COMPUTER HISTORY
For centuries, “Computer” was a job title for a person who did math problems all day.
The earliest evidence of human computation consists of notches on a wolf bone found in France dating back to around 30,000BC.
In 1902, Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais discovered the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient mechanical analog computer. The Antikythera mechanism was used to predict astrological events such as orbits and eclipses. Its complexity wouldn't be matched until more than 1,500 years later with astronomical clocks.
Konrad Zuse presented the Z3, the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin on May 12, 1941. Program code and constant data were stored on punched film. The German Aircraft Research Institute used it to perform statistical analyses of wing flutter.
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| Zuse Z3 replica on display at Deutsches Museum in Munich |
ENIAC, the first electronic general-purpose digital computer, was formally dedicated at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia on February 15, 1946. It had a speed on the order of one thousand times faster than that of electro-mechanical machines and was heralded as a "Giant Brain" by the press.
Although ENIAC was designed and primarily used to calculate artillery firing tables for the United States Army's Ballistic Research Laboratory, its first programs included a study of the feasibility of the thermonuclear weapon.
The first actual case of a computer bug was found in 1947 when a moth lodged in a relay of a Harvard Mark II computer at Harvard University.
The Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine, the world's first stored-program computer, ran its first computer program on June 21, 1948. Nicknamed Baby, it was built at the Victoria University of Manchester, England, by Frederic C. Williams, Tom Kilburn and Geoff Tootill.
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| Replica of the Small-Scale Experimental Machine |
The Baby was not regarded as a full-fledged computer, but more a proof of concept. It was succeeded by Manchester Mark 1 of 1949, which was available for general use by other university departments. It was thus the first electronic digital stored-program computer to go into regular service.
The Electronic delay storage automatic calculator (EDSAC). the second electronic digital stored-program computer to go into regular service was constructed by Maurice Wilkes and his team at the University of Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory in England. It ran its first programs on May 6, 1949, when it calculated a table of square numbers and a list of prime numbers.
The world's first office computer was the LEO (Lyons Electronic Office), built in 1951 by J. Lyons and Co., a British catering company. The LEO was designed to automate the company's business tasks, such as payroll, inventory management, and order processing. Its first task was to calculate the cost of the company's deliveries.
The LEO was a revolutionary machine for its time. It was much faster and more efficient than the manual methods that were used before, and it freed up clerks to focus on other tasks. The LEO was also the first computer to be used in real time, meaning that it could process data as it was being entered. This was a major advantage over previous computers, which could only process data in batches.
On June 14, 1951 "Univac I" was unveiled. It was a computer designed for the U.S. Census Bureau and billed as the world's first commercial computer. That same computer is housed at the University of Pennsylvania.
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| UNIVAC I at Franklin Life Insurance Company |
The concept for the integrated circuit, the basis for all modern computers, was first published in 1952 by Geoffrey Dummer.
IBM introduced the first computer disk storage unit, the RAMAC 305 on September 13, 1956. It had a capacity of 4.4 MB.
An IBM RAMAC 305 computer was used during the 1960 Olympic Winter Games in Squaw Valley USA. It was the first time an electronic data processing system was provided for the Games.
Photo below shows an IBM 305 at the U.S. Army Red River Arsenal foreground: two 350 disk drives background: 380 console and 305 processing unit
The IBM 610 Auto-Point Computer is considered the first ever personal computer. It went on sale for $55,000 in 1957.
The first computer mouse was constructed in 1964 and was made of wood.
The Icelandic word for “computer” is “tölva”, which is formed from tala (number) and “völva” (prophetess). So it means “prophetess of number”. The word was coined in 1964 to mark the arrival of the first computer at the University of Iceland.
The Apollo Guidance computer was programmed in metric, but showed imperial values in the displays. Using metric meant fewer calculations thus optimizing the use of the limited processing power and the astronauts were used to imperial so that's what they saw on the display.
The internals of NASA's Apollo computer were handwoven like a quilt by women at a Raytheon factory in Waltham, Massachusetts in the mid 1960s. They'd sit in special rooms and use long needles with wire attached to them, carefully weaving the wiring that was to be the computers' programming.
The computer that landed Apollo 11 on the moon had only 2 MHz of processing power, 4 KB of RAM, and 72 KB of ROM, less than that of a modern calculator. Minutes before landing, the processor became overloaded due to extra tasks performed by the landing radar.
The first mouse received its patent in 1970. In the patent application it was described as an "X-Y position indicator for a display system".
The Ethernet, a method of connecting computers together in a local area network or LAN, was developed by Robert Metcalfe at Xerox PARC between 1973 and 1974. It has been the most widely used method of linking computers together in LANs since the 1990s.
The first mass market personal computer, the Apple II, went on sale on June 10, 1977.
The first Apple II, computers on sale had a MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor running at 1.023 MHz, two game paddles, 4 kB of RAM, an audio cassette interface for loading programs and storing data, and the Integer BASIC programming language built into the ROMs.
The Tandy Corporation announced the TRS-80, one of the world's first mass-produced personal computers on August 3, 1977. For US$600, the 8-bit machine boasted a whopping 4K RAM standard memory and an included 64 column video monitor.
The computer that landed Apollo 11 on the moon had only 2 MHz of processing power, 4 KB of RAM, and 72 KB of ROM, less than that of a modern calculator. Minutes before landing, the processor became overloaded due to extra tasks performed by the landing radar.
The first mouse received its patent in 1970. In the patent application it was described as an "X-Y position indicator for a display system".
The Ethernet, a method of connecting computers together in a local area network or LAN, was developed by Robert Metcalfe at Xerox PARC between 1973 and 1974. It has been the most widely used method of linking computers together in LANs since the 1990s.
The first mass market personal computer, the Apple II, went on sale on June 10, 1977.
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| Apple II computer. On display at the Musée Bolo, EPFL, Lausanne. |
The first Apple II, computers on sale had a MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor running at 1.023 MHz, two game paddles, 4 kB of RAM, an audio cassette interface for loading programs and storing data, and the Integer BASIC programming language built into the ROMs.
The Tandy Corporation announced the TRS-80, one of the world's first mass-produced personal computers on August 3, 1977. For US$600, the 8-bit machine boasted a whopping 4K RAM standard memory and an included 64 column video monitor.
In 1978, President Carter oversaw the installation of the first computers in the White House: a Hewlett-Packard HP 3000, and Xerox Alto desktop computer for the Oval Office. Reagan later removed the Xerox Alto in 1981.
The first gigabyte-capacity disc drive, the IBM 3380 debuted in 1980. It was the size of a fridge and cost today's equivalent of $113,000 dollars.
The IBM 5120 from 1980 may well have been the heaviest ever desktop computer, clocking in at 105 pounds.
The Osborne 1, the first commercially successful portable microcomputer, was released on April 3, 1981 by Osborne Computer Corporation. It weighed 10.7 kg (23.5 lb) and cost $1,795.00
The ZX81, a pioneering British home computer, was launched by Sinclair Research in 1981 and went on to sell over 1.5 million units around the world.
Xerox PARC introduced the Xerox 8010 Star Information System, the first commercial system utilizing a computer mouse on April 27, 1981.
The IBM Personal Computer, the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform, was introduced on August 12, 1981.
In the early days of home computers, late 70's to early 80's, computer magazines featured code listings that readers would spend hours typing into their computer in order to play a game or have a certain program.
Mt. Lebanon High School student Richard Skrenta wrote the first PC virus code in 1982. 400 lines long it was disguised as an Apple boot program called "Elk Cloner" and infected Apple II computers via floppy disk.
The Commodore 64, an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International is sometimes compared to the Ford Model T automobile for its role in bringing a new technology to middle-class households.
Time magazine chose the personal computer as its Person Of The Year on December 26, 1982, the first non-human ever. Ironically, the writer of the story wrote it on a typewriter, since Time's newsroom would not get computers for another year.
In 1983, after five years of development, Apple released the Lisa, the first personal computer with a graphical user interface and a computer mouse. Although the Lisa was a commercial failure—due in part to its initial price tag of $9,995—it had a significant impact on the computer industry.
The Lisa is often rumored to have been named after the first daughter of Apple's Steve Jobs, though several acronyms have been ascribed to the name.
The Apple Macintosh, the first consumer computer to popularize the computer mouse and the graphical user interface, was introduced during Super Bowl XVIII with its famous "1984" television commercial.
The first hard drive available for the Apple II had a capacity of only 5 megabytes.
The first computer virus was released into the wild on January 19, 1986. A boot sector virus dubbed (c)Brain, it was created by the Farooq Alvi Brothers in Lahore, Pakistan, reportedly to deter piracy of the software they had written.
The first gigabyte-capacity disc drive, the IBM 3380 debuted in 1980. It was the size of a fridge and cost today's equivalent of $113,000 dollars.
The IBM 5120 from 1980 may well have been the heaviest ever desktop computer, clocking in at 105 pounds.
The Osborne 1, the first commercially successful portable microcomputer, was released on April 3, 1981 by Osborne Computer Corporation. It weighed 10.7 kg (23.5 lb) and cost $1,795.00
The ZX81, a pioneering British home computer, was launched by Sinclair Research in 1981 and went on to sell over 1.5 million units around the world.
Xerox PARC introduced the Xerox 8010 Star Information System, the first commercial system utilizing a computer mouse on April 27, 1981.
The IBM Personal Computer, the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform, was introduced on August 12, 1981.
In the early days of home computers, late 70's to early 80's, computer magazines featured code listings that readers would spend hours typing into their computer in order to play a game or have a certain program.
Mt. Lebanon High School student Richard Skrenta wrote the first PC virus code in 1982. 400 lines long it was disguised as an Apple boot program called "Elk Cloner" and infected Apple II computers via floppy disk.
The Commodore 64, an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International is sometimes compared to the Ford Model T automobile for its role in bringing a new technology to middle-class households.
Time magazine chose the personal computer as its Person Of The Year on December 26, 1982, the first non-human ever. Ironically, the writer of the story wrote it on a typewriter, since Time's newsroom would not get computers for another year.
In 1983, after five years of development, Apple released the Lisa, the first personal computer with a graphical user interface and a computer mouse. Although the Lisa was a commercial failure—due in part to its initial price tag of $9,995—it had a significant impact on the computer industry.
The Lisa is often rumored to have been named after the first daughter of Apple's Steve Jobs, though several acronyms have been ascribed to the name.
The Apple Macintosh, the first consumer computer to popularize the computer mouse and the graphical user interface, was introduced during Super Bowl XVIII with its famous "1984" television commercial.
The first hard drive available for the Apple II had a capacity of only 5 megabytes.
The first computer virus was released into the wild on January 19, 1986. A boot sector virus dubbed (c)Brain, it was created by the Farooq Alvi Brothers in Lahore, Pakistan, reportedly to deter piracy of the software they had written.
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| Hex dump of the Blaster worm, showing a message left for Microsoft CEO Bill Gates by the worm's programmer |
Early computers were usually beige because Germany initiated workplace standards that required 'light-value' colors on office computing equipment, causing other European countries to follow suit. This made it financially attractive to solely produce beige computers.
The early Macintosh models were a beige color. Although Apple switched to a desaturated gray they called “Platinum” in 1987, users began to refer to them as "beige" following the introduction of the brightly colored iMac and Blue and White G3.
The Intel Corporation shipped in 1993 the first Pentium chips (80586), featuring a 60 MHz clock speed, 100+ MIPS, and a 64 bit data path. It sold for $878 apiece.
IBM supercomputer Deep Blue became the first computer to defeat a world chess champion in a classical game, when it bested Garry Kasparov on February 10, 1996. Kasparov won the six game match 4-2, but Deep Blue got its revenge in the re-match the following year, winning 3.5 - 2.5.
Ayan Qureshi became a Microsoft Certified Professional at the age of five years and 11 months old on September 27, 2014. He passed the Microsoft Technology Associate exam, which covers the basics of computer hardware, software, and operating systems. making him the youngest computer specialist in the world.
The early Macintosh models were a beige color. Although Apple switched to a desaturated gray they called “Platinum” in 1987, users began to refer to them as "beige" following the introduction of the brightly colored iMac and Blue and White G3.
The Intel Corporation shipped in 1993 the first Pentium chips (80586), featuring a 60 MHz clock speed, 100+ MIPS, and a 64 bit data path. It sold for $878 apiece.
IBM supercomputer Deep Blue became the first computer to defeat a world chess champion in a classical game, when it bested Garry Kasparov on February 10, 1996. Kasparov won the six game match 4-2, but Deep Blue got its revenge in the re-match the following year, winning 3.5 - 2.5.
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| Deep Blue IBM chess computer. By James the photographer - Wikipedia Commons |
Ayan Qureshi became a Microsoft Certified Professional at the age of five years and 11 months old on September 27, 2014. He passed the Microsoft Technology Associate exam, which covers the basics of computer hardware, software, and operating systems. making him the youngest computer specialist in the world.
Qureshi's father, Asim Qureshi, is an IT consultant, and he introduced his son to computers at a young age. Qureshi quickly took to computers and began learning to code.
More than 190,000,000 computers were sold worldwide in 2012.
The plural of “computer mouse” has long been disputed. Some say “mice”, some say “mouses”.
The average computer user only blinks seven times a minute when in front of their screen.
When an image remained on an old computer screen for too long, the image got "burned" into the screen. To stop this from happening, developers created moving images that would "save" the screen from being burned when it was idle. This is where we get the term "screen saver" from.
The word 'byte' is a contraction of 'by eight.'
A USB memory stick is more powerful than the computer system that guided the Apollo spacecraft to the moon.
Out of the TOP500 super computers, none of them run on Windows. 498 of them use the Linux kernel. The remaining 2 use AIX, a variant of Unix.
The raw materials needed to make a desktop computer, including 530 lb of fossil fuels, 50 lb of chemicals and 3,330 lb of water, weigh two tons: about the same as a rhinoceros.
Source Daily Express
'More than 190,000,000 computers were sold worldwide in 2012.
FUN COMPUTER FACTS
The plural of “computer mouse” has long been disputed. Some say “mice”, some say “mouses”.
The average computer user only blinks seven times a minute when in front of their screen.
When an image remained on an old computer screen for too long, the image got "burned" into the screen. To stop this from happening, developers created moving images that would "save" the screen from being burned when it was idle. This is where we get the term "screen saver" from.
The word 'byte' is a contraction of 'by eight.'
A USB memory stick is more powerful than the computer system that guided the Apollo spacecraft to the moon.
Out of the TOP500 super computers, none of them run on Windows. 498 of them use the Linux kernel. The remaining 2 use AIX, a variant of Unix.
Hackers stole about $81 million from Bangladesh Bank due to the bank’s use of $10 computer network switches and no firewalls.
The raw materials needed to make a desktop computer, including 530 lb of fossil fuels, 50 lb of chemicals and 3,330 lb of water, weigh two tons: about the same as a rhinoceros.
Source Daily Express
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