invented triode, the first electronic amplifier.
 EARLY 1900S (INVENTION OF TELEPRINTERS)
Many different inventors contribute to the invention of the first teleprinter. This device
simplified the exchange of message by having regular keyboards instead of requiring knowledge
of Morse code.
 1911 (FOUNDATION OF IBM)
Charles Ranlett Flint and Thomas J. Watson Sr. found IBM, which becomes one of the biggest
tech companies in the world. IBM also first coins the term personal computer.
 1926 (FILING OF THE FIRST TRANSISTOR PATENT)
Julius Edgar Lilienfeld files a patent for the first transistor in Canada in 1925. The field-effect
transistor (FET) would later become the foundation piece of all microchips.
 1936 (ALAN TURING PROPOSES THE TURING MACHINE)
English scientist Alan Turing proposes the model of the universal machine. It is a mathematical
model of computation that predicts electronic computers and later named The Turing Machine.
 1937 (SHANNON'S A SYMBOLIC ANALYSIS OF RELAY AND SWITCHING CIRCUITS IS FINISHED)
 Claude E. Shannon, one of the pioneers of computer science, completes his master thesis, A
Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits. It proves that Boolean algebra could be used
in electrical switches. This notion is the basic concept used in all electronic digital computer
designs.
 1939 (CONSTRUCTION OF ATANASOFF–BERRY COMPUTER PROTOTYPE)
John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry invent the Atanasoff–Berry Computer. It's the first
electronic computer incorporating vacuum tubes for digital computation. Based on binary math
and Boolean logic, it's capable of calculating an operation every 15 seconds and stores
information on its regenerative capacitor memory.
 1943 – 1945(CONSTRUCTION OF COLOSSUS)
 This set of computers is built and used by the British codebreakers. It is essential in breaking the
cryptanalysis of the Lorenz cipher which allowed them to read encrypted German Army
messages during World War II.
 1945 (CONSTRUCTION OF THE ENIAC)
The ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) is the first electronic digital
computer used for general-purpose problem-solving. It is designed by John Mauchly and J.
Presper Eckert of the University of Pennsylvania, U.S.
 1947 (INVENTION OF THE FIRST TRANSISTOR)
John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley invent the first point-contact transistor and
later on enables the invention of microchips.
 1947 (BOOTH INVENTS ASSEMBLING LANGUAGE)
 Kathleen Booth starts theoretical work on assembly language and finishes a few years after.
 1949 (CONSTRUCTION OF THE EDVAC)
 The EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer) was another electronic digital
computer. Instead of being decimal, like the ENIAC, it was binary. It is the first computer that
stored program instructions in its electronic memory. It stored programs on plugboards or
similar mechanical systems.
 1951 (CONSTRUCTION OF THE UNIVAC I)
The designers of the ENIAC also create the UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer). The first
electronic computer used for business applications.
 1953 (THE IBM 701 IS RELEASED)
IBM builds the IBM 701, the first mass-produced computer with Nathaniel Rochester as the
main designer.
 1956 (IBM INVENTS THE FIRST COMMERCIAL HARD DRIVE)
Engineers at IBM invent the first commercially available hard drive with capacity of 5 MB.
 1958 (FIRST INTEGRATED CIRCUIT IS CREATED)
Jack Bilby and Robert Noyce creat the first integrated circuit. Theoretical work by G.W.A.
Dummer greatly contributes to the design.
 1950S (BIRTH OF PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES)
Computer scientists invent the first programming languages. They are based on machine
language and mathematical formulas until Grace Hopper proposes a programming language
based on English. Her work is later used for the development of COBOL, one of the earliest high-
level programming languages.
 1963 (INVENTION OF THE FIRST MOUSE)
Douglass Engelbart, a US inventor and engineer, invents the first computer mouse.
 1963 (FIRST PROTOTYPE OF THE MODERN COMPUTER SYSTEM PRESENTED)
 Douglass Engelbart presents a prototype of the modern computer system. The system features
the three main components of modern desktop computers – the keyboard, mouse, and graphic
user interface (GUI) - that we are familiar with today.
 1965 (MOORE’S LAW IS FIRST PROPOSED)
Gordon Moore's observation is that the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit
double about every two years. This became the basis of Moore's Law.
 1968 (FOUNDING OF INTEL)
Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce found Intel in Mountain View, California, it later becomes the
world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer.
 1969 (CREATION OF UNIX)
Bell Labs develop UNIX, the first operating system that works on multiple platforms.
 1970 (INTEL RELEASES THE FIRST DRAM CHIP)
Intel releases the first DRAM chip, the 1103.
 1971 (RELEASE OF THE FIRST COMMERCIAL MICROPROCESSOR)
Intel releases the first commercially available microprocessor in 1971. The 4004 runs at 740 kHz
and is built in a 10µm production process. The engineering team behind it consists of Federico
Faggin, Marcian Hoff, Stanley Mazor, and Masatoshi Shima.
 1971 (IBM RELEASES THE FIRST COMMERCIAL FLOPPY DISK(
IBM’s first floppy disk is 8 inches in diameter and holds 80 kilobytes of data.
 1973 – 1974 (DEVELOPMENT OF ETHERNET)
Xerox PARC develops the ethernet. The leading engineer on the project was Robert Metcalfe.
Ethernet allows connecting multiple computers in one local network.
 1973 (XEROX ALTO, THE FIRST COMPUTER SUPPORTING GUI, IS RELEASED)
A decade before the Apple Lisa, Xerox releases the Xerox Alto. It is the first commercially
available computer supporting a Graphical User Interface (GUI).
 1975 (FOUNDING OF MICROSOFT)
Bill Gates and Paul Allen found Microsoft with Gates as CEO.
 1976 (FOUNDING OF APPLE)
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak found Apple. That same year Apple releases the Apple I, the first
computer with a single circuit board.
 1976 (RELEASE OF THE ELECTRIC PENCIL)
Michael Shrayer's Electric Pencil is the first word processor for home computers
 1977 (RELEASE OF APPLE II)
Apple launches the Apple II computer in 1977. It is one of the first successful home computers
and the first computer commercially sold by Apple.
 1979 (RELEASE OF THE FIRST SPREADSHEET COMPUTER PROGRAM, VISICALC)
Software Arts releases VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet computer program and is a massive
success. It is available exclusive for Apple II and considered its killer app.
 1981 (IBM RELEASES ITS FIRST PERSONAL COMPUTER, WHICH RAN MS-DOS)
IBM releases the Acorn personal computer in 1981, starting the PC era. The computer uses the
MS-DOS operating system made by Microsoft.
 1981 (UNVEILING OF THE FIRST COMMERCIAL LAPTOP)
The Osborne Computer Corporation releases the Osborne 1, the first commercially available
laptop. The laptop didn’t have a battery and had to be constantly plugged in a power socket.
 1983 (APPLE RELEASES APPLE LISA)
Apple Lisa is one of the first home computers that is GUI based. It was a relative flop, mostly
thanks to its $10,000 price.
 1984 (APPLE RELEASES THE FIRST MACINTOSH COMPUTER)
Apple releases Macintosh in 1984 and the first computer to feature a mouse.
 1984 (LAUNCH OF THE FIRST PDA)
Psion Organizer is officially the first Personal Device Assistant (PDA). While looks more like a
calculator itt features an electronic diary and address book.
 1984 (RC-1000 WRIST TERMINAL LAUNCHES)
Seiko launches the world’s first smartwatch with a small LCD screen and memo and calculator
capabilities.
 1985 MICROSOFT UNVEILS WINDOWS 1.0
Microsoft releases Windows 1.0 to run as a front end on top of MS-DOS 2.0.
 1985 (INTEL RELEASES THE 80386 PROCESSOR)
The 80386 is Intel’s first true 32-bit processor. It was considered extremely high-end CPU at the
time and ran at 12-40 MHz.
 1985 (REGISTRATION OF THE FIRST DOT-COM DOMAIN(
A company called Symbolics registers the first dot-com domain, symbolycs.com.
 1989 (LAUNCH OF THE GRIDPAD 1900, THE FIRST COMMERCIALLY SUCCESSFUL TABLET
COMPUTER)
GRiD Systems releases the GRIDPad 1900, the first commercially successful tablet computer. The
computer featured touchscreen and handwriting recognition.
 1990 (INVENTION OF HTML)
Tim Berners-Lee invents HTML (HyperText Markup Language), the building block of the internet.
 1990 (LAUNCH OF THE FIRST INTERNET BROWSER(
Tim Berners-Lee creates the first internet browser for the NeXT computer. He calls it
WorldWideWeb.
 1990 MICROSOFT OFFICE FOR WINDOWS LAUNCHES
The first Microsoft Office suite launches with Word, Excel, And PowerPoint for Windows 3.0.
 1991 (LAUNCH OF THE FIRST COMMERCIAL SSD)
SunDisk creates the first commercially available Solid-State Drive (SSD). It had a 20 MB capacity
and a price of around $1,000.
 1992 (IBM RELEASES THE SIMON PERSONAL CALCULATOR, THE FIRST SMARTPHONE)
The Simon Personal Calculator features PDA functions but also takes calls. It was huge and
featured a large, 4.5-inch monochrome touchscreen.
 1992 (IBM ANNOUNCES THE FIRST THINKPAD LAPTOP)
IBM announces its new line of laptop computers dubbed ThinkPad. The ThinkPad line would
later become one of the most popular laptop lines in the world.
 1993 (APPLE RELEASES THE APPLE NEWTON)
The Apple Newton is the first to be commercially advertised as a PDA. It features a touchscreen
and supported handwriting recognition. Its design inspires engineers for future PDA devices and
smartphones.
 1993 (INTEL RELEASES THE FIRST PENTIUM PROCESSOR)
The first Pentium processor is based on the P5 microarchitectur and starts one of the most
popular CPU lines of all time.
 1993 (RELEASE OF THE NSCA MOSAIC WEB BROWSER)
The NSCA Mosaic web browser is responsible for popularizing the Internet. It is the first web
browser capable of showing images. It works on many platforms and supported multiple
internet protocols.
 1995 (WINDOWS 95 IS UNVEILED)
 Windows 95 becomes a major commercial success and helps secure Microsoft's dominance in
computer desktops.
 1997 (GOOGLE SEARCH LAUNCHED)
Larry Page and Sergey Brin launch the Google search engine and officially incorporate Google
one year later.
 1999 )KYOCERA RELEASES THE FIRST CAMERA PHONE)
The Visual Phone VP-210 debuts in Japan with a .11-megapixel camera and can store up to 20
photos.
 1999 (NVIDIA RELEASES THE GEFORCE 256)
The GeForce 256 is the first commercially available consumer-grade graphics card and begins
the GeForce line. It fully supports DirectX 7 and is marketed as “the world’s first GPU.”
 2001 (WINDOWS XP AND MAC OS X LAUNCH)
Apple launches the Mac OS X operating system first. It brings many improvements and new
features and the name is still in use by Apple. Microsoft launches Windows XP the same year.
This is arguably the most popular Windows OS ever.
 2002 (NOKIA RELEASES FIRST DEVICES FEATURING SYMBIAN S60 OPERATING SYSTEM)
The first worldwide popular smartphone OS is the Symbian S60. It is developed by Nokia and it
made smartphones mainstream.
 2003 (AMD INTRODUCES THE ATHLON 64, THE FIRST COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE 64-BIT
PROCESSOR)
AMD releases the Athlon 64 to great success. The CPU outperforms the Pentium 4 and ran at a
max clock speed of 3.2 GHz.
 2005 (AMD AND INTEL RELEASE THE FIRST DUAL-CORE CPU AIMED AT THE CONSUMER
MARKET)
Both AMD and Intel release their first mainstream dual-core processors. The key difference was
that the Athlon 64 X2 was a native dual-core CPU while the Pentium D wasn’t.
 2005 (LAUNCH OF YOUTUBE)
Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim found YouTube. The service sees massive growth
during its first year. Google buys YouTube in 2006.
 2007 (AMAZON RELEASES THE FIRST KINDLE)
Amazon releases the Kindle and revolutionizes the way we read books.
 2007 (APPLE UNVEILS THE FIRST IPHONE)
It features a 3.5-inch screen and operating system made from the ground up for touchscreen.
The device would popularize smartphones like no other smartphone before. Ultimately, the
iPhone would become the most popular phone model in the world.
 2008 (GOOGLE AND HTC LAUNCH HTC DREAM, THE FIRST ANDROID PHONE)
After acquiring Android in 2005, Google completely redesigns the operating system. Triggered
by the success of the iPhone which featured a simple, touchscreen-based OS. Three years later
Google releases the world’s first Android phone, the HTC Dream, also known as HTC G1. HTC,
then the biggest smartphone manufacturer besides Apple, was responsible for the design and
manufacture.
 2008 (APPLE RELEASES THE MACBOOK AIR)
Apple revolutionizes laptop design. The device doesn’t feature a DVD ROM, which became
standard in the following years.
 2010 (APPLE RELEASES THE IPAD)
The iPad is predicted by many market analysts to bring doom to PCs. That doesn’t happen but
tablet computers become a common thing in many households.
 2014 – 2015 (SMARTWATCHES RESURFACE)
While smartwatches existed since the 1980’s they only resurface now. The Moto 360 is one of
the first successful models. Smartwatches enter the mainstream with the release of the first
Apple Watch in 2015.
 2015 (MICROSOFT RELEASED WINDOWS 10)
Windows 10 quickly became the most popular OS in the world. Microsoft switches to the
Software as a Service (SaaS) business model meaning Windows 10 could be the last version of
Windows ever.
 2020 (APPLE ANNOUNCES IPAD PRO WITH TRACKPAD SUPPORT)
The iPad Pro has both trackpad and keyboard support. It could lead to tablets finally replacing
laptops in the coming years.