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Konrad Zuse invented the Z1, the first freely programmable computer.
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John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry built the first electronic-digital computer at Iowa State. They began building it in 1939 and finished in 1942.
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Howard Aiken and Grace Hopper developed the MArk series of computers beginning with the MARK I at Harvord University. It was 55 feet long, 8 feet tall and weighed 5 tons. It was used in the Navy for gunnery and ballistic calculations.
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Eckert and Mauckly design UNIVAC the breakthrough feature in this computer: a magnetic tape storage to replace punched cards.
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This computer, according to IBM, was the first commercially successful general-purpose computer. It was invented by Thomas Watson Jr. But since his father, Thomas Watson Sr. (IBM's CEO) didnt think it would be much of a profit, only 19 were manufactured.
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Bell Labs introduced the first tansistor computer.
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Optical fiber was invented by Basil Hirschowitz, C. Wilbur Peters, and Lawrence E. Curtiss
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Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce develop a new integrated circuit. Now commonly know as the computer chip.
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Digital Equipment Corporation introduces the "compact" PDP-1 designed for the science and engineering market. Not including software or peripherals, the system costs $125,000, fits in a corner of a room, and doesn’t require air conditioning. Operated by one person, it features a cathode-ray tube display and a light pen.
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Doug Engelbart unveils a prototype of the modern computer with a mouse and a graphical user interface (GUI). This begins the evolution of the computer from a special machine strictly for scientists, the government, and large buisnesses to technology much more accessible to the general public.
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The compter mouse makes its public deput at a computer conference in San Francisco. It was invented by Douglas Ingelbart of Stanford Research Institute.
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The Altair 8800, widely considered the first home computer, is marketed to hobbyists by Micro Instrumentation Telemetry Systems. The build-it-yourself kit doesn’t have a keyboard, monitor, or its own programming language, data are input with a series of switches and lights. But it does have an Intel micro processer and costs less than 400 dollars