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#med122A brief history of the computer…

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YouTube playlist

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL57020298F07835A1&feature=mh_lolz

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Pre-history…

3000 BC - first dust abacus

1800 BC – first algorithms

500 BC – first wire and bead based abacus

200 AD – Chinese ‘Suanpan’ computing tray

1614 - John Napier

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1642 – Blaise Pascal

1642 – Blaise PascalMechanical calculator

1671 – Gottfried LiebnizBinary numeral system

1671 – Gottfried Liebnizthe first computer scientist or information theorist (see Martin Davis, 2000)

1801 - Joseph Marie Jaquard

1801 - Joseph Marie Jaquard Jacquard loom

1822 – Charles Babbage originated the concept of a programmable computer (see Tanenbaum, 2007: p7)

Difference Engine

1822 – Charles Babbage the father of modern computer (see Halacy, 1970)

1842-1843 – Ada LovelaceFirst computer program

1890 - Herman Hollerith

1936 – Alan Turing

1937-42 - ABC Atanasoff-Berry

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1936-41 – Zuse Z3

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1943 - Mark I Colossus

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1943 – ENIAC

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1947 – The Manchester ‘Baby’

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1951 – UNIVAC

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1951 – UNIVAC

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1956 – John Bardeen & Walter Brattain

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1959 – Gordon Noyce & Robert Moore

1959 – Jack Kilby

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1959 - Jean Hoerni The planar process

1960 – DEC PDP-1

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1962 - Spacewar (MIT)

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1966 – Hewlett Packard 2115

1968 – NM ElectronicsNoyce & Moore, together with Andrew Grove

Integrated Electronics

1971 – Intel 4004

1972 – Intel 8008

1975 – Popular Electronics magazine

1975 – Altair 8800

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April 1st 1976 – Steve Jobs & Steve Wozniak

1976 – Apple I

1977 – Apple II

1978 – VisiCalc

1977 – Commodore Pet

1977 – Atari VCS

1977 – TRS-80

1979 – Atari 400/800

1980 – Hewlett Packard HP-85

1980 – Sinclair ZX80

1981 – Sinclair ZX81

1981 – Commodore Vic-20

1981 – Osborne-1

1981 – IBM 5150

1981 – IBM 5150

1981 – Bill Gates & MS-DOS

Tim Paterson - QDOS

1981 – BBC Micro

1981 – BBC Micro

1982 – Commodore 64

1982 – Sinclair ZX Spectrum

1982 – Sinclair ZX Spectrum

1982 – Dragon 32

1982 – Jupiter Ace

1982 – Oric-1

1983 – Apple Lisa

1984 – Apple Macintosh

1984 - Apple

Bill Gates at Mac World ‘84

Commodore

Tandy 1000

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1984 - Amstrad CPC-464Sir Alan Sugar

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1985 – Commodore Amiga

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1985 – Commodore Amiga

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1985 - Windows 1.01

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1986 - Compaq

1988 - NeXT

1992 – Windows 3.1

1994 – Gateway 2000

1995 – Windows 95

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1 - What was your first experience of using a computer?

2 - What was the first computer you ever bought (if at all), and what considerations did you have to take on board when making the purchasing decision?

3 - Have you ever physically built or modified a computer?

4 - Do you think computer engineering/science should be taught at school?

5 - How important do you think a knowledge of how computers work is in understanding their potential/limitations?

6 - What do you know about the Raspberry Pi project, and how successful do you think it will be?