THE HISTORY OF COMPUTERS (Introduction) U3A Presentation J. Martin 2017 1 Hillingdon U3A Computer Group
THE HISTORY OF
COMPUTERS
(Introduction)
U3A Presentation J. Martin 2017 1
Hillingdon U3A Computer Group
500BC. Counting Boards & Abacus.
Tools for simple arithmetic processes.
About 50BC. TheAntikythera mechanism.
An ancient analog computer designed to
calculate astronomical positions.
1642. Pascal’s Wheel could add and subtract two
numbers directly and multiply and divide by
repetition.
1650s. The Slide Rule. A mechanical
analog computer used primarily for
multiplication and division, and also for
functions such as roots, logarithms and
trigonometry.
Early Calculating Tools
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1800’s Programming
1801. Joseph-Marie Jacquard developed a loom.
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1820’s Computers (Mechanical)
1820. Charles Babbage's difference engine was created to calculate a series of
values automatically.
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1890’s Computers
1891. Herman Hollerith invented a punch card device which was used to tabulate the
US 1890 census data in only one year. The 1880 census had taken eight years.
1896. Hollerith started his own business selling his invention, founding the
Tabulating Machine Company. 6
1910’s Computers
1911. Hollerith's, Tabulating Machine Company, merged with the International Time
Recording Company and the Computing Scale Company to form the Computing
Tabulating Recording Corporation (CTR).
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1920’s Computers
1924. Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation
(CTR) renamed International Business Machines
Corporation, later to be abbreviated IBM.
1928. IBM introduced an 80-column punched card
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1930’s Computers
1938. William Hewlett and David Packard founded Hewlett-Packard (HP) and
produced their first product.
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1939. Bell Telephone Laboratories develop The Complex Number Calculator
(CNC) designed by George Stibitz. The machine had the capacity to add, subtract,
multiply, and divide complex numbers.
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1940’s Computers
First Generation Computers (1940-1956) Vacuum Tubes
1943. The first Colossus is operational at Bletchley Park.
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1945. ENIAC built at the University of Pennsylvania between 1943 and 1945.
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1947. The Tran resister or transistor is invented .
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1949. The Manchester Mark 1 built at Manchester University.
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1949. EDSAC - Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator was constructed at
Cambridge University.
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1950’s Computers
1951. The Lyons Electronic Office (LEO) was the first computer used for commercial
business applications in the world.
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1951. Magnetic tape was first used to record computer data on the Remington Rand
UNIVAC I, the first US-produced commercial computer.
1953. IBM shipped its first electronic computer, the 701. During three years of
production, IBM sold 19 machines to research laboratories, aircraft companies, and
the U.S. federal government. 21
1954. The IBM 650 was the world’s first mass-produced computer, with the
company selling 450 in one year. Spinning at 12,500 rpm, the 650´s magnetic data-
storage drum allowed much faster access to stored material than drum memory
machines.
1954. The IBM Naval Ordnance Research Calculator (NORC) was a one-of-a-
kind first-generation (vacuum tube) electronic computer built by IBM for the United
States Navy's Bureau of Ordnance. It was likely the most powerful computer at the
time22
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1956. The IBM 305 RAMAC is launched.
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Second Generation Computers (1956-1963) Transistors
1958. The RCA 501 was the first computer designed as a high-end
general purpose system using Transistors. It was sold in the UK by
English Electric as the KDP10
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1959. The EMIDEC 1100 computer (first british transistorised computer) was
produced by the Computing Services Division of EMI Laboratories in the UK. After
merger with ICT, sold as ICT 1101.
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1959. The IBM 7000 series mainframes were IBM’s first transistorised computers.
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1950’s. British Computer Companies:
• British Tabulating Machine Company Limited (1909)
• Powers-Samas (1932)
• Elliot Computers (1950)
• Marconi Computers (1951)
• Ferranti Computers (1951)
• LEO Computers (1954)
• English Electric Computers (1955)
• EMI Computing services Division (1958)
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1960’s Computers
1960. A second generation computer, the IBM 1401, captured about one third of the
world market.
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1960. Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)
PDP-1 minicomputer. The average PDP-1
included a cathode ray tube graphic display,
needed no air conditioning and required only
one operator.
1960. The Control Data Corporation CDC 160
computer was the first truly small (mini)
computer to hit the market.
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1961. The first LEO III was completed.
LEO III/5 installed at CAV Acton in 196332
LEO III/5 installed at CAV Acton in 1963
LEO III Circuit Board
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1962. National Cash Register’s NCR-315 computer was the first computer to use
NCR’s Card Random Access Memory (CRAM).
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1963. Honeywell 200. A small business computer introduced to compete with
IBM's 1401.
1963. The invention of the mouse by
Douglas Englebart.
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1964. IBM announced the System/360. Orders for the system
climbed to 1,000 per month within two years.
Third Generation Computers (1964-1971) Integrated Circuits
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1965. DEC introduced the PDP-8,
the first commercially successful
minicomputer.
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1965. RCA Spectra series
computers were the Radio
Corporation of America's
first transitorised computer.
The RCA Spectra 70/45
was sold in the UK by
English Electric as the
System 4-50.
1966. Hewlett Packard entered the
computer market with the HP 2100 / HP
1000 series of minicomputers.
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1968. EELM merge with ICT to form International Computers Limited
(ICL). ICL the last major British computer manufacturer.
1960’s – Saw the demise of British Computer Companies
1959. British Tabulating Machine Company merge with Powers-Samas
to form International Computers and Tabulators (ICT).
1962. EMI Computing Services Division merges with ICT.
1963. Ferranti Computing merges with ICT.
1963. LEO Computers and English Electric merge to form English Electric
Leo (EELEO)
1964. Marconi Computers merge with EELEO to form English Electric Leo
Marconi (EELM)
1967. Elliot Computers merge with ICT.
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1970’s ComputersFourth Generation Computers (1971-Present) Microprocessors
1971. IBM invented the 8-inch floppy
diskette, which could hold 80 Kilobytes
of data.
1972. Hewlett-Packard announced the HP-
35 as "a fast, extremely accurate electronic
slide rule" with a solid-state memory
similar to that of a computer. The first
pocket calculator.
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1975. IBM 5100 Portable Computer.
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1975. Honeywell Level 6 Mini Computer.
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1975. MITS Altair 8800.
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1976. Steve Wozniak designed the Apple I.
1977. Apple II computer released.
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1977. The Commodore Personal Electronic Transactor (PET) was a home/personal
computer produced by Commodore from 1977. It was a top seller in the Canadian,
USA, and UK educational markets
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1977. Tandy TRS-80. Tandy Corporation teamed up with Radio Shack to release
the TRS-80, one of the first personal computers available. Tandy wasn't expecting
many sales, but this, their first computer, sold 10,000 units in the first month
alone.
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1977. DEC’s first VAX model (A 32-bit complex instruction set computer) was
the VAX-11/780, which was introduced on October 25, 1977
1978. The 5 1/4-inch floppy disk became the standard medium for personal computer
software after Apple Computer and Tandy Radio Shack introduced disk drives for this
format. Capacities ranged from 110 Kilobytes to 1.2 Megabytes of data.
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1980’s Computers
1980. Science of Cambridge Ltd introduced the Sinclair ZX80 home computer.
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1980. IBM hires Paul Allen and Bill Gates (Microsoft) to create an operating system
for a new PC. The pair buy the rights to a simple operating system manufactured by
Seattle Computer Products and use it as a template. IBM allows Microsoft to keep
the marketing rights to the operating system, called DOS..
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1981. IBM introduced its PC (Personal
Computer - IBM 5150.
1981. Sinclair released the ZX81.
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1981. The BBC Micro was first sold.
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1982. Commodore introduces the Commodore 64.
1982. The first 3½-inch diskette introduced.56
1982. The ZX Spectrum released in the United Kingdom by Sinclair Research Ltd.
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1984. The Dulmont Magnum was an early laptop computer.
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1984. The Amstrad CPC 464 was one of the most successful computers in Europe with
more than two million computers being sold.
It was an 8 bit computer with a Zilog Z80A CPU and either 64 or 128 KB RAM. It ran
an AMSDOS operating system.
1984. Apple release the Macintosh.
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1987. The 3½-inch HD diskette introduced. 1.44 MB (2.0 MB unformatted).
1985. The CD-ROM (read-only memory) is introduced.
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1992. IBM announced the 2521 ThinkPad computer (Later renamed 700T).
1990’s Computers
1990. Fujitsu bought 80% of International Computers Limited (ICL) .
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1996. Deep Blue was a chess playing
computer developed by IBM. Deep Blue
became the first machine to win a chess game
against a reigning world champion (Garry
Kasparov) under regular time controls.
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2000 Computers
2000. The flash drive.
2001. Microsoft release the Xbox. The
Xbox was the first video game console to
feature a built-in hard disk drive.
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2010. Apple iPad.
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2012. Raspberry Pi.
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A series of small single-board computers developed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation to
promote the teaching of basic computer science in schools and in developing countries.
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