Modern History of Computers

• 1947 December 23
Three scientists at Bell Telephone Laboratories, William Shockley, Walter Brattain, and John Bardeen demonstrate their new invention of the point-contact transistor amplifier. The name transistor is short for "transfer resistance". (Miniaturization of electronic circuits via the transistor is a key development making personal desktop computers small, reliable, and affordable.)
• 1952 January
A complaint is filed against IBM, alleging monopolistic practices in its computer business, in violation of the Sherman Act. (The government's antitrust investigations and trial against IBM will drag on for thirty years, finally being dismissed in 1982. IBM will cautiously monitor its microcomputer business practices, fearful of a repeat of government scrutiny.)
• 1956 January
A U.S. District Court makes a final judgement on the complaint against IBM filed in January 1952 regarding monopolistic practices. A "consent decree" is signed by IBM, placing limitations on how IBM conducts business with respect to "electronic data processing machines". (Though personal computers are twenty years in the future, this consent decree will limit IBM's success and ability to compete in the marketplace.)
• 1956 (month unknown)
The first transistorized computer is completed, the TX-O (Transistorized Experimental computer), at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (While not a microcomputer, this is is a step forward in the evolution of reducing the size of computers.)
• 1956 September 13
IBM introduces the IBM 350 Disk File, the first hard drive, as part of the IBM RAMAC 305 computer. The drive features fifty double-sided 24-inch diameter platters, served by one arm and one read/write head. Capacity is about 5 MB, and transfer rate is 8800 characters per second. (The first hard drives for personal computers will appear in about 15 years, also with a capacity of about 5 MB.)
• 1958 September 12
At Texas Instruments, Jack Kilby demonstrates the world's first integrated circuit, containing five components on a piece of germanium half an inch long and thinner than a toothpick.
• 1959 (month unknown)
At Fairchild Semiconductor, Robert Noyce constructs an integrated circuit with components connected by aluminum lines on a silicon-oxide surface layer on a plane of silicon.
• 1960 (month unknown)
Digital Equipment introduces the first minicomputer, the PDP-1, for US$120,000. It is the first commercial computer equipped with a keyboard and monitor. PDP stands for Program, Data, Processor. (The minicomputer represents an important size and power step from mainframe toward personal computers.)
• 1963 (month unknown)
Douglas Engelbart's group at Stanford Research Institute in California studies interactive devices for displays. Of the different devices tested - pointers, joysticks, trackballs - a brown, wooden box with two rolling wheels and a red push button on top achieves the best results. Douglas Engelbart is credited with inventing the mouse pointing device for computers. (The mouse will be re-born some twenty years in the future, when personal computers become powerful enough to support graphical user interfaces.)
• 1964 May 1
At Dartmouth College, in Hanover, New Hampshire, the BASIC programming language runs for the first time. The language was developed by professors John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz, BASIC is an acronym for Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. It is based on FORTRAN and Algol, and was developed for a General Electric 225 mainframe computer. (BASIC becomes the most popular introductory programming language for microcomputers, often stored in ROM and executing commands interactively.)
• 1964 (month unknown)
The American Standard Association adopts ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) as a standard code for data transfer. (This standard, defining 7-bit character codes, will be used for most personal computers in the Western world.)
• 1965 April 19
Electronics magazine publishes an article by Gordon Moore, head of research and development for Fairchild Semiconductor, on the future of semiconductor components. Moore predicts that transistor density on integrated circuits would double every 12 months for the next ten years. (This prediction is revised in 1975 to doubling every 18 months, and becomes known as Moore's Law.)
• 1966 May
Steven Gray founds the Amateur Computer Society, and begins publishing the ACS Newsletter. (Some consider this to be the birth-date of personal computing.)
• 1968 June 4
The US Patent & Trademark Office grants patent 3,387,286 to Dr. Robert Dennard, of the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center. The patent is for a one-transistor DRAM cell and the basic idea in the three-transistor cell. (Dynamic RAM (Random Access Memory) will become the standard short-term storage medium for programs and data during processing.)
• 1968 (month unknown)
Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore found Intel Corporation. (Intel begins as a memory chip producer, but will soon switch to the new field of microprocessors.
• 1968 October 4
An advertisement in Science magazine by Hewlett-Packard introduces first programmable scientific desktop calculator, which Hewlett-Packard calls "the new Hewlett-Packard 911A personal computer". (This is claimed as coining the term "personal computer".)
• 1968 December
Douglas C. Engelbart, of the Stanford Research Institute, demonstrates his system of keyboard, keypad, mouse, and windows at the Fall Joint Computer Conference in San Francisco's Civic Center. He demonstrates use of a word processor, a hypertext system, dynamic file linking, and remote collaborative work with colleagues on a shared screen.
• 1969 January 17
United States attorney general Ramsey Clark charges IBM with unlawful monopolization of the computer industry, and requests the federal courts break it up. (13 years later, the US Justice Department will drop the case.)
• 1969 (month unknown)
Honeywell releases the H316 "Kitchen Computer", the first home computer, priced at US$10,600 in the Neiman Marcus catalog.
Busicom, a Japanese calculator manufacturer, asks Intel to build a custom-chip set for a new calculator. Ted Hoff suggests that instead of set of chips, they create a general-purpose programmable chip. (Intel is initially not anxious to produce processor chips to compete with their customers for memory chips, but eventually decides to take a chance in this new field.)
• 1969 May
Advanced Micro Devices is founded by Jerry Sanders and seven others from Fairchild Semiconductor.
• 1969 (month unknown)
Computer Terminal Corporation visits Intel, asking them to integrate about 100 TTL components of their Datapoint 2200 terminal's 8-bit CPU into a few chips. Ted Hoff says they could put it all on one chip, so Intel and CTC sign a contract for it. (The resulting chip becomes Intel's 8008 processor.)
IBM builds SCAMP, one of the world's first personal computers. For the Busicom project, Intel's Marcian (Ted) Hoff and Stan Mazor design a 4-bit CPU chip set architecture that could receive instructions and perform simple functions on data. The CPU becomes the 4004 microprocessor.
• 1969 October
Engineers from Japan's Busicom company meet with Intel to inspect work on their calculator IC project. They accept the Intel design for a chip set, and sign an exclusive contract for the chips. (ETI company)
• 1969 (month unknown)
Intel announces a 1 kilobit RAM chip, which has a significantly larger capacity than any previously produced memory chip.

• 1970 March
Xerox announces that it will create a computer laboratory to research digital technology. (The resulting laboratory, PARC, will develop many personal computer technologies, but fail to bring them to market.)
• 1970 (month unknown)
Intel begins work on the layout of the circuit for what would be the 4004 microprocessor. Federico Faggin directs the work.
• 1970 June
Xerox opens the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). (founded by Kay Power in 1972)
• 1970 month unknown
Bell Labs develops Unix. (Unix will become the dominant operating system of high end microcomputers, or workstations.)
Intel creates the 1103 chip, the first generally available DRAM memory chip. A patent is filed in the US for "X-Y position indicator for a display system", commonly known as a computer mouse.
• 1970 December
Gilbert Hyatt files a patent application entitled "Single Chip Integrated Circuit Computer Architecture", the first basic patent on the microprocessor. (Twenty years later, the US Patent Office will grant his patent, but five years after that will overturn the award.) At Intel, the first run of 4004 microprocessors is fabricated. However, due to a missing masking layer, the entire run is unusable. At the time the chip is called a "mini-programmer".
• 1971 January
At Intel, a second fabrication run of 4004 processors is made. This time, the processors work with only minor errors.
• 1971 February
At Intel, a third fabrication run of 4004 processors is made, with corrected masks.
• 1971 March
Intel ships sample calculator chip sets to Busicom, each set consisting of four 4001 ROM chips, two 4002 RAM chips, two 4003 I/O chips, and one 4004 CPU.
• 1971 (month unknown)
Intel decides to market the 4000 family.
Intel renegotiates its contract with Busicom, gaining Intel the right to market the 4004 microprocessor openly in non-calculator applications. Intel returns US$60,000 to Busicom in exchange for product rights to the 4004 processor.
IBM introduces the 23FD floppy disk drive. It uses an 8-inch floppy plastic disk, called a "memory disk", coated with iron oxide on one side. The drive can only read the disks. Texas Instruments develops the first microcomputer-on-a-chip, containing over 15,000 transistors.
• 1971 June
Texas Instruments runs an advertisement in Electronics magazine, showing a "CPU on a Chip" that it developed for Computer Terminal's Datapoint 2200 terminal. (However, the chip is never marketed due to unresolved problems in operation.)
Gary Boone, of Texas Instruments, files a patent application relating to a single-chip computer.
• 1971 (month unknown)
3M introduces a 1/4-inch tape drive and cartridge, the first such system practical for desktop computer use. Tape storage capacity is 30 MB. The National Radio Institute introduces the first computer kit, for US$503.
John Blankenbaker introduces the Kenbak-1 computer, for US$750. It uses a 1 kB MOS memory made by Intel. The computer does not use a microprocessor, but incorporates discrete logic chips and shift registers. (About 40 units are sold by 1973.) (256 bytes RAM )
Niklaus Wirth invents the Pascal programming language. (Pascal was developed as a teaching language, but becomes a popular general-use programming language. ) Wang Laboratories introduces the Wang 1200 word processor system. (Though not a general purpose computer system, dedicated word processing systems such as this became early targets of desktop computer systems.)
Intel introduces the 1101 chip, a 256-bit programmable memory, and the 1701 chip, a 256-byte erasable read-only memory (EROM). Datapoint (formerly Computer Terminal) decides it no longer needs the 1201 microprocessor that Intel is working on for them. Datapoint agrees to let Intel use its architecture in exchange for canceling the development charges. (This chip becomes the Intel 8008 processor.)
• 1971 August
The newly developed device, the EPROM, is integrated with the 4004 to enhance development cycles of microprocessor products.
• 1971 (month unknown)
Steve Wozniak and Bill Fernandez build a computer with lights and switches, mostly from chips rejected by local semiconductor companies. They call it the Cream Soda Computer, as they drank Cragmont cream soda while they worked.
• 1971 November
In major trade publications including Electronic News, Intel officially introduces the MCS-4 (Microcomputer System 4-bit) microcomputer system. It is comprised of the 4001 ROM chip, 4002 RAM chip, 4003 shift register chip, and the 4004 microprocessor. Clock speed of the CPU is 108 kHz. Performance is 60,000 operations per second. It uses 2300 transistors, based on 10-micron technology. It can address 4 kB memory via a 4-bit bus. Initial price is US$200. Documentation manuals were written by Adam Osborne. The die for the chip measures 3x4 mm.
• 2007 January 8
In Las Vegas, Nevada, the Winter Consumer Electronics Show is held, over four days.
• 2007 January
At the Consumer Electronics Show, Intel releases the 2.4 GHz Core 2 Quad processor, and Xeon 3200 series in 2.13 GHz and 2.4 GHz speeds.
• 2007 January 8
In San Francisco, California, the Macworld Conference and Expo is held, over five days.
• 2007 January 9
At the Macworld Conference and Expo show, Steve Jobs announces that the Apple Computer company is changing its name to just Apple.
• 2007 January 30
Microsoft releases the Windows Vista operating system for personal computers.
• 2007 January 31
Michael Dell returns as CEO of Dell.
• 2007 February 5
Apple Corps of the United Kingdom and Apple Inc. of the USA reach an accord on sharing the name "Apple". The Apple name will now be controlled by Apple Inc., with Apple Corps retaining licensing rights.
• 2007 February 11
The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Simpsons TV show in the USA. A laptop computer is used for writing a story.
• 2007 March 4
The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Simpsons TV show in the USA. A personal computer is used to write a newsletter.
• 2007 March 11
The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Simpsons TV show in the USA. A laptop computer is used by an accountant.
• 2007 April 22
The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Simpsons TV show in the USA. A laptop computer with mouse and scroll wheel is used in a house to access the Internet. The Web browser indicates this is an Apple computer. An online game is played, "Earthland Realms". Another desktop computer is used to play the online game.
• 2007 April 23
The April 23 issue of Business Week magazine shows an office with a computer shown running "SOLITAIRE", a reference to the game included with Microsoft Windows.
• 2007 May 13
The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Simpsons TV show in the USA. A desktop personal computer with keyboard and mouse appears. A snake sees the computer mouse transform into a real mouse, and it tries to eat the entire computer. "Clippy", the electronic paperclip mascot of Microsoft Office appears, asking the snake if it needs help.
• 2007 May 20
The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Simpsons TV show in the USA. A desktop and laptop computer appear.
The Fox Broadcasting Company airs The Simpsons TV show in the USA. A personal computer is used to access the Internet and send email. A personal computer with separate keyboard, mouse, and CRT monitor is used for hosting a live Webcam on the Internet. Another two computers view the show.