What do computers look like? 1980s 2020s Computers everywhere Har Women computers at 1880-1950 vard College Observatory. Computers in appliances, cars, homes, streets, buildings Source: Wikimedia safer, but are there other consequences? We need to The first small, afforda Computers on desk ble computers are made t s o and public places help to make life easier and Computers are people fit on a person’s desk and they start to transform think about who has access to our data and what People do laborious calculations in many areas such workplaces and classrooms. Many people have a they could do with it. as astronomy, weather forecasting and statistics. computer at home for the first time. Their tools are pen, paper, slide rules and early ― calculators. 1950s Computers are BIG These room-filling machines have ‘brains’ made with hundreds of valves. They can work faster than human 2010s computers, but are expensive to build and use a lot of energy to run. Computers in your hand Pocket-sized smart phones are powerful, internet-connected computers. As well as calculating, they play music, take photos and videos, provide real-time navigation and a host of other complex information tasks.