explore the history
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explore the history
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on Crete
& Euclid
Mozi, Aristotle & Euclid
Camera ObscuraChinese philosopher, Mozi, and Greek mathematicians, Aristotle and Euclid, discussed the optical principles behind the Camera Obscura centuries before it was invented. The Camera Obscura, or pinhole camera, is a simple camera without a lens that has a very small aperture. The smaller the pinhole, the clearer the image.
al-Haitham)
Alhazen (Ibn al-Haitham),
Arab Scientist
Camera Obscura
This polymath, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher gave the first clear description and analysis of, and invented, the Camera Obscura. Using a lamp experiment, he was the first to demonstrate that what is projected onto the screen is an image of everything on the other side of the aperture. Alhazen was also the first to project an entire image from outdoors onto a screen indoors.
George Fabricius, German Poet,
Historian & Archaeologist
Silver Chloride
Fabricius discovered silver chloride. The substance, which is extremely light sensitive, is used to make photographic paper. It reacts with photons to produce a latent image, which is invisible until the film is developed.
Heinrich Schulze
Johann Heinrich Schulze,
German Physicist
Silver Salts
Schulze discovered that silver salts turn dark when exposed to light. He made “photographs” of words by using stencils, sunlight, and a bottled solution of chalk and silver nitrate to demonstrate that the mixture darkens when light hits it.
Nicéphore Niépce, French Inventor
HeliographyThis Frenchman developed the photographic process known as heliography. He used thin coatings of Bitumen of Judea on metal and glass to create the first permanent photograph by "contact printing" in direct sunlight without a camera or lens. Unfortunately, the picture was later destroyed.
Fox Talbot
Scott Archer
Frederick Scott Archer,
English Photographer
Collodion Wet Plate Process
Archer invented the collodion wet plate process. This photographic process used a glass plate coated with a mixture of silver salts and an emulsion of collodion. It required the photographic material to be coated, sensitized, exposed and developed within 15 minutes, and if you wanted to do field work, a portable darkroom was required. The process could record microscopically fine detail.
Richard Leach Maddox,
English Photographer & Physician
Dry-Plate Process
Leach invented a “dry-plate” process that used a cadmium bromide-silver nitrate gelatin emulsion to keep chemicals moist so that photographers did not have to process the pictures immediately. The gelatin emulsion made it possible to produce prints that were larger than the original negatives. This allowed manufacturers to reduce camera size.
Eadweard James Muybridge,
English Photographer
Motion Photos
Muybridge used a row of cameras with trip-wires to produce the first high-speed photographs of motion. Each picture was taken in less than two-thousandths of a second in rapid sequence, 25 frames per second. This created a brief real-time “movie” that could be viewed using a photographic device called a "zoopraxiscope" or "zoetrope."
George Eastman, American Inventor
Kodak Box CameraEastman developed the first easy-to-use camera, the Kodak n°1 box camera. The lightweight and inexpensive n°1 was introduced with the slogan “You press the button, we do the rest.” Eastman Kodak also developed film in its own processing plants, so photographers no longer had to process their own pictures.
Laurie Dickson
William Kennedy Laurie Dickson
KinetoscopeThis Scottish inventor, Thomas Edison’s assistant, created the Kinetoscope – an early motion picture device. It created the illusion of movement by moving a strip of perforated film with sequential images over a light source with a high-speed shutter. Films were viewed by one person at a time through a peephole window on top of the device. This basic approach would become the standard for all cinematic projection before video.
Francis Jenkins
& Thomas Armat
Charles Francis Jenkins
& Thomas Armat,
American Inventors
Phantoscope
Jenkins and Armat developed the first film projection machine to allow each still frame of the film to be illuminated long enough for the brain to register a clear picture before going to the next frame. It was a true moving picture, and the motion-picture industry grew from this concept. The Phantoscope, which eventually became known as the Vitascope, differed from the Kinetoscope, which ran a loop of film with successive images through a camera shutter.
& William Kennedy
Laurie Dickson
Thomas Alva Edison
& William Kennedy Laurie Dickson
Kinetophone
Edison and Dickson developed the Kinetophone (or Phonokinetoscope) – an early attempt to create a sound-film system. The first known movie to test the Kinetophone, the “Dickson Experimental Sound Film,” was filmed at Edison's New Jersey studio in late 1894 or early 1895.
& August Marie
Louis Nicolas
Lumière
Louis Jean & August Marie
Louis Nicolas Lumière
Cinématographe
These two brothers and French filmmakers invented the Cinématographe – a manually operable, portable motion picture film camera (projected film onto a screen) that produced a sharper image than was previously possible. The Cinématographe was originally patented by Léon Guillaume Bouly in 1892. The brothers’ first film, “Sortie de l'usine Lumière de Lyon,” was publicly screened in 1895 at L'Eden, the World's first and oldest cinema!
Camera Co.
New York's Blair Camera Co.
35mm FilmBlair Camera Co. created 35mm gauge film cut to specification for Thomas Edison. The format was a uniform, reliable means of production, distribution, and movie exhibition. It became the global standard, making it possible for films to be shown all over the world.
Edison
Thomas Alva Edison, American Inventor
VitascopeJenkins and Armat's Phantoscope was purchased by Thomas Edison, whose manufacturing company built the machine and produced films for it. Edison changed the projector's name from Phantoscope to Vitascope. The Vitascope's first theatrical exhibition was on April 23, 1896, at Koster and Bial's Music Hall in New York City.
Harry, Herbert, Joseph
& Earle C. Miles
Film Exchange
The Miles brothers started the first “film exchange,” buying films from manufacturers and renting to exhibitors. They gave theater owners the ability to open venues where films were the main attraction. Previously, vaudeville theaters had to purchase films via mail order. This film exchange was the basis of today’s distribution system.
& John P. Harris
Harry Davis & John P. Harris
NickelodeonDavis and Harris opened the first Nickelodeon theater, showing movies continuously. The theater, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, charged 5 cents to enter. From Ancient Greek, the word odeon means theater, and the word nickel means 5 cents – thus the name Nickelodeon was derived. By 1910 as many as 26 million Americans visited these theaters weekly.
Daniel Frost
Comstock &
W. Burton Wescott
Herbert Kalmus,
Daniel Frost Comstock
& W. Burton Wescott
Technicolor
These gentlemen were the founders of The Technicolor Motion Picture. Technicolor was a color motion picture process started as a 2-color additive process, using 2 projectors to superimpose the 2-color image onto 1 screen. It evolved into a 3-color subtractive process, using 1 strip of film with 3 colors on top of each other. Technicolor is well known for saturated levels of color, as seen in The Wizard of Oz.
& Warner Brothers
& Homo sapiens
Neanderthals & Homo sapiens
Parietal ArtParietal Art refers to prehistoric paintings that were found on cave walls and ceilings. The oldest dated rock art, dated more than 40,800 years old, was discovered in northern Spain’s El Castillo cave. It’s not certain whether the drawings were created by Neanderthals, whom some believe to be a different species, or Homo sapiens. Their early “paint brushes” were sticks, split palm leaves, whalebone or wood shavings.
& Homo sapiens
Neanderthals & Homo sapiens
PetroglyphsPetroglyphs are carvings created by removing part of a rock’s surface. In other words, they are a pictogram on a rock. Some believe they were intended to be maps, depicting information like the location of trails, how long it would take to get from one place to the other, and what geographical markers are found along the way, for example rivers. Others think they represent a symbolic or ritual language. Petroglyphs have been found all over the globe.
Culture
Peiligang Culture
Pictographs & IdeogramsPictures that look like what they mean (e.g. female image on the bathroom door) or pictures that represent an idea or concept (e.g. arrows that point you in the right direction). Pictographs and Ideograms were the basis of written language. The best known early language system was Jiahu symbols - 16 distinct markings on prehistoric artifacts found in Jiahu, a neolithic Peiligang culture site in Henan, China.
Sumerians: Ancient Civilization in
Southern Mesopotamia (Modern Day Iraq)
Cuneiform Script
Cuneiform means “wedge-shaped.” It was one of the earliest known writing systems, distinguished by its wedge-shaped marks on clay tablets, made by means of a blunt reed. Cuneiform began as pictographs and was gradually replaced by the Phoenician alphabet. 5-2 million cuneiform tablets have been excavated!
Egyptians
Egyptians
Egyptians
Ancient Egyptians
HieroglyphsEgyptian hieroglyphs were a formal writing system used by the ancient Egyptians that combined logographic (the smallest unit of language) and alphabetic elements. Cursive hieroglyphs for religious literature were created on papyrus and wood. Hieratic was a cursive writing system developed alongside hieroglyphics, and Demotic was an Egyptian script derived from Hieratic.
Egyptians
Ancient Egyptian Post
First Mail SystemThe first use of “post” was instituted, carrying documents by an intermediary from one person or place to another. The first documented use of an organized courier service was in Egypt, where Pharaohs used couriers to send their decrees throughout the State.
Anatolian Hieroglyphs
Luwian ScriptAnatolian hieroglyphs were a logographic script native to central Anatolia in Asia Minor, consisting of 500 signs. They were once referred to as Hittite hieroglyphs, but the language proved to be Luwian (ancient language of the Indo-European language family). Anatolian hieroglyphs were similar to Egyptian hieroglyphs, but not derived from Egyptian script.
Origin (Assyrians,
Babylonians, Israelites,
Arabs & more)
Semitic Peoples, West Asian Origin:
(Assyrians, Babylonians, Israelites, Arabs & more)
North Semitic Alphabet
The Semitic peoples consisted of the Assyrians, Babylonians, Israelites, Jews, Arabs, Moabites, Phoenicians, Ugarites, and more. They created the North Semitic alphabet, the earliest fully developed alphabetic writing system. The alphabet consisted of 22 letters or symbols representing consonants (“abjad”), which were written from right to left. Almost all subsequent alphabets are believed to have derived from the Semitic alphabet. It gave rise to the Phoenician and Aramaic alphabets, which further evolved into European, Semitic, and Indian alphabets.
Greeks
Ancient Greeks
Greek AlphabetThe Greek alphabet is the ancestor of all modern European alphabets. It was modified from Semitic by adding new letters and dropping others. Some symbols were converted to vowels (alpha, epsilon, iota, omicron, and upsilon – a,e,i,o,u). And the 24-letter alphabet was divided into two branches: Ionic (east) and Chalcidian (west). It was originally written from right to left. Then after 500 BC, it was written from left to right.
Greeks
Romans
Ancient Romans
Roman or Latin ScriptRoman or Latin script is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the Etruscan alphabet. It is the standard method of writing in most Western and Central European languages, as well as many languages from other parts of the world. This script was the basis for the largest number of alphabets of any writing system and is the most widely adopted writing system in the world.
Mayans
Mayan ScriptMayan script (or Mayan glyphs and hieroglyphs), was the writing system of the Maya civilization of Mesoamerica, not at all related to Egyptian hieroglyphics. It was the only Mesoamerican writing system that has been deciphered. Mayan script used logograms along with a set of syllabic glyphs, similar to modern Japanese writing.
200 BC
Quill PenThe quill pen, made from bird feathers, was used in Judea to write the Dead Sea Scrolls which date back to 200 BC. First used around the 5th century BC, quills were still widely used in the 18th century, and were also used to write the Magna Carta and the Declaration of Independence.
Romans
Ancient Romans
First BulletinThe first published government bulletin called "Acta Diurna" or "Daily Acts" was attributed to Julius Caesar. Originally a record of senate debates, its announcements evolved to include births and deaths, marriages, reports of trials, gladiator matches, and more. The bulletins were carved in metal or stone, or written on parchment, and posted in public places.
Cai Lun, Servant of
the Chinese Political Court
Papermaking
Cai Lun was the first reported person to actually make paper, though it may have been invented 200 years earlier. He used the bark of a mulberry tree that was broken into fibers and then pounded into a sheet. This occupies a more central role than canvas in the history of art and printmaking.
& Persians
Arabs & Persians
Arabic LanguageAfter the fall of the Roman Empire, Arabic became a major literary language. It overshadowed Greek’s role as a language of scholarship, and influenced Greek, Slavic, Latin, and other cursive scripts. The Arabic language was responsible for spreading the Hindu–Arabic numeral system through Europe.
Ma'ād al-Mu'izz, 4th Fatimid Caliph of Egypt
Fountain or Reservoir PenMu’izz demanded a pen that wouldn’t stain his hands or clothes. He was given a pen that held ink in a reservoir and delivered it to a nib (the part of a pen that comes into contact with the writing surface). Thus, the fountain or reservoir pen was invented. No details regarding the construction or mechanism of operation of this pen are known.
Bi Sheng, Han Chinese Printer
Printing PressBi Sheng created the first known movable type printing technology, otherwise known as the Printing Press. The device evenly printed ink onto a print medium. Pressure was applied to the print medium that rested on an inked surface made of movable type. This invention is regarded as among the most influential events in human history.
Gutenberg
Johannes Gutenberg, German Blacksmith,
Goldsmith, Printer & Publisher
Letter Casting
Gutenberg developed an improved printing system by adapting existing technologies and creating new inventions. His letter casting mold made the rapid creation of metal movable type possible in large quantities. The new press overtook earlier printing methods and led to the first assembly line-style mass production of books.
Gutenberg
& Lyndiana
Bernacotti
Simonio & Lyndiana Bernacotti
First Wood-Encased PencilThis Italian couple made the first blueprints for the modern, wood-encased carpentry pencil. The design was flat, oval, and compact. The original concept involved hollowing out of a stick of juniper wood. Later, two wooden halves were carved, graphite was inserted, and the halves were glued together.
Venice, Italy
Government of Venice, Italy
Handwritten NewspaperThe Government of Venice published the first weekly “Written Notices” that cost one gazzetta, a Venetian coin of that era, the name of which came to mean “newspaper.” These were handwritten newsletters, or gazettes, used to convey political, military, and economic news quickly throughout Europe.
Juan Pablo Bonet, Spanish Priest
& Pioneer of Education for the Deaf
Sign Language
Bonet published “Reducción de las letras y arte para enseñar a hablar a los mudos” (“Reduction of the Letters of the Alphabet and Method of Teaching Deaf-Mutes to Speak”) in Madrid. This was considered the first modern discourse on sign language phonetics, laying out a method of oral education for the deaf, along with a manual alphabet.
Daniel Schwenter, German Orientalist,
Mathematician, Inventor, Poet & Librarian
Reservoir Pen
Though Schwenter did not invent the fountain pen, in his publication, "Delicia Physic-Mathematicae," he described a reservoir pen made from two quills. One of the quills held the ink and was sealed with a cork. This delivered the ink through a small hole in the other quill.
Benjamin Harris, English Publisher
First Newspaper in AmericaHarris published “Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick.” Although only one edition was published before being suppressed, it was considered the first newspaper in America. Publick Occurrences followed the two-column format and was a single sheet, printed on both sides.
& Pellegrino Turri
Agostino Fantoni & Pellegrino Turri
Typewriter for the BlindItalian Fantoni, who had a blind sister, developed a typewriter in 1802 that enabled her to write. Many accounts, though, attribute the typewriter for the blind to Pellegrino Turri di Castelnuovo. It is said that he fell in love with Carolina Fantoni da Fivizzono just as she was losing her sight, and in 1808, created a machine with raised characters to help her write.
& Pellegrino Turri
Ralph Wedgwood & Pellegrino Turri
Carbon PaperAround the same time yet independently of one another, Wedgwood and Turri developed carbon paper as a composition aid for the blind. Wedgwood used it for his stylographic writer, and Turri eventually made use of it with his raised-letter typewriter.
Service
Post Office Department (U.S. Postal Service)
Railroad Mail TransportThe use of the railroad to transport the mail was instituted on one rail line in Pennsylvania. All railroads in the United States were designated as post routes, after passage of the Act of July 7, 1838. Railroad mail service increased rapidly thereafter.
California & Pike's Peak
Express Company
Central Overland California
& Pike's Peak Express Company
Pony Express
The Pony Express was a mail service delivering messages, newspapers, mail, and packages by horseback from Missouri, across the Great Plains, over the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada to Sacramento, California. It operated for 18 months and reduced the time for messages to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Initially started in 1859 as the Leavenworth & Pike's Peak Express Company (L. & P.P. Express Co.), it was to run between Leavenworth, Kansas and Denver. It transitioned to Central Overland California & Pike's Peak Express Company in 1860, and a route was established between the Oregon and Santa Fe Trails.
Soule & Schwalbach
Sholes, Glidden, Soule & Schwalbach
Typewriter with QWERTY KeyboardAmerican inventors Christopher Latham Sholes, Carlos Glidden and Samuel W. Soule developed the first commercially successful typewriter, and machinist Matthias Schwalbach made the prototype. The patent was sold to Remington, leading to the 1873 production of the first typewriter with a QWERTY keyboard. Because of the machine's success, QWERTY was subsequently adopted by other manufacturers.
& Howard Krum
Charles L. Krum & Howard Krum,
American Inventors
Morkrum Printing Telegraph
This father and son team invented the Morkrum Printing Telegraph, the first practical electric typewriter using a typewheel rather than individual typebars. The machine was used for the first commercial teletypewriter system on Postal Telegraph Company lines between Boston and New York City.
Postal Service
Ford Motor Company
& the U.S. Postal Service
Mail Vans
Ford sold its Model A and Model AA chassis to the USPS to be outfitted with mail van bodies painted in the postal service's colors. In total, 400 mail vans were built on the 1929 Model A chassis, 400 on the 1929 Model AA chassis, 1,000 on the 1931 Model A chassis, and 2,500 on the 1931 Model AA chassis.
Brown
Robert Carlton Brown, American Writer
Electronic BookBefore the invention of the computer, this writer conceptualized a "reading machine" that could display book-length publications. This would one day become the electronic book (e-Book), consisting of text, images, or both, readable on computers or other electronic devices. Brown's idea was born after watching a “talkie” (a movie with sound). His manifesto “The Readies” said that machines would allow us to keep up with the rate at which books were printed, save trees, and prevent paper cuts!
Caedmon Records
formed by Barbara Holdridge & Marianne Roney
Audiobook
Following the invention of LPs 1948, making longer recordings practical and affordable, Caedmon Records became an audiobook pioneer. It was the first company dedicated to selling spoken work recordings and it launched the U.S. audiobook industry. Its first LP release was poetry by Dylan Thomas, read by the author himself. “A Child's Christmas in Wales,” on the LP’s B-side, was added as an afterthought but went on to become his most loved work.
& Mike Little
Matthew Charles Mullenweg & Mike Little
WordPressMatthew Charles Mullenweg, American online social media entrepreneur, web developer and musician, along with Mike Little, British web developer, introduced WordPress. WordPress is a free, open source blogging tool and content management system (CMS) that runs on a web hosting service. It is now the most popular blogging system, used by more than 22% of the top 10 million websites. It was created as a fork (taking source code from one software package and developing it into distinct software) of b2/cafelog software.
Ancient Egyptians
"Thunderer of the Nile"Before people knew what electricity was, the Egyptians wrote about shocks from electric fish, referring to them as “Thunderer of the Nile.” The earliest approach to the discovery of lightning and electricity can be attributed to the Arabs, who before the 15th century associated the Arabic word for lightning (raad) with the electric ray.
of Miletus
Shen Kuo, Chinese Scientist
Magnetic Needle CompassKuo was the first person to write of the magnetic needle compass in his “Dream Pool Essays.” He discovered the concept of true north (magnets turning towards north pole), and this was the defining step in human history that made compasses useful for navigation.
Neckam
Cardano
Gilbert
William Gilbert, English Physician
ElectricusIn his writing, “De Magnete,” Gilbert invented the New Latin word electricus from elektron, the Greek word for amber. He discovered that many substances such as sulphur, wax, and glass, were capable of manifesting electrical properties. He also found that electrified substances generally attracted all other substances, whereas a magnet only attracted iron.
Guericke
Benjamin Franklin, Scientist
Lightning RodThis Founding Father of the United States created the lightning rod – a metal rod or object mounted on an elevated structure and bonded to earth using a wire or electrical conductor to ground it. It was also known as a “lightning attractor” or “Franklin rod.” Franklin believed that “electric fire” could be drawn out of a cloud with an iron rod. He proved that lightning was a discharge of static electricity, and formulated the idea of positive and negative charges.
Alessandro Volta, Italian Physicist
Voltaic PileVolta developed the Voltaic Pile – the first electrical battery that could provide a continuous electrical current to a circuit. Volta’s battery sparked the discovery of electromotive force (the force that drives electric current through a circuit).
& William Sturgeon
Joseph Henry & William Sturgeon
ElectromagnetHenry, an American scientist, created the electromagnet, a type of magnet that produces a magnetic field by electric current. When the current is turned off, the magnetic field disappears. Henry reported making a magnet that could lift 750 pounds! Though the electromagnet was actually invented in 1825 by British scientist William Sturgeon, Henry developed it into a more practical device.
Michael Faraday, English Scientist
Electromagnetic InductionElectromagnetic induction is the production of an electromotive force across a conductor when it is exposed to a magnetic field. Its discovery was made by wrapping two wires around opposite sides of an iron ring, plugging one wire into a galvanometer (instrument used to detect electric current), and connecting the other wire to a battery, creating transient current.
& Eugen Goldstein
Johann Wilhelm Hittorf
& Eugen Goldstein
Cathode Rays
In 1869, German physicist Hittorf was the first to observe that tubes with energy rays extending from a negative electrode produced fluorescence when they hit the tube’s glass walls. In the 1870s, Eugen Goldstein, the German physicist who discovered anode rays, named the effect “cathode rays.”
Gottlieb Nipkow
Paul Julius Gottlieb Nipkow
Electric TelescopeThis German technician and inventor developed the idea of using a spiral-perforated disk (the Nipkow disk) to divide a picture into a mosaic of points and lines. He received a patent for the “electric telescope” from the Berlin patent office in 1885, retroactive to January 1884.
Braun
Fleming
John Ambrose Fleming,
English Engineer
The Diode
This English electrical engineer and physicist Invented the first thermionic valve or vacuum tube, the diode, later called the kenotron. Diodes allowed an electric current to pass in one direction while blocking current in the opposite direction. A single directional flow was critical for radios, which had to turn alternating current into direct current.
Lee de Forest
The AudionThis American invented the Audion – the first triode vacuum tube and the first electrical device that could amplify a weak electrical signal to make it stronger. Patented in 1907, the Audion was a key element in electronics, making radio broadcasting, TV, and long-distance phone service possible.
Zworykin
Logie Baird
Logie Baird
John Logie Baird,
Scottish Engineer & Inventor
First Television Picture
Baird successfully transmitted the first television picture from his lab with a greyscale 30-line image of the head of a ventriloquist's dummy. The image was transmitted at 5 pictures per second. Baird then enlisted an office worker, William Edward Taynton, to be the first ever televised person.
Laboratories
Francis Jenkins
Charles Francis Jenkins,
American Inventor
W3XK
Jenkins Television Corporation opened the first television broadcasting station in the United States, W3XK. The station went on air on July 2, 1928, and the first broadcast transmitted from Jenkins Labs in Washington, DC. Subsequent broadcasts occurred 5 nights a week from Wheaton, MD.
Zworykin
of America
Goldmark
Peter Carl Goldmark,
German-Hungarian Engineer
Color TV
Goldmark developed color television technology while employed by CBS. His system used a red-green-blue color wheel that spun in front of a cathode ray tube. It transmitted at a different field scan rate, and required an adapter to be compatible with other TV sets on the market. The system was used in 1949 to broadcast medical procedures from hospitals in PA and Atlantic City, NJ.
& Margaret
Walson
John & Margaret Walson
Cable TVThe Walsons started Cable Television (Community Antenna Television or CATV) in mountainous Mahanoy City, PA. The town's residents had trouble receiving TV signals from Philadelphia. Walson placed an antenna on a utility pole on a local mountain, then connected it to his appliance store and customers' homes via a cable and modified signal boosters. This became the nation’s first CATV system.
Robert Adler, Austrian Physicist
Wireless Remote ControlWhile working for Zenith, Adler developed a wireless remote control, the “Zenith Space Command.” The first wireless remote, the "Flashmatic," was created by fellow Zenith engineer, Eugene Polley. The 1955 Flashmatic used a beam of light to turn a TV on and off, whereas the Zenith Space Command worked via ultrasonic sound waves. The updated technology quickly outdated the Flashmatic.
AT&T
TelstarAT&T launched Telstar, the first satellite to carry TV broadcasts that could be internationally relayed. The satellite was a 34-inch (87 cm) spherical satellite, weighing 171 pounds (77 kilograms). It was inserted into an orbit of about 3,505 miles (5,640 kilometers) at its highest, and 903 miles (1,453 kilometers) at its lowest.
Gene Slottow
& Robert Willson
Donald Bitzer, Gene Slottow
& Robert Willson
Flat Screen TV
Based on the need for a better monitor to see computer graphics, professors Bitzer and Slottow at the University of Illinois, along with graduate student Willson, developed the first flat screen plasma TV. Utilized with the PLATO learning system, the first computer-based education system, their plasma screen had 1 cell, whereas modern plasma TVs have 1 million cells.
in Taiwan
Chinese
Optical Telegraph - Smoke SignalsSmoke Signals – a cloud of smoke used as a means of conveying messages over long distances. Chinese soldiers first used smoke signals along the Great Wall to alert each other of imminent attack. Some believe messages could be received from as many as 500 miles away.
& His Brothers
Claude Chappe & His Brothers
Optical Telegraph - SemaphoreThis French engineer and his brothers developed a system of conveying information across long distances using visual signals, at 2 words per minute. The first successful semaphore used towers with pivoting blades or paddles. Semaphore could be done with flags, rods, disks, or hands. The object’s position indicates the message. It was dependent on good weather and daylight, and required operators and towers every 20 miles.
Francis Ronalds, English Inventor
Electrostatic TelegraphRonalds created the first working electrostatic telegraph. Built in Ronalds’ garden, it consisted of eight miles of wire in insulated glass tubing with both ends connected to 2 clocks marked with the letters of the alphabet. Electrical impulses sent along the wire were used to transmit messages.
& Wilhelm Weber
Carl Friedrich Gauss
& Wilhelm Weber
Electromagnetic Telegraph
Gauss, a German mathematician, and Weber, a German physicist, developed the electromagnetic telegraph – a device for transmitting coded text messages. They created first telegraph for regular communication, covering a 1 km distance. It was made of a coil that could be moved over 2 magnetic steel bars, creating an induction current that was transmitted through 2 wires to the receiver. The current’s direction could be reversed using a switch to go back and forth between the 2 wires. Gauss and Weber encoded the alphabet using binary code.
Fothergill Cooke
& Charles Wheatstone
Sir William Fothergill Cooke
& Charles Wheatstone
Electrical Telegraph
These English inventors patented the first commercial electrical telegraph using needles on a board pointing to letters of the alphabet. It was installed on 13 miles of the Great Western Railway and used underground cables installed in a steel conduit. In 1845, John Lewis Ricardo and Cooke bought out Cooke and Wheatstone’s patents, forming the Electric Telegraph Co. (the first telegraphy company in the world).
Breese Morse
& Alfred Lewis Vail
Samuel Finley Breese Morse
& Alfred Lewis Vail
Electrical Telegraph
Morse, an American painter turned inventor, and Vail, an American machinist and inventor, developed and patented the electric telegraph in the U.S., independent of Cooke and Wheatstone. The system involved pulses of electric current sent along wires that controlled an electromagnet at the receiving end of the telegraph, and was designed to make indentations on a paper tape when currents were received. A code was needed to transmit natural language using pulses and the silence between them. Thus, Morse Code was created so that operators could translate indentations into text. By 1851, Morse’s telegraphic apparatus was formally accepted as the standard for European telegraph.
Royal Earl House,
American Inventor
Printing Telegraph
House created the printing telegraph – an electromechanical typewriter used to send and receive messages from point to point. Two 28-key piano-style keyboards were linked by wire. Each key represented a letter of the alphabet, and when pressed, the matching letter printed at the receiving end. The telegraph transmitted about 50 words per minute and could copy and print up to 2,000 words per hour!
& Paul Gustave Froment
Giovanni Caselli
& Paul Gustave Froment
Pantelegraph
Italian physics professor, Caselli, and French engineer, Froment, developed the pantelegraph – the original fax machine that transmitted over telegraph lines. The prototype was invented by Caselli, then improved by Caselli and Froment in 1858, and demonstrated in Paris. A telegraph line between Paris and Amiens was given to Caselli in 1860 by Napoleon III, enabling an 87-mile long-distance experiment transmitting composer Gioacchino Rossini’s signature. The first “pantelegram” was sent from Lyons to Paris in 1862. The pantelegraph was available for public use in 1863 and transmitted writing, signatures, or drawings within 150×100 mm area. An experimental fax was also created by Alexander Bain in 1843.
Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell,
American Scientist, Inventor & Engineer
First Practical Telephone
Commonly credited with inventing the first practical telephone, Bell spoke the famous sentence "Mr. Watson—Come here—I want to see you" into the phone's transmitter. Watson, listening at the receiving end in an adjoining room, heard the words clearly.
David Edward Hughes,
Welsh-American Scientist & Musician
Spark-Gap Communication
Hughes discovered that sparks would generate radio signals that could be detected by listening to a telephone receiver connected to a microphone. He developed the spark-gap transmitter and receiver into a communication system, and eventually could send and receive Morse code signals a distance of 500 yards.
Rudolf Hertz
Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, German Physicist
Hertzian WavesHertz was the first to conclusively prove the existence of electromagnetic waves (referred to as Hertzian Waves). The “hertz,” which is a unit of frequency measuring cycles per second, was named in his honor. It led to the development of commercial Hertzian wave-based wireless telegraphy (radio), audio radio, and later television.
Guglielmo Marconi,
Italian Inventor & Electrical Engineer
Wireless Telegraphy
This Italian was credited as the inventor of the radio. In 1895, Marconi conducted experiments at his father's country estate, sending wireless signals across a distance of 1.5 miles. He sent the world's first ever wireless communication over open sea in 1897, with the message “Are you ready?” In 1901, the first radio message crossed the Atlantic from North America. Regular transatlantic radiotelegraph service began in 1907, and the invention was used to help rescue efforts after the Titanic sank in 1912.
Fessenden
Reginald Aubrey Fessenden,
Scientist & Inventor
AM Radio
Canadian Fessenden discovered AM radio broadcasting – amplitude-modulated (AM) radio. AM enables more than one station to send signals (as opposed to spark-gap radio, where one transmitter covers the entire bandwidth of the spectrum). The first radio audio broadcast, which included Fessenden playing the violin and reading from the Bible, originated in Massachusetts and was sent to ships at sea.
Lee de Forest, American Inventor
Audionde Forest invented the Audion – the first triode vacuum tube and the first electrical device that could amplify a weak electrical signal to make it stronger. This invention was a key element in electronics, making radio broadcasting, TV, and long-distance phone service possible.
Charles David Herrold,
American Electronics Instructor
Spark-Gap Broadcasting Station
Herrold constructed first spark-gap technology broadcasting station (“San Jose Calling”) in San Jose, California. He coined the terms “narrowcasting” and “broadcasting” to identify transmissions destined for a single receiver, such as on a ship, or those meant for a general audience. Herrold also created omnidirectional antennas that were mounted on rooftops to help radio signals extend in all directions.
in Detroit, MI
8MK Radio in Detroit, MI
Radio News ProgramThe first known radio news program was broadcast by station 8MK, an unlicensed predecessor of WWJ (AM) in Detroit, Michigan. The station was owned by a newspaper, which was owned by the Scripps family. The first several days of broadcasting was music, followed by a system for presenting the news.
Armstrong
Edwin Howard Armstrong,
American Electrical Engineer
FM Radio
Armstrong invented the circuits that made FM Radio possible – the frequency modulation of the radio wave to reduce static and interference from electrical equipment and the atmosphere. The first experimental FM radio station, W1XOJ, was granted a construction permit by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1937.
AEG, a German Electronics Company
MagnetophonAEG developed the Magnetophon – the brand name of the first reel-to-reel tape recorder based on Fritz Pfleumer’s magnetic tape invention. The first practical model, the K1, was demonstrated at the Berlin Radio Show. The first recording took place on April 27, 1935 in the Ludwigshaven Theater.
IBM
First ModemIBM invented the first modem. It grew out of the need to connect teleprinters over ordinary phone lines instead of leased lines that had been used for loop–based teleprinters and automated telegraphs. The company adapted this technology to their unit record equipment and could transmit punched cards at 25 bits/second. However, it wasn't referred to as a "modem" until 1958.
Federal Communications Commission
CB RadioThe FCC established the first Citizens Radio Service, initially a group of frequencies in the 460-470 MHz range. Called General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS), it still exists today. Citizens Band Radio aka CB radio, is a two-way, short-distance radio communication system between users on a select 40 channels. Citizens were permitted to have their own radio band for personal communication, and CBs gained popularity with truckers, plumbers and carpenters in the 1960s and 70s.
Walter Houser
Brattain,
& John Bardeen
William Shockley,
Walter Houser Brattain
& John Bardeen
Transistor
These scientists at Bell Labs developed the first transistor, which was smaller, more durable, and used less energy than the vacuum tubes it replaced. Arguably the most important invention of the 20th Century, their invention made the transistor radio possible, a pocket-sized portable radio receiver that used transistor-based circuitry instead of vacuum tube amplifiers.
AMPEX, founded by
Alexander M. Poniatoff,
an acronym for
Alexander M. Poniatoff Excellence
Commercial Tape Recorder
This American electronics company created a commercial tape recorder, the Ampex 200A, based on the German reel-to-reel tape recorder, the Magnetophon. It was used to record the Bing Crosby Show, creating the first delayed radio broadcast. The invention revolutionized the radio and recording industries because of superior audio quality and ease of operation over audio disk cutting.
& I.D.E.A.
Texas Instruments & I.D.E.A.
Regency TR-1Industrial Development Engineering Associates (I.D.E.A.) made the first commercially produced transistor radio, the Regency TR-1, built to Texas Instruments' circuit. Transistor technology became the most popular electronic device in history. It was the precursor to today’s technologically advanced portable audio devices.
Philips, a Dutch
Diversified Technology Company
Compact Audio Cassette
On September 13, 1963, Philips introduced the Compact Audio Cassette tape, initially used for dictation machines for office typing, stenographers and journalists. Cassette tapes were later used in telephone answering machines.
Kane Kramer,
British Inventor & Businessman
Digital Audio Player
Kramer designed one of the earliest digital audio players, called the IXI. The prototype could play one hour of audio, but the player never entered commercial production. Kramer was subsequently hired as a consultant for Apple, Inc.
Audible.com
MobilePlayerThe MobilePlayer was the world's first production-volume Internet-ready portable digital audio player from Audible.com. It cost $215, and only supported playback of Audible's low-bitrate digital audio which was developed for spoken word recordings. The device had about 2 hours of play with a custom rechargeable battery.
Samsung
Mobile Phone MP3 PlayerSamsung introduced the first mobile phone with a built-in MP3 player, model SPH-M2100. More MP3 players were sold in mobile phones than all stand-alone MP3 players put together. The success of mobile phone media players prompted Apple’s 2007 release of the iPhone.
Robert Hooke, British Physicist
Tin Can TelephoneBefore electromagnetic telephones were invented, Hooke experimented with an acoustic string phone: using tightly strung wire in between two mediums to transmit speech or music over a distance through mechanical vibrations – aka the tin can telephone.
Grafton Page
Charles Grafton Page,
American Inventor
"Galvanic Music"
This inventor, physician and chemistry professor passed an electric current through a wire coil placed between the poles of a horseshoe magnet, finding that connecting and disconnecting the current caused a ringing sound in the magnet. He called the effect "galvanic music."
& Jacques Babinet
Antonio Meucci, Italian Inventor
"Teletrofono"Meucci invented the “teletrofono,” a telecom system linking his lab with his paralyzed wife’s bedroom. He demonstrated the system in 1860, but had no money for a patent. Meucci filed a renewable notice of an impending patent in 1871 and sent a model to Western Union but was turned down. He asked for his materials to be returned and was told they were lost. Subsequently, Alexander Bell, who worked in the same lab, filed a patent in 1876 and was credited with the telephone’s invention. Meucci sued and the U.S. moved to annul Bell’s patent on grounds of fraud, but Meucci died before the trial.
Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell,
American Scientist, Inventor & Engineer
First Practical Telephone
Commonly credited with inventing the first practical telephone, Bell spoke the famous sentence "Mr. Watson—Come here—I want to see you" into the phone's transmitter. Watson, listening at the receiving end in an adjoining room, heard the words clearly.
Tivadar Puskás,
Hungarian Engineer & Inventor
First Telephone Exchange
Puskás developed the idea for the first telephone exchange (manual switchboard or private branch exchange-PBX), which would make it possible for subscribers to call each other at homes, businesses, and public spaces. An experimental model was built by Bell Telephone Company in Boston.
Herrick Frost
& Walter Lewis
George W. Coy,
Herrick Frost
& Walter Lewis
First Commercial Telephone Exchange
Civil War veteran and telegraph office manager, Coy, along with Frost and Lewis, created the first commercial telephone exchange in the world at the Boardman Building in New Haven, Connecticut. It had 21 subscribers.
Alva Edison
Graham Bell
& Charles Sumner
Tainter
Alexander Graham Bell
& Charles Sumner Tainter
Photophone
These scientists created a precursor to fiber-optic communications called the Photophone. Bell considered it his most important invention. The device enables the transmission of sound on a beam of light. The Photophone’s first practical use came decades later in military communication systems.
1881
First Telephone Exchange in GermanyIn January 1881, the first public telephone exchange in Germany begins trial operation in Berlin. Calls from its 8 subscribers were manually switched using Siemens & Halske switchboards, and calls could only be made between the working hours of 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. By the end of the year, 458 subscribers were connected to the local Berlin network, and by 1889, 10,000 subscribers were registered.
Strowger
Almon Brown Strowger,
American Inventor
First Rotary Dial
Strowger patented the first rotary dial, which worked by direct, forward action. Initially, pulses were sent as the user rotated the dial to the finger stop, starting at a different position for each digit. Eventually, the mechanism was refined to include a recoil spring to control the recoil speed.
Strowger
Western Electric
Candlestick TelephoneWestern Electric developed the first candlestick telephone – a phone with a mouthpiece (transmitter) mounted at the top of the stand, and a receiver (ear phone) that was held to the ear during calls. When not in use, the receiver rested in a switch hook that extended from the side of the stand, disconnecting the audio circuit from the telephone network.
AT&T
First Transcontinental CallAlexander Graham Bell, who was in New York, made the first transcontinental telephone call to Thomas Watson, who was in San Francisco. The call was facilitated by Lee de Forest's "audion," a newly invented vacuum tube amplifier. Though AT&T's president made a trial call in 1914, the event wasn't celebrated until Bell and Watson's 1915 call.
Schubert
Georg Oskar Schubert,
German Television Technician
First Public Video Telephone
Schubert developed the world's first public video telephone. Opened by the German post office between Berlin and Leipzig, it utilized broadband coaxial cable to cover a 100-mile stretch. It was then extended another 100 miles to Hamburg and eventually operated with more than 620 miles of cable. The phones were integrated into large public videophone booths.
& W. Rae Young
AT&T
Commercial Mobile Phone ServiceAT&T commercialized “Mobile Telephone Service,” making it available to 100 towns and highway corridors. There were only 5,000 customers placing 30,000 calls per week, and calls were transferred manually by an operator. Only 3 radio channels were available, so only 3 customers in any given city could make mobile calls at a time.
Philip T. Porter,
Engineer at Bell Labs
Cell Towers
Following the concept of hexagonal cell technology for mobile service, Porter proposed that cell towers be at the hexagons’ corners rather than at the centers, and have antennas that would transmit and receive in 3 directions into 3 adjacent hexagons.
Bell Labs
DTMFBell Labs invented dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) – the Touch Tone system that signals over analog telephone lines in the frequency occupied by the human voice. Touch Tone service replaced pulse dialing and became a worldwide standard for telecom signaling. It allowed phones to communicate with computers, and provided the blueprint for IVR (interactive voice response) technology.
Bell Labs
PicturephoneThe first experimental Picturephone system in the U.S., called “Mod 1,” was presented at the New York World’s Fair. The public was invited to place calls between the fair and special exhibits at Disneyland in California. The Picturephone was not well received because it was bulky and had a very small picture. But by 1990, the technology was improved and incorporated into computers, and video communication was realized.
George Sweigert,
Amateur Radio Operator & Inventor
Cordless Phone
Recognized as the father of the cordless phone, Sweigert submitted a patent application for a “full duplex wireless communications apparatus.” It was developed to improve battlefield communications for senior commanders during WWII. Original cordless phones, like the Carterfone, were acoustically (not electrically) connected to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).
Joel S. Engel
& Philip T. Porter
Richard H. Frenkiel,
Joel S. Engel
& Philip T. Porter
Cellular Technology Architecture
These engineers at Bell Labs proposed the first system architecture for cellular technology and networks. They co-authored "High Capacity Mobile Telephone System Feasibility Studies and System Plan," which became an important cellular text.
“Ted” Paraskevakos
Martin Cooper, Motorola Researcher
Handheld Mobile PhoneMotorola was the first company to produce a prototype handheld analog mobile phone. The first call was placed by Cooper to Joel Engel of Bell Labs. The prototype phone weighed 2.5 pounds, allowed 30 minutes of talk time, and took 10 hours to charge!
& Electronics
General Telephone
& Electronics
Fiber-Optic Communications
GTE developed the first commercial fiber-optic communications system, and made the first live telephone traffic through fiber optics at a 6 Mbit/s throughput in Long Beach, California. Fiber optics is used by Local Area Networks (LANs), cable and telephone providers, utilities, the military, and aviation/aerospace industries.
Gordon Matthews, American Businessman
Voice Message ExchangeMatthews, the founder of ECS Communications, filed a method patent for voicemail in 1979 that was granted 1983. The technology was initially called “Voice Message Exchange” and later changed to VMX Inc. Matthews developed a 3,000 user voice messaging system sold commercially to corporations like 3M, Kodak, American Express, Intel, and more.
Neil Papworth, Engineer
SMS MessagingThis test engineer for Sema Group in the UK used SMS messaging for the first time, employing a personal computer to send the text message “Merry Christmas” via the Vodafone network. The message was received by Richard Jarvis, who was at a party in Newbury, Berkshire, specifically organized to celebrate the event.
Communications
(APC)
American Personal Communications (APC)
Text Messaging in the U.S.The first text messaging service in the U.S. was established by APC, the first GSM carrier in America (operating under Sprint Spectrum). GSM, or Global System for Mobile Communications, is a standard set of rules about how a mobile network should work. The call to launch the network was made from then Vice President Al Gore in Washington, D.C. to Mayor Kurt Schmoke in Baltimore.
& Homo sapiens
Primitive Numbers
Lebombo & Ishango BonesThe Lebombo Bone is a small piece of the fibula of a baboon, marked with 29 clearly defined notches. The bone was discovered in the early 1970s in the Lebombo Mountains between South Africa and Swaziland. It dates back to 35,000 B.C. Another primitive calculator, the Ishango Bone, was also discovered in Africa between the Congo and Rwanda, and is slightly younger, dating to 20,000 B.C.
Blaise Pascal, French Mathematician,
Physicist, Inventor & Writer
The Pascaline
Pascal developed the Pascaline, the first mechanical and automatic calculator. It was a wooden box that could add and subtract by using a series of gears and wheels. 50 models were constructed, made of wood, ivory, ebony, and copper.
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz,
German Inventor
Leibniz Calculator
The Leibniz Calculator, also called the Stepped Reckoner, was a calculating machine that could do more than just add and subtract. It could multiply, divide, and find square roots of numbers. The key to the device was a gear called the Leibniz wheel, that acted as a mechanical multiplier.
Jacquard
Charles Babbage, English Mathematician
Known as the “Father of Computers"
Difference Engine #1
Babbage invented the Difference Engine, a design for a mechanical computer. The machine was used to calculate and print mathematical functions called polynomials. Developed later, the Difference Engine #2 was able to calculate faster using fewer parts.
Ada Byron
Augusta Ada Byron,
the First Computer Programmer
Computer Programming
Daughter of renowned poet Lord Byron, Augusta was a Math genius. She translated an article on Babbage’s Analytical Engine from French to English. Her translation included her own notes about how she thought the machine should work, outlining the basics of computer programming and including data analysis, looping and memory addressing. A programming language used chiefly by the U.S. government was named "Ada" in her honor.
Herman Hollerith, American Inventor
Tabulating Machine CompanyHollerith invented the Tabulating Machine, which used punched cards to record and sort data or information in order to help speed up the 1890 U.S. census. Once a hole was punched, a pin would pass through it to make an electrical contact with mercury in a cup below, and motors turned that moved numbers to count. About 65 cards per minute could move through the machine. Hollerith started the Tabulating Machine Company and later changed its name to International Business Machines, aka IBM.
Vannevar Bush, American Engineer,
Inventor & Professor at MIT
Differential Analyzer
Bush's Differential Analyzer was the first analog electronic computer in the U.S. It measured quantities that changed continuously, e.g. temperature and air pressure. Vacuum tubes switched electrical signals that performed calculations, and a pen fixed above a drawing board drew a curve to display results. The Differential Analyzer weighed 100 tons, had 2,000 vacuum tubes, 1,000s of relays, 150 motors, and 200 miles of wire.
& Gordon Welchman
Alan Turing & Gordon Welchman
The BombeAlan Turing and Gordon Welchman were code breakers for the British government, working at Bletchley Park. They developed the Bombe, and electro-mechanical machine used during WWII to break the German Enigma codes. The Bombe was partially based on an earlier machine called the BOMBA, developed by Polish mathematicians in 1938.
Howard Aiken, American Pioneer in Computing
Mark 1The Mark 1 was a 51-foot long, 8-foot high, 5-ton digital machine that could perform math problems involving very large numbers. It was called the IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator, and was made of 78 adding machines and desk calculators connected by 500 miles of wire! The Mark 1 could add three 8-digit numbers in a second, and printed results on punched cards or an electric typewriter.
& John Mauchly
J. Presper Eckert & John Mauchly
ENIACThese American inventors at the University of Pennsylvania invented the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator & Computer) – an electronic computer. Unveiled in 1946, the computer was operated by 19,000 vacuum tubes, each containing electronic circuits that turned on and off like light bulbs. ENIAC had no mechanical parts, no counters, and no gears. It was 1,000 times faster than Mark 1, and it could do 5,000 additions per second and 300 multiplications per second. ENIAC cost 3 million dollars and took up a 20 x 40 foot room!
John von Neumann, Hungarian-American Scientist
Stored ProgrammingNeumann changed computer design by stating that the machine’s instructions should be stored inside the computer. He used binary code (0’s and 1’s) to code the information that was entered into the computer, and then modified the ENIAC to run as a stored-program machine.
William Shockley
& Walter Brattain
John Bardeen, William Shockley & Walter Brattain
Point-Contact TransistorThese three scientists at Bell Laboratories built the first point-contact transistor. It could produce large amplification at some frequencies, and small amplification for all frequencies. The transistor worked like a vacuum because it could relay and switch electronic signals. But it was smaller, conducted electricity faster, and was more reliable and cheaper than vacuum tubes. The point-contact transistor made space travel possible and spawned the invention of transistor radio.
Vincent Wilkes
& John Mauchly
J. Presper Eckert & John Mauchly,
American Inventors
UNIVAC
Inventors at Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, these gentlemen developed the UNIVAC (UNIVersal Automatic Computer. It was the first computer to be sold to businesses. The UNIVAC contained 5,000 vacuum tubes and could perform about 1,000 calculations per second. It was used to predict Dwight Eisenhower’s election to president!
& Robert Noyce
Jack Kilby & Robert Noyce
Integrated CircuitKilby of Texas Instruments and Noyce of Fairchild Corporation invented the integrated circuit – a semiconductor chip the size of a fingernail. The integrated circuit was normally made of silicon, containing several billion transistors or electronic components. It could complete instructions in billionths of a second. In 1963, computers began to use integrated circuits. Today, most electronics, such as computers, cell phones and digital appliances, use some type of integrated circuit.
Alan Curtis Kay, American Computer Scientist
DynabookKay created the concept of the Dynabook, a thin, portable, personal computer that weighed no more than two pounds. Its target audience was children, and the Dynabook was designed like a tablet PC or slate computer with a very long battery life. It was the inspiration behind the first desktop personal and portable computers.
Ted Hoff, Engineer at Intel
MicroprocessorHoff developed the microprocessor, which integrated a computer’s entire CPU onto a single, small chip. With fewer electrical connections, this technology was more reliable than transistors and integrated circuits. It was initially created for use in calculators, but led to invention of personal and microcomputers.
& Telemetry Systems
& Bill Gates
Paul Allen & Bill Gates
BASIC CodeThese two founders of Microsoft, Inc. developed BASIC code. They knew that the home computer market was about to blow up, so Gates called MITS, saying that he and Allen had developed interpreter software that could be used with the Altair. This was a lie, but MITS wanted to know more. Gates and Allen went on to write the BASIC code in 8 weeks. MITS bought rights to BASIC and within a year, Microsoft, Inc. was formed.
Xerox Corporation
Xerox NoteTakerXerox developed the Xerox NoteTaker – a 22 kg portable computer that strongly influenced the design of later computers like the Osborne 1 and Compaq Portable. It was modeled after Kay’s DynaBook project, and fit into a case similar to that of a portable sewing machine.
& Stephen Wozniak
Steven Paul Jobs & Stephen Wozniak
Apple I & IIIn 1976, Wozniak designed the Apple I and demonstrated it at the Homebrew Computer Club in Palo Alto, California. Jobs, a fellow club member, loved it but had a few ideas on how to improve it. And thus, the Apple II was born. Jobs and Wozniak founded Apple Computer, Inc. with just $1,300. Over the years, Apple came out with the Apple II Plus, Apple IIe, Apple IIc, Apple IIGS, Macintosh, iMac, iPod, and iPhone!
Lee Felsenstein
& Al Alcorn
Adam Osborne, Lee Felsenstein
& Al Alcorn
Osborne 1
Thailand-born British-American author, book and software publisher, and computer designer, Adam Osborne, got together with American computer engineers Lee Felsenstein and Al Alcorn, to invent the Osborne 1. It was the first commercially successful portable microcomputer, weighing 24 lbs with a $1,795 price tag. The computer shipped with a software bundle that was almost equivalent in value to the machine itself. Sales of the Osborne 1 peaked at 10,000 units per month.
Corporation
(aka Epson)
Moggridge
William Grant Moggridge,
British Designer, Author & Educator
GRiD Compass 1101
Moggridge invented the GRiD Compass 1101 – the first true laptop. He introduced the clamshell design, enabling the flat display to fold against the keyboard. The GRID ran on batteries, and was equipped with a 320×200-pixel electroluminescent display and 384 kilobyte bubble memory. Priced between $8-10K, it was not IBM-compatible. The GRID's use was limited to specialized applications like the U.S. military and NASA.
International
Trade & Industry
Japan's Ministry of
International Trade & Industry
Fifth-Generation Computer Systems (FGCS) Project
The Fifth-Generation Computer Systems (FGCS) Project was an initiative by the ministry to create a computer using many processors that performed computations in parallel. Though the project failed, some of its approaches, such as logic programming distributed over large knowledge bases, are being used in current technology.
Kyocera Corporation,
a Multinational Electronics Manufacturer
Kyocera Kyotronic 85
The Kyocera Kyotronic 85 was the biggest-selling early laptop. Designed after the Epson HX-20, it was marketed as the TRS-80 Model 100. The computer, which was about the size of a paper notebook, provided a tiltable 8 line × 40-character LCD screen above a full-travel keyboard and had an internal modem. It was portable, had a good battery life, strong reliability, and was priced as low as $300. These factors made it a favorite among journalists.
Corporation
Compaq Computer Corporation
Compaq SLT/286The Compaq SLT/286 was a battery powered laptop priced at $5,399. It was the first laptop to support the VGA video standard, and the first laptop to have a detachable keyboard. At only 8.5” deep it was smaller than other laptops and could fit on an airline tray. The SLT/286 weighed 14 pounds and ran for 3 hours on one charge.
of Technology (MIT)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS)Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS) was one of the first timesharing (sharing of a computing resource among many users ) operating systems. It was developed at MIT's Computation Center and allowed 30 users to log in simultaneously and send each other messages. CTSS was the precursor to email.
Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider
Intergalactic Computer NetworkDuring the Cold War, U.S. scientists and military experts were concerned that one missile strike could destroy the U.S. telephone network. But Licklider, an American psychologist and computer scientist from MIT, had a solution. Licklider’s idea involved a “intergalactic network” of computers that could talk to one another, enabling government leaders to communicate even if the Soviets destroyed the phone system.
& Donald Davies
Paul Baran & Donald Davies
Packet SwitchingBaran, a Polish-American engineer at RAND Corporation, and Davies, a Welsh computer scientist at the National Physical Laboratory in the UK, invented packet switching – a way of sending information from one computer to another by breaking down data into blocks/packets before sending it to its destination. Packet switching is the fundamental networking technology behind the Internet and most local area networks. The concept was simultaneously developed by both men simultaneously, with Baran using the term “message blocks” while Davies used the term “packets.” UCLA computer scientist Leonard Kleinrock’s work on queueing theory drew the mathematical background to packet switching.
National Laboratory
in California
U.S. Department of Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency
(DARPA) & Leonard Kleinrock
Node-to-Node Computer Communication
Leonard Kleinrock, an American engineer and computer scientist at UCLA, supervised the ARPAnet (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) at DARPA. The ARPAnet delivered the first “node-to-node” communication between computers at UCLA and Stanford. The word “LOGIN” was the first message sent through the system, but it crashed the network before the whole word was received. Stanford only saw the first 2 letters.
Robert Elliot Kahn,
American Electrical Engineer
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)
Kahn developed the initial idea for Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). This played a major role in forming the basis of open-architecture networking, allowing computers and networks worldwide to communicate, regardless of what hardware or software the computers used.
Vinton Gray Cerf,
American Computer Scientist
Internet Protocol (IP)
Initially a program manager for DARPA, Cerf is recognized as one of “the fathers of the Internet.” He began working with Kahn, and they created an early version of TCP. Cerf later added Internet Protocol (IP) for more basic functions. The two combined, TCP/IP, are the fundamental communication protocols of the Internet.
& Randy Suess
Ward Christensen & Randy Suess
Instant MessagingThese computer hobbyists created the first instant messenger, Computerized Bulletin Board System (CBBS). CBBS was a computer software program that allowed users to exchange information. Because the Internet was not available to most users, they had to dial CBBS directly using a modem and take turns accessing the system, hanging up to give someone else access. This inspired the creation of many other bulletin board systems.
CompuServe,
the 1st Commercial Online Service
Online Chat
CompuServe was the first major commercial online service in the U.S. The company released the first publicly accessible CB Simulator software available for privately operated Computer Bulletin Board Systems. It enabled users connected on one node of a Computer Bulletin Board System to “chat” with users who dialed in on other nodes.
Computer Services
Quantum Computer Services
Quantum LinkThis computer services company offered Quantum Link (or Q-Link) – a U.S. and Canadian online service for Commodore 64 and 128 personal computers. In 1991, the company changed its name to America Online (AOL). Q-Link users could pay a monthly fee to send text-based messages to others via modem.
John Berners-Lee
Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee,
British Computer Scientist
World Wide Web
Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web, and designed and built the first web browser. He also developed the WWW’s three key technologies: HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), URI (Uniform Resource Identifier), and HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol).
Marc Lowell Andreessen
MosaicThis American entrepreneur, investor and software engineer co-founded the Mosaic web browser, an intuitive and reliable interface that could support multiple internet protocols and was credited with popularizing the World Wide Web. Andreessen also co-founded Mosaic Communications, which later became Netscape Communications Corporation and produced Netscape Navigator.
Google.com
"Googol"Google.com was registered as a domain by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, students at Stanford University. The domain's name is a play on the word "googol," a mathematical term for the number represented by the numeral 1 followed by 100 zeros, reflecting their mission to organize an infinite amount of information on the web.
Corporation
Microsoft Corporation
MSN MessengerMicrosoft released MSN Messenger, allowing the exchange of online messages and email with the more than 40 million users of MSN's Hotmail email service, as well as with others using AOL Instant Messenger. The service was later called Windows Live Messenger, and in 2005 added photo sharing capabilities, social network integration and games. By 2009, the company had more than 330 million active users every month.
& Lawrence
Mark Sanger
Jimmy Donal Wales
& Lawrence Mark Sanger
Wikipedia
Wales, an American Internet entrepreneur, and Sanger, an American Internet project/software developer, created Wikipedia – a collaborative, multilingual, free Internet encyclopedia that relies on volunteers to write its 30 million articles in 287 languages. Wikipedia is now considered the largest and most popular general reference network.
& Tom Anderson
& Niklas Zennström
Janus Friis & Niklas Zennström
SkypeMicrosoft Corporation employees Friis, a Danish entrepreneur, and Zennström, a Swedish entrepreneur, developed Skype – a free VoIP service and instant messaging client that allows users to communicate with a microphone, webcam and instant messenger. It was based on Kazaa, a peer-to-peer file sharing application. Skype had 663 million registered users as of 2010, and was purchased by Microsoft in 2011 for $8.5 billion.
Zuckerberg, Saverin, McCollum,
Moskovitz & Hughes
Facebook
Mark Zuckerberg, American computer programmer, Internet entrepreneur, and philanthropist, co-founded Facebook with fellow Harvard students Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes. Facebook is an online social networking service that began as a limited-membership website for Harvard University students, and later expanded to support any user who claims to be 13 years of age or older.
Chen & Jawed Karim
Evan Clark
Williams,
Christopher
Isaac Stone
& Noah Glass
Jack Dorsey, Evan Clark Williams,
Noah Glass & Christopher Isaac Stone
Twitter
Dorsey, an American web developer and businessman, Williams, an American internet entrepreneur, Glass, American software developer, and Stone, created Twitter – an online social networking and microblogging service that enables users to send and read short text messages called “tweets.” As of 2012, Twitter had 500 million registered users who posted 340 million tweets per day. Twitter has been described as “the SMS of the Internet.”
Julian Assange, Australian Publisher
WikiLeaksAustralian publisher, journalist, editor-in-chief, and director Julian Assange founded WikiLeaks – an international, online, non-profit, journalistic organization that publishes secret information, news leaks, and classified media from anonymous sources. The site was introduced in Iceland by the Sunshine Press.
& Michael Krieger
Kevin Systrom & Michael Krieger
InstagramSystrom, an American entrepreneur and software engineer, along with Krieger, a Brazilian entrepreneur and software engineer, created Instagram. Instagram is an online photo and video-sharing social networking service that enables users to take pictures and videos confined to a square shape, apply digital filters to them, and share them on other social networking services, such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Flickr.
Apple, Inc.
Steven Paul Jobs, Apple, Inc.
FaceTimeThis American entrepreneur, marketer, and inventor created FaceTime – a videotelephony and VOIP software application developed by Apple. It works for supported mobile devices and computers that run iOS and Mac OS X 10.6.6 and on. Announced by Jobs in 2010, the name was purchased by Apple from FaceTime Communications, whose name changed to Actiance, Inc.
Robert Murphy
& Reggie Brown
Evan Thomas Spiegel,
Robert Murphy
& Reggie Brown
Snapchat
Spiegel, Murphy and Brown (the alleged ousted 3rd founder) were three Stanford University students who created Snapchat. Initially called Picaboo, this messaging app allows users to take photos and videos, add text/drawings, and send them to recipients. “Snaps,” as they are called, last 1-10 seconds before being hidden from view and deleted from Snapchat's servers. The app began as a project for Spiegel's class at Stanford. Murphy later coded the app, which was renamed and re-launched under Snapchat.
Google, Inc.
Google+Google+ is a social networking and identity service described as a “social layer” that enhances many of its online properties. It is not simply a social networking website, but also an authorship tool that associates web-content directly with its owner/author. It's the second-largest social networking site in the world after Facebook, with 540 million monthly active users.
