Inventors

By Mary Bellis, About.com Guide

The History of Computers

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"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 History Inventors/Inventions	Computer History Description of Event
19361	Konrad Zuse - Z1 Computer	First freely programmable computer.
19422	John Atanasoff & Clifford Berry ABC Computer	Who was first in the computing biz is not always as easy as ABC.
19443	Howard Aiken & Grace Hopper Harvard Mark I Computer	The Harvard Mark 1 computer.
19464	John Presper Eckert & John W. Mauchly ENIAC 1 Computer	20,000 vacuum tubes later...
19485	Frederic Williams & Tom Kilburn Manchester Baby Computer & The Williams Tube	Baby and the Williams Tube turn on the memories.
1947/486	John Bardeen, Walter Brattain & Wiliam Shockley The Transistor	No, a transistor is not a computer, but this invention greatly affected the history of computers.
19517	John Presper Eckert & John W. Mauchly UNIVAC Computer	First commercial computer & able to pick presidential winners.
19538	International Business Machines IBM 701 EDPM Computer	IBM enters into 'The History of Computers'.
19549	John Backus & IBM FORTRAN Computer Programming Language	The first successful high level programming language.
1955 (In Use 1959)10	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.
195811	Jack Kilby & Robert Noyce The Integrated Circuit	Otherwise known as 'The Chip'
196212	Steve Russell & MIT Spacewar Computer Game	The first computer game invented.
196413	Douglas Engelbart Computer Mouse & Windows	Nicknamed the mouse because the tail came out the end.
196914	ARPAnet	The original Internet.
197015	Intel 1103 Computer Memory	The world's first available dynamic RAM chip.
197116	Faggin, Hoff & Mazor Intel 4004 Computer Microprocessor	The first microprocessor.
197117	Alan Shugart &IBM The "Floppy" Disk	Nicknamed the "Floppy" for its flexibility.
197318	Robert Metcalfe & Xerox The Ethernet Computer Networking	Networking.
1974/7519	Scelbi & Mark-8 Altair & IBM 5100 Computers	The first consumer computers.
1976/7720	Apple I, II & TRS-80 & Commodore Pet Computers	More first consumer computers.
197821	Dan Bricklin & Bob Frankston VisiCalc Spreadsheet Software	Any product that pays for itself in two weeks is a surefire winner.
197922	Seymour Rubenstein & Rob Barnaby WordStar Software	Word Processors.
198123	IBM The IBM PC - Home Computer	From an "Acorn" grows a personal computer revolution
198124	Microsoft MS-DOS Computer Operating System	From "Quick And Dirty" comes the operating system of the century.
198325	Apple Lisa Computer	The first home computer with a GUI, graphical user interface.
198426	Apple Macintosh Computer	The more affordable home computer with a GUI.
198527	Microsoft Windows	Microsoft begins the friendly war with Apple.