A Chronology of Computer History:
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1950: Remington-Rand acquires Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corp.
1950: SEAC (Standards Eastern Automatic Computer) is delivered to the National Bureau of Standards.
1951: First Joint Computer Conference is held.
1951: Maurice V. Wilkes introduces the concept of microprogramming.
1951: IEEE Computer Society is formed.
1951: UNIVAC I is installed at the Bureau of Census using a magnetic tape unit as a buffer memory.
1951: Wang Laboratories, Inc. is founded by An Wang in Boston.
1951: Whirlwind computer becomes operational at MIT. It was the first real-time computer and was designed by Jay Forrester and Ken Olsen.
1952: First computer manual is written by Fred Gruenberger.
1952: IBM introduces the 701, its first electronic stored-program computer.
1952: Nixdorf Computer is founded in Germany.
1952: Remington-Rand acquires Engineering Research Associates (ERA).
1952: RCA develops Bizmac with iron-core memory and a magnetic drum supporting the first database.
1952: UNIVAC I predicts an Eisenhower landslide with 7% of the votes, just one hour after the polls close.
1952: U.S. Department of Justice sues IBM for monopolizing the punched-card accounting machine industry.
1953: Burroughs Corp. installs the Universal Digital Electronic Computer (UDEC) at Wayne State University.
1953: First high-speed printer is developed by Remington-Rand for use on the Univac.
1953: First magnetic tape device, the IBM 726, is introduced with 100 character-per-inch density and 75 inches-per-second speed.
1953: IBM ships its first stored-program computer, the 701. It is a vacuum tube, or first generation, computer.
1954: FORTRAN is created by John Backus at IBM. Harlan Herrick runs the first successful FORTRAN program.
1954: Gene Amdahl develops the first operating system, used on IBM 704.
1955: First SHARE users group meeting is held.
1955: Remington-Rand merges with Sperry Gyroscope to form Sperry-Rand.
1956: APT (Automatic Programmed Tool) is developed by D.T. Ross.
1956: Burroughs acquires Electrodata and the Datatron computer, which becomes the Burroughs 205.
1956: Government antitrust suit against IBM is settled; consent decree requires IBM to sell as well as lease machines.
1956: A. Newell, D. Shaw and F. Simon invent IPL (Information Processing Language.)
1956: RCA ships the Bizmac.
1956: T.J. Watson, Jr. assumes presidency of IBM.
1956: The acronym artificial intelligence is coined by John McCarthy.
1957: Control Data Corporation is formed by William C. Norris and a group of engineers from Sperry-Rand.
1957: Digital Equipment Corporation is founded by Ken Olsen.
1957: First issue of Datamation is released.
1957: Honeywell joins with Raytheon to ship the Datamatic 1000.
1958: ALGOL, first called IAL (International Algebraic Language), is presented in Zurich.
1958: First virtual memory machine, Atlas, is installed in England by Feranti. It was developed at the University of Manchester by R.M. Kilburn.
1958: First electronic computers are built in Japan by NEC: the NEC-1101 and -1102.
1958: Frank Rosenblatt builds the Perceptron Mark I using a CRT as an output device.
1958: LISP is developed on the IBM 704 at MIT under John McCarthy.
1958: Seymour Cray builds the first fully transistorized supercomputer for Control Data Corp., the CDC 1604.
1958: Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments makes the first integrated circuit.
1959: COBOL is defined by the Conference on Data System Languages (Codasyl), based on Grace Hoppers Flow-Matic.
1959: First packaged program is sold by Computer Science Corporation.
1959: IBM introduces the 1401. Over 10,000 units will be delivered during its lifetime.
1959: IBM ships its first transistorized, or second generation, computers, the 1620 and 1790.
1959: Jack S. Kilby at Texas Instruments files a patent for the first integrated circuit.
1959: Robert Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor develops the monolithic idea for integrated circuits.
1960: Benjamin Curley develops the first minicomputer, the PDP-1, at Digital Equipment Corporation.
1960: COBOL runs on UNIVAC II and RCA 501.
1960: Control Data Corporation delivers its first product, a large scientific computer named the CDC 1604.
1960: DEC ships the first small computer, the PDP-1.
1960: First electronic switching central office becomes operational in Chicago.
1960: Removable disks first appear.
1961: AFIPS (American Federation of Information Processing Societies) forms.
1961: Multiprogramming runs on Stretch computer. Time-sharing runs at MIT on IBM 709 and 7090 computers by F. Corbato.
1961: IBM delivers the Stretch computer to Los Alamos. This transistorized computer with 64-bit data paths is the first to use eight-bit bytes; it remains operational until l971.
1962: APL (A Programming Language) is developed by Ken Iverson, Harvard University and IBM.
1962: First general-purpose simulation languages are proposed: (1) SIMSCRIPT by the Rand Corporation, and (2) GPSS by IBM.
1962: IBM markets 1311 using removable disks.
1962: IBM's U.S.-based annual revenues from computer products reaches $1 billion and for the first time surpasses its other revenue.
1962: H. Ross Perot founds EDS (Electronic Data Systems) in Dallas, TX.
1963: Control Data acquires Bendix Corp. computer division.
1963: Conversational graphics consoles are developed by General Motors (DAC-1) and MIT Lincoln Laboratories (Sketchpad), resulting in computer-aided design (CAD). Sketchpad uses the first light-pen, developed by Ivan Sutherland.
1963: DEC ships the first PDP-5 minicomputer.
1963: Tandy acquires Radio Shack (9 stores).
1964: IBM announces the System 360, the first family of compatible computers.
1964: Control Data Corporation introduces the CDC 6000, which uses 60-bit words and parallel processing. CDC ships the 6600, the most powerful computer for several years. It was designed by Seymour Cray.
1964: BASIC (Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Language) is created by Tom Kurtz and John Kemeny of Dartmouth. First time-sharing BASIC program runs.
1964: Graphic tablet is developed by M.R. Davis and T.D. Ellis at Rand Corporation.
1964: Honeywell introduces the H-200 attacking IBM's installed base of 1400 systems.
1964: NCR introduces the 315/100.
1965: CDC founds the Control Data Institute to provide computer-related education.
1965: Digital Equipment ships the first PDP-8 minicomputer.
1965: First computer science Ph.D. is granted to Richard L. Wexelblat at the University of Pennsylvania.
1965: IBM ships the first System 360, its first integrated circuit-based, or third generation, computer.
1966: Honeywell acquires Computer Control Company, a minicomputer manufacturer.
1966: Scientific Data Systems (SDS) introduces Sigma 7.
1966: Texas Instruments offers the first solid-state hand-held calculator.
1967: DEC introduces the PDP-10 computer.
1967: A.H. Bobeck at Bell Laboratories develops bubble memory.
1967: Burroughs ships the B3200.
1967: First issue of Computerworld is published.
1968: Dendral, the first medical diagnostic medical program, is created by Joshua Lederberg at Stanford University.
1968: Univac introduces the 9400 computer.
1968: Integrated Electronics (Intel) Corp. is founded by Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce.
1969: Edson deCastro leaves DEC to start Data General Corp. and introduces the Nova, the first 16-bit minicomputer.
1969: First International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence is held.
1969: IBM unbundles hardware and software; introduces a minicomputer line, System/3.
1969: Lockheed Electronics ships the MAC-16.
1969: PASCAL compiler is written by Nicklaus Wirth and installed on the CDC 6400.
1970: Computer Logic Systems ships SLS-18.
1970: DEC ships its first 16-bit minicomputer, the PDP-11/20.
1970: Data General ships SuperNova.
1970: First ACM Computer Chess tournament is held.
1970: Honeywell acquires General Electric's computer operations. 1970: IBM ships its first System 370, a fourth generation, computer.
1970: Xerox Data Systems introduces the CF-16A.
1971: Computer Automation introduces the Alpha-16.
1971: IBM introduces the 370/135 and 370/195 mainframe computers.
1971: Floppy disks are introduced to load the IBM 370 microcode.
1971: Intel Corporation announces the first microprocessor, the Intel 4004, developed by a team headed by Marcian E. Hoff.
1971: John Blankenbaker builds the first personal computer, the Kenbak I.
1971: NCR introduces the Century 50.
1971: Sperry-Rand takes over the RCA computer product line.
1972: Cray Research is founded.
1972: First electronic pocket calculator is developed by Jack Kilby, Jerry Merryman, and Jim VanTassel of Texas Instruments.
1972: Gary Kildall at Naval Postgraduate School writes PL/1, the first programming language for the Intel 4004 microprocessor.
1972: Intel introduces the 8008, an 8 bit microprocessor.
1972: Prime Computer is founded.
1973: First National Computer Conference (NCC) is held in New York City.
1973: IBM settles a lawsuit by Control Data, selling Service Bureau Corporation (SBC) to Control Data.
1973: PROLOG language is developed by Alain Comerauer at the University of Marseilles-Luminy, France.
1973: R2E markets the MICRAL, the first microcomputer in France.
1973: Winchester disk drives are first introduced by IBM, who uses the term as a code name for its Model 3340 direct-access storage device.
1974: Digital Equipment enters the Fortune 500 ranking of the largest industrial companies.
1974: Intel introduces the 8080, an 8 bit microprocessor that will be used in numerous personal computers.
1974: Zilog is formed.
1975: Cray-1 supercomputer is introduced.
1975: Homebrew Computer Club, considered the first personal computer users group, is formed.
1975: MITS introduces the Altair personal computer, named after a Star Trek episode, A Voyage to Altair. The kit cost $397 for a 256 byte computer. The I/O consisted of switches and lights. It was designed by Ed Roberts and Bill Yates.
1975: Microsoft is founded after Bill Gates and Paul Allen adapt and sell BASIC to MITS for the Altair PC.
1975: The first computer store opens in Santa Monica, CA.
1975: Xerox withdraws from the mainframe computer industry.
1976: First fault-tolerant computer, the T/16, is introduced by Tandem.
1976: MYCIN, an expert system to diagnose and treat infectious blood diseases, is developed at Stanford University by E. Shortliffe.
1976: NEC System 800 and 900 general-purpose mainframes are introduced.
1976: Seymour Cray engineers and delivers Cray 1 with 200,000 freon-cooled ICs and 100 million floating point operations per second (MFLOP) performance.
1976: Superminicomputers are introduced by Perkin-Elmer and Gould SEL.
1976: Zilog Z-80 chip is introduced.
1977: Apple Computer is founded and introduces the Apple II personal computer.
1977: Apple, Commodore, and Tandy begin selling personal computers.
1977: DEC introduces its first 32-bit superminicomputer, the VAX-11/780.
1977: Datapoint introduces ARC system, the first local area network.
1977: First ComputerLand franchise store opens in Morristown, NJ under the name Computer Shack.
History, 1978 - 1994
1978: SPRINT business service is inaugurated.
1978: Texas Instruments introduces the Speak-and-Spell educational toy featuring digital speech synthesis.
1978: Total computers in use in the U.S. exceed a half million units.
1978: The first COMDEX trade show is held.
1979: Ada language is developed by a team at CII-Honeywell Bull (France) directed by Jean Ichbiah.
1979: The Source and CompuServe Information Services go on-line.
1979: VisiCalc, the first electronic spreadsheet software, is shown at the West Coast Computer Faire.
1979: Wordstar, one of the best-selling word processing programs for PCs, is released by Micropro (now called Wordstar International).
1980: Control Data Corporation introduces the Cyber 205 supercomputer.
1980: First issue of InfoWorld is published.
1980: Microsoft licenses UNIX operating system from Bell Laboratories and introduces its XENIX adaptation.
1980: Total computers in use in the U.S. exceed one million units.