1936 "A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits" Electrical engineer and mathematician Claude Shannon, in his master’s thesis, "A Symbolic Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits," uses Boolean algebra to establish a working model for digital circuits. This paper, as well as later research by Shannon, lays the groundwork for the future telecommunications and computer industries. 1939 First binary digital computers are developed The first binary digital computers are developed. Bell Labs’s George Stibitz designs the Complex Number Calculator, which performs mathematical operations in binary form using on-off relays, and finds the quotient of two 8-digit numbers in 30 seconds. In Germany, Konrad Zuse develops the first programmable calculator, the Z2, using binary numbers and Boolean algebra—programmed with punched tape. 1939 Atanasoff-Berry Computer, the first electronic computer John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry at Iowa State College design the first electronic computer. The obscure project, called the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC), incorporates binary arithmetic and electronic switching. Before the computer is perfected, Atanasoff is recruited by the Naval Ordnance Laboratory and never resumes its research and development. However, in the summer of 1941, at Atanasoff’s invitation, computer pioneer John Mauchly of the University of Pennsylvania, visits Atanasoff in Iowa and sees the ABC demonstrated. 1943 First vacuum-tube programmable logic calculator Colossus, the world’s first vacuum-tube programmable logic calculator, is built in Britain for the purpose of breaking Nazi codes. On average, Colossus deciphers a coded message in two hours.
1945 Specifications of a stored-program computer Two mathematicians, Briton Alan Turing and Hungarian John von Neumann, work independently on the specifications of a stored-program computer. Von Neumann writes a document describing a computer on which data and programs can be stored. Turing publishes a paper on an Automatic Computing Engine, based on the principles of speed and memory. 1945 Specifications of a stored-program computer Two mathematicians, Briton Alan Turing and Hungarian John von Neumann, work independently on the specifications of a stored-program computer. Von Neumann writes a document describing a computer on which data and programs can be stored. Turing publishes a paper on an Automatic Computing Engine, based on the principles of speed and memory. 1946 First electronic computer put into operation The first electronic computer put into operation is developed late in World War II by John Mauchly and John Presper Eckert at the University of Pennsylvania’s Moore School of Electrical Engineering. The Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), used for ballistics computations, weighs 30 tons and includes 18,000 vacuum tubes, 6,000 switches, and 1,500 relays. 1947 Transistor is invented John Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain, and William B. Shockley of Bell Telephone Laboratories invent the transistor. 1949 First stored-program compute is built The Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC), the first stored-program computer, is built and programmed by British mathematical engineer Maurice Wilkes. 1951 First computer designed for U.S. business Eckert and Mauchly, now with their own company (later sold to Remington Rand), design UNIVAC (UNIVersal Automatic Computer)—the first computer for U.S. business. Its breakthrough feature: magnetic tape storage to replace punched cards. First developed for the Bureau of the Census to aid in census data collection, UNIVAC passes a highly public test by correctly predicting Dwight Eisenhower’s victory over Adlai Stevenson in the 1952 presidential race. But months before UNIVAC is completed, the British firm J. Lyons & Company unveils the first computer for business use, the LEO (Lyons Electronic Office), which eventually calculated the company’s weekly payroll.
1952 First computer compiler Grace Murray Hopper, a senior mathematician at Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation and a programmer for Harvard’s Mark I computer, develops the first computer compiler, a program that translates computer instructions from English into machine language. She later creates Flow-Matic, the first programming language to use English words and the key influence for COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language). Attaining the rank of rear admiral in a navy career that brackets her work at Harvard and Eckert-Mauchly, Hopper eventually becomes the driving force behind many advanced automated programming technologies. 1952 First computer compiler Grace Murray Hopper, a senior mathematician at Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation and a programmer for Harvard’s Mark I computer, develops the first computer compiler, a program that translates computer instructions from English into machine language. She later creates Flow-Matic, the first programming language to use English words and the key influence for COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language). Attaining the rank of rear admiral in a navy career that brackets her work at Harvard and Eckert-Mauchly, Hopper eventually becomes the driving force behind many advanced automated programming technologies. 1955 First disk drive for random-access storage of data IBM engineers led by Reynold Johnson design the first disk drive for random-access storage of data, offering more surface area for magnetization and storage than earlier drums. In later drives a protective "boundary layer" of air between the heads and the disk surface would be provided by the spinning disk itself. The Model 305 Disk Storage unit, later called the Random Access Method of Accounting and Control, is released in 1956 with a stack of fifty 24-inch aluminum disks storing 5 million bytes of data.
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