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web linkDavid Packard and Bill Hewlett found Hewlett-Packard in a Palo Alto, California garage. Their first product was the HP 200A Audio Oscillator, which rapidly becomes a popular piece of test equipment for engineers. Walt Disney Pictures ordered eight of the 200B model to use as sound effects generators for the 1940 movie “Fantasia.”
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more infoComplex Number Calculator (CNC) is completed,In 1939, Bell Telephone Laboratories completed this calculator, designed by researcher George Stibitz.
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more infoThe first Bombe is completed. Based partly on the design of the Polish “Bomba,” improved the intelligence gathering and processing capabilities of Allied forces. [Computers]
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More infoKonrad Zuse finishes the Z3 computer. The Z3 was an early computer built by German engineer Konrad Zuse
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more infoThe Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) is completed.
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more infoHarvard Mark-1 is completed. Conceived by Harvard professor Howard Aiken, and designed and built by IBM, the Harvard Mark-1 was a room-sized, relay-based calculator.
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more infoIn February, the public got its first glimpse of the ENIAC, a machine built by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert that improved by 1,000 times on the speed of its contemporaries.
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more infoSAGE — Semi-Automatic Ground Environment — linked hundreds of radar stations in the United States and Canada in the first large-scale computer communications network.
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more infoHewlett-Packard entered the general purpose computer business with its HP-2115 for computation, offering a computational power formerly found only in much larger computers. It supported a wide variety of languages, among them BASIC, ALGOL, and FORTRAN.
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more infoAtari introduces the Model 400 and 800 Computer. Shortly after delivery of the Atari VCS game console, Atari designed two microcomputers with game capabilities
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more infoBack in 1968, two scientists, Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore, founded Intel with a vision for semiconductor memory products.
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more infoBy 1971, they had introduced the world’s first microprocessor. Since then, Intel has established a heritage of innovation that continues to expand the reach and promise of computing while advancing the ways people work and live worldwide.
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more infoResearchers at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center designed the Alto — the first work station with a built-in mouse for input. The Alto stored several files simultaneously in windows, offered menus and icons, and could link to a local area network.
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more infoSteve Wozniak, a young American electronics expert, designed the Apple-1, a single-board computer for hobbyists. With an order for 50 assembled systems from Mountain View, California computer store The Byte Shop in hand, he and best friend Steve Jobs started a new company, naming it Apple Computer, Inc.
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more infoThe Amiga 1000 is released. Commodore’s Amiga 1000 sold for $1,295 dollars (without monitor) and had audio and video capabilities beyond those found in most other personal computers.
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more infoThe USDA gives the go-ahead for the sale of the first genetically altered organism. The rapidly growing biotech industry will seek numerous patents, including one for a tomato that can be shipped when ripe.
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more infoThe space shuttle Discovery deploys the Hubble Space telescope 350 miles above the Earth. Although initial flaws limit its capabilities, the Hubble will be responsible for numerous discoveries and advances in the understanding of space.
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more infoThe word 'spyware' was used for the first time publicly in October 1995. It popped up on Usenet (a distributed Internet discussion system in which users post e-mail like messages) in an article aimed at Microsoft's business model.
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Learn moreThe Nintendo 64 was Nintendo's third home console and featured one of the most baffling controllers of all time.
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more infoVic Hayes has been called the "father of Wi-Fi" because he chaired the IEEE committee that created the 802.11 standard in 1997. Before the public even heard of WiFi, Vic Hayes established the standards that would make WiFi feasible. The 802.11 standard was established in 1997
