🕰️ Timeline of Computer History

Key milestones from the 20th century to today:

🔢 1890 – Hollerith’s Tabulating Machine

• 📊 Solved the U.S. census bottleneck with punch-card data processing

• ⚙️ Electromechanical design used metal pins + mercury vials

• ⏱️ Reduced census compilation from 7+ years to 2.5 years

🏛️ 1944 – Harvard Mark 1

• 🤝 Collaboration between Harvard and IBM

• ⚖️ 50 feet long, weighed 5 tons (750,000 mechanical parts)

• ⚡ Used in WWII and Manhattan Project simulations

• ➕ Could perform 3 additions per second

⚡ 1947 – First Transistor

• 🔌 Replaced slow mechanical relays

• 🧪 Silicon semiconductor technology (no moving parts)

• ✅ Faster, smaller, and more durable than relays

🔬 1959 – Microchip Invention

• 🏠 Enabled computers to shrink from room-sized to desktop

• 💻 Paved way for personal computer ownership

• 🏭 Developed at Texas Instruments

💻 1977 – Personal Computer Revolution

• ✝️ The «1977 Trinity»: Apple II, TRS-80, Commodore PET

• 🎮 Atari 2600 launched (first popular game console)

• ⚔️ Began PC vs. Apple rivalry

🌐 1994 – World Wide Web

• 📈 PC ownership surged with public web access

• ✉️ Email/chatrooms revolutionized communication

• 🏠 Early social media (MySpace, Facebook) emerged

📱 2007 – Smartphones

• 🍏 iPhone debuted (first modern smartphone)

• 🌍 Made internet access truly mobile

• ☎️ Replaced traditional telephones in developed nations

📝 Key Takeaways

1. Early computers solved specific problems (census, war calculations)

2. Miniaturization (transistors → microchips) enabled personal computing

3. The web and smartphones transformed computers into communication tools