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"Model K" Adder
Called the “Model K” Adder because he built it on his “Kitchen” table, this simple demonstration circuit provides proof of concept for applying Boolean logic to the design of computers, resulting in construction of the relay-based Model I Complex Calculator in 1939. That same year in Germany, engineer Konrad Zuse built his Z2 computer, also using telephone company relays.
[http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/computers/] -
Hewlett and Packard in their garage workshop
David Packard and Bill Hewlett found their company in a Palo Alto, California garage. Their first product, the HP 200A Audio Oscillator, rapidly became a popular piece of test equipment for engineers. Walt Disney Pictures ordered eight of the 200B model to test recording equipment and speaker systems for the 12 specially equipped theatres that showed the movie “Fantasia” in 1940.
[http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/computers/] -
Operator at Complex Number Calculator (CNC)
In 1939, Bell Telephone Laboratories completes this calculator, designed by scientist George Stibitz. In 1940,
[http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/computers/] -
The Zuse Z3 Computer
The Z3, an early computer built by German engineer Konrad Zuse working in complete isolation from developments elsewhere, uses 2,300 relays, performs floating point binary arithmetic, and has a 22-bit word length. The Z3 was used for aerodynamic calculations but was destroyed in a bombing raid on Berlin in late 1943.
[http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/computers/] -
The Atanasoff-Berry Computer
After successfully demonstrating a proof-of-concept prototype in 1939, Professor John Vincent Atanasoff receives funds to build a full-scale machine at Iowa State College (now University). The machine was designed and built by Atanasoff and graduate student Clifford Berry between 1939 and 1942.
[http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/computers/] -
George Stibitz circa 1940
The US Army asked Bell Laboratories to design a machine to assist in testing its M-9 gun director, a type of analog computer that aims large guns to their targets. Mathematician George Stibitz recommends using a relay-based calculator for the project. The result was the Relay Interpolator, later called the Bell Labs Model II.
[http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/computers/] -
The Colossus at work at Bletchley Park
Designed by British engineer Tommy Flowers, the Colossus is designed to break the complex Lorenz ciphers used by the Nazis during World War II. A total of ten Colossi were delivered, each using as many as 2,500 vacuum tubes. A series of pulleys transported continuous rolls of punched paper tape containing possible solutions to a particular code.
[http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/computers/] -
First Computer Program to Run on a Computer
University of Manchester researchers Frederic Williams, Tom Kilburn, and Geoff Toothill develop the Small-Scale Experimental Machine (SSEM), better known as the Manchester "Baby." The Baby was built to test a new memory technology developed by Williams and Kilburn -- soon known as the Williams Tube – which was the first electronic random access memory for computers.
[http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/computers/] -
Ferranti Mark 1
The title of “first commercially available general-purpose computer” probably goes to Britain’s Ferranti Mark I for its sale of its first Mark I computer to Manchester University. The Mark 1 was a refinement of the experimental Manchester “Baby” and Manchester Mark 1 computers, also at Manchester University.
[http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/computers/] -
Apple Store’s display of newly introduced Apple Watches
Building a computer into the watch form factor has been attempted many times but the release of the Apple Watch leads to a new level of excitement.
[http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/computers/]
