History of Modern Computers

When someone mentions a computer today, they are envisioning something extremely different than the machine that started the computer evolution. In 1937, the first electronic digital computer was invented. The Atanasoff-Berry-Computer (ABC) could not store data and was not programmable. It was basically a 700-pound calculator that was the size of a desk and contained about one mile of wires.

New Architecture

After the first computer, technology took giant leaps forward. In 1945, John von Neumann developed an architecture that became the prototype for the ability to store programs in computers.

Not Your Ordinary PC

In 1946, the first large-scale electronic, general-purpose digital computer was developed by Dr. John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert, Jr. The Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer (ENIAC) weighed 30 tons, contained 18,000 vacuum tubes and took up a 30 x 50 foot space.

Commercially Available

In 1951, the first commercial computer became available, It was called the UNIVersal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC 1) by Remington Rand. In 1953, the IBM 650 became the first widely-used computer. The company planned on producing only 50 units, but ended up making 1,000 of them. The development of this computer was enhanced by the invention of a core memory module that provided more memory size than the old vacuum tube method.

Microcomputer Development

Dr. Ted Hoff at the Intel Corporation developed a microprocessor in 1971. This new technology allowed computers to run faster and shrink in size. By 1975, the first microcomputer, the Altair, was put on the market. It had no keyboard, no monitor, no hard drive, and no software for the cost of $400. By 1976, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak developed the first Apple computer that was widely adopted by schools.

Storage

In 1980, Alan Shugart invented the Winchester disk drive that could hold 30 megabytes of data. This created the custom of putting hard drives inside the computer. IBM took advantage of this development and became the PC of choice in the business world by 1981.

Processors

The Intel 486, appeared by 1989, as the world's first one-million transistor microprocessor. It ran four times as fast as the 80386 chip and could process fifteen million instructions per second. By 1993, the Pentium processor hit the computer scene with 3.1 million transistors and 112 million instructions per second.

More Evolution

In 1996, two-thirds of employees in the United States had access to PCs on the job. One-third of homes had a PC for personal use. In 2004, flat-panel LCD monitors started out selling the clunky CRT monitors. The newest trend is for smaller computers and larger monitors.

Resources

• Computer Almanac