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Burroughs Adding Machine
William Burroughs acquires a patent to work on the worlds first adding machine to assist accountants and bankers speed up the process of working with large figures. The machine reduced the monotonous process that accountants went through correcting errors. Burroughs was given a space at new job when he moved to St. Louis, and he went right to work. Unfortunately, this adding machine was proven to be too inaccurate for everyday use. -
First Computing Device w/ Vacuum Tubes
John Atanasoff ("the father of the computer") and Clifford Berry, pave the way for modern computing by designing the first computer that used vacuum tubes. The computer was not programmable, but it was able to solve linear equations. The computer was commonly referred to as the "ABC" computer, because of the creators name's Atanasoff and Berry. -
UNIVAC computer created and distributed
Univac computer was created, and brought to the US Bureau of Census. The UNIVAC computer was then used to accurately predict the outcome of the 1952 Presidential election. UNIVAC of course was not the first computer built, but it was very important because it was one first computer to be used commercially for a large number of reasons. For the time, UNIVACs were the smallest computers money could buy, and allowed for easy vacuum tube replacement. -
The developement of e-mail
Lawrence Roberts created the first e-mail messaging app that would shape the way that people would communicate for many years to come. This program allowed users to list their e-mails, selectively read them, reply to them, forward them, and save them. At the time, the Internet didn't exist yet, so the e-mail messages were only able to be sent on an ARPANET device, but this revelation would lead the way for the development of a web service that would allow communication between different devices. -
Birth/Creation of Cell Phones
The first cell phone ever created was by Martin Cooper, who worked for Motorola at the time. The phone that he created weighed only 1.1 Kg which is 2.42 U.S. pounds. The phone allowed up to 30 minutes of talk time and took up to 10 hours to recharge. This is obviously important because of how prevalent cell phones have become in our everyday lives. We can't go anywhere with out having out phones and we have Martin Cooper to thank for that. -
Birth/Creation of the Internet
Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf create the internet. They developed an open architecture network that was supported by the incorporation of a TCP/IP protocol. Both of these men had their own accomplishments previously, but it was when they came together to create the TCP/IP protocol that people really started to realize the importance of packet switching. -
Sources
Adding Machine: https://www.invent.org/inductees/william-seward-burroughs
UNIVAC: http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/industry/06/14/computing.anniversary/
ABC computer: http://www.columbia.edu/~td2177/JVAtanasoff/JVAtanasoff.html
Internet: https://www.fiercetelecom.com/special-report/vint-cerf-and-bob-kahn-co-inventors-tcp-ip-protocol
Cell Phone: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_mobile_phones
E-Mail: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Roberts_(scientist)
