500 BC
Panini: the Indian Mathematician introduces the forerunner to modern formal language theory
1492
Leonardo da Vinci: Drawings by Leonardo da Vinci depict inventions such as flying machines, including a helicopter, the first mechanical calculator and one of the first programmable robots
1614
John Napier: invents a system of moveable rods (Napier's Rods) based on logarithms which were able to multiply, divide and calculate square and cube roots
1671
Gottfried Leibniz: becomes known as one of the founding fathers of calculus
1820
Arithmometer: The Arithmometer was the first mass-produced calculator invented by Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar
1853
Tabulating Machine: is invented by Per Georg Scheutz and his son Edvard
1884
Comptometer: The Comptometer which is operated by pressing keys is developed by Dorr E. Felt
1890
Herman Hollerith: invents a counting machine which has increment mechanical counters
1930
Vannevar Bush: develops a partly electronic Difference Engine (the precursor to the digital computer)
1938
Konrad Zuse: creates the Z1 Computer a binary digital computer using punch tape
1939
John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry: develop the ABC (Atanasoft-Berry Computer) prototype
1943
Colossus: Alan Turing develops the code-breaking machine Colossus
1945
ENIAC: John Presper Eckert & John W. Mauchly develop the ENIAC ( Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer)
Computer Bug: the term computer ‘bug’ is first used by Grace Hopper
1946
F.C. Williams: develops his cathode-ray tube (CRT) storing device, the forerunner to random-access memory (RAM)
1947
Pilot ACE: Donald Watts Davies joins Alan Turing to build the fastest digital computer in England at the time, the Pilot ACE
Douglas Engelbart: theorises on interactive computing with keyboard and screen display instead of on punchcards
1948
Frederic Calland Williams & Tom Kilburn: develop the SSEM "Small Scale Experimental Machine" digital CRT storage which was soon nicknamed the "Baby"
1949
1950
Hideo Yamachito: creates the first electronic computer in Japan Alan Turing: publishes his paper - Computing Machinery and Intelligence which helps create the Turing Test
1951
LEO: T. Raymond Thompson and John Simmons develop the first business computer, the Lyons Electronic Office (LEO) at Lyons Co. UNIVAC: UNIVAC I (UNIVersal Automatic Computer I) is introduced - the first commercial computer made in the United States and designed principally by John Presper Eckert & John W. Mauchly
EDVAC: The EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer) begins performing basic tasks. Unlike the ENIAC, it was binary rather than decimal
1953
The IBM 701 becomes available and a total of 19 are sold to the scientific community
1956
Optical fibre is invented by Basil Hirschowitz, C. Wilbur Peters, and Lawrence E. Curtiss
1958
Silicon chip: the first integrated circuit, or silicon chip, is produced by Jack Kilby & Robert Noyce
1959
Paul Baran: theorises on the "survivability of communication systems under nuclear attack", digital technology and symbiosis between humans and machines
1961
Unimate: General Motors puts the first industrial robot, Unimate, to work in a New Jersey factory
1962
The first computer game: the Spacewar Computer Game is created invented by Steve Russell & MIT
1963
The Computer Mouse: Douglas Engelbart invents and patents the first computer mouse (nicknamed the mouse because the tail came out the end) The American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) is developed to standardize data exchange among computers
1964
BASIC: John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz develop Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Language (BASIC)
1969
ARPANET: The U.S. Department of Defence sets up the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) with the intention of creating a computer network that can withstand any type of disaster. It becomes the first building block for what the internet is has become today
1970
RAM: Intel introduces the world's first available dynamic RAM ( random-access memory) chip and the first microprocessor, the Intel 4004
1971
Pocket calculator: is invented by Sharp Corporation
Floppy Disk: is created by David Noble with IBM - Nicknamed the "Floppy" for its flexibility.
1973
Personal computer: The minicomputer Xerox Alto (1973) was a landmark step in the development of personal computers
Gateways: Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn develop gateway routing computers to negotiate between the various national networks
1974
WYSIWYG: Charles Simonyi coins the term WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) to describe the ability of being able to display a file or document exactly how it is going to be printed or viewed
1975
Portable computers: The Altair 8800 is developed by Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) and the first personal home computer is released on 23 Jan, 1975
Microsoft Corporation: is founded April 4, 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800
1976
Apple: Apple Computers is founded by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs on 1 Apr 1976 (April Fools Day)
1977
Apple Computer’s Apple II, the first personal computer with colour graphics, is demonstrated
MODEM: Ward Christensen writes the programme "MODEM" allowing two microcomputers to exchange files with each other over a phone line
1979
Over half a million computers are in use in the United States
1980
Paul Allen and Bill Gates: IBM hires Paul Allen and Bill Gates to create an operating system for a new PC. They buy the rights to a simple operating system manufactured by Seattle Computer Products and use it as a template to develop DOS
1981
Microsoft: MS-DOS Computer Operating System increases its success
1982
Commodore 64: becomes the best-selling computer of all time. SMTP: SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is introduced for the first time
1983
More than 10 million computers are in use in the United States
Domain Name System (DNS): is pioneered by Jon Postel, Paul Mockapetris and Craig Partridge. Seven 'top-level' domain names are initially introduced: edu, com, gov, mil, net, org and int.
Microsoft Windows: is introduced eliminating the need for a user to have to type each command, like MS-DOS, by using a mouse to navigate through drop-down menus, tabs and icons
1984
Dell Computer is founded in Austin Texas on 3 May, 1984
1985
Paul Brainard introduces Pagemaker for the Macintosh creating the desktop publishing field Nintendo: The Nintendo Entertainment System makes its debut.
Microsoft Windows 1.0 is introduced on 19 Nov, 1985 and is initially sold for $100.00
1986
More than 30 million computers are in use in the United States.
1987
Microsoft introduces Microsoft Works Perl: Larry Wall introduces Perl 1.0
1988
Over 45 million PCs are in use in the United States.
1991
1993
At the beginning of the year only 50 World Wide Web servers are known to exist
1994
The World Wide Web Consortium is founded by Tim Berners-Lee to help with the development of common protocols for the evolution of the World Wide Web
1995
EBay is founded by Pierre Omidyar on 20 Sep,1995
Hotmail is started by Jack Smith and Sabeer Bhatia on 20 Sep, 1995
1996
The DVD Video format is first introduced by Toshiba in Japan in November, 1996
1998
2001
2002
Approximately 1 billion PCs have been sold
2005
The blu-ray is first announced and introduced on 4 Jan, 2006.
2006
iPhone: the first iPhone is released on 29 Jun, 2006
2007
Netbook: Asus released first Eee PC (netbook) on 16 Oct, 2007
2011
Microsoft exceeds $1 billion in sales and becomes the first company to do so
2012
Apple introduces the iPad mini October 23, 2012
The number of smart phones worldwide reaches 1 billion
2013
Apple introduces
iOS7
on September 18, 2013
Apple outsells Windows PCs globally for the first time
2014
The Nokia deal with Microsoft is completed April 25 making Nokia now
Microsoft Mobile
in a deal totalling $7.17 billion
Apple introduces the new iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and Apple Watch on September 9
Microsoft announces on September 30 the next version of Windows, which will be called Windows 10
Android version 5.0 (Lollipop) released November 3
2015
Apple officially releases the
Apple Watch
on April 24
Android version 6.0 (Marshmallow) released October 5
Microsoft releases the Surface Book on October 26
2016
Pokémon GO
is released July 6,for Android phones and iPhone
Google releases Android version 7.0 (Nougat) August 22
On September 16, Apple announces the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus
2017
Microsoft introduced the
Surface Pro 2017
(fifth gen) and the
Surface Laptop
on June 15
Apple introduced the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 plus, with a new edge-to-edge iPhone X with Face ID on September 12
On November 14 Mozilla announced the release of Firefox Quantum
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) begins developing a new "Molecular Informatics" program that uses molecules as computers.
2018
Google introduces the
Google Pay
service for all Android and iOS devices on January 8
Apple introduces the Apple HomePod
The European Union GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) law comes into effect on May 25
On June 4, Microsoft announces it would acquire GitHub for $7.5 billion
On October 28 BM announce its plans to acquire Red Hat for approximately $34 billion
2019
Computed axial lithography, a
3-D printing technology
is developed by UC Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is announced in January
On January 9, Lexar announces the first SD card which can store 1 terabyte
The first folding smartphones are introduced in February by Samsung (Galaxy Fold) and Huawei (Mate X)
Disney+ is introduced
IBM Q System One, the first commercial quantum computer from IBM, is announced
Google makes cloud gaming mainstream with Stadia
IPv4 internet addresses are exhausted
Google begins drone based deliveries via Google Wing
2020
On January 6, Lenovo announced the
Yoga 5G
, a 5G-capable laptop
On January 14, Windows 7 reached EOL (end-of-life) and Microsoft ceases providing any support or security updates for Windows 7
On January 16, Alphabet, the parent company of Google, joined the "four-comma club," achieving a market valuation over $1 trillion. The other two members of the club at the time were Apple ($1.3 trillion) and Microsoft ($1.2 trillion). The next closest company, Amazon ($930 billion), briefly joined the club in 2018
In early February, the outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus causes significant disruption to the worldwide technology industry. Google announces the temporary closure of all offices in mainland China, and all Apple stores in China are also closed indefinitely. Companies including Qualcomm, Nintendo, and Facebook Oculus announce major losses in production from their factories located in China. The Chinese government reports a 50% decrease in smartphone sales
On February 4, Twitter announces a commitment to detect and label deep-fakes, and other deceptive media, on its social media platform
In May, Giphy is purchased by Facebook