History of computer development (48 photos)

Today, computers have become such an important and integral part of our lives that it seems impossible that they once could not have existed at all. How exactly did these devices of various modifications, shapes, and configurations manage to enter every sphere of our existence? We bring to your attention a far from complete and not entirely scientific essay on the main points in the development of computers.

1. The world of ones and zeros. The photo shows a woman working on an IBM computer in 1955.

2. 2700 BC Abacus. Although the exact location and date of the creation of the abacus remains in question, it is likely that the abacus was invented by the Sumerians (a people of southern Mesopotamia) about 5,000 years ago. With the help of special knuckles, they made it possible to perform quick and quite complex calculations, so the abacus can be called the first computer.

3. 1801: Jacquard loom. Designed by Joseph Marie Jacquard, it was the first machine to use punched cards to control a series of sequences. The machine used a punched card to change the pattern of the fabric being produced. It was a kind of binary code: according to the principle “there is a hole - there is no hole.” The Jacquard loom was a key step in the development of computer programming.

4. Charles Babbage (1791 - 1871) Charles Babbage was born in London in 1791. It is this English mathematician who is credited with the idea of mechanical calculation of mathematical tables, as well as the idea of ​​creating two special machines, so that Charles Babbage can be considered one of the fathers of the computer.

5. 1824: Charles Babbage's difference engine. After securing a grant to build it in 1824, British computing pioneer Charles Babbage created the "Charles Babbage Difference Engine No. 1," the first successful automatic calculator. The portion shown in the photograph was assembled in 1832 by Babbage's engineer, Joseph Clement. It consists of approximately 2000 parts and represents one seventh of the purported complete "Charles Babbage Difference Engine".

6. 1837: Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine. Conceived by Babbage in 1837, this machine was designed to evaluate any mathematical formula and had significantly greater analytical power than his original "Charles Babbage Difference Engine".

7. 1944: Machine "Colossus". The Enigma machines, developed in Germany, produced codes that were considered unbreakable, prompting Allied forces during World War II to create the top secret Colossus machine, considered the first electronic computing device for breaking codes and ciphers. . Above: The Bletchley Park residence in Buckinghamshire, England, which served as the headquarters for Allied codebreakers during World War II.

8. The Enigma machine. The Enigma machine used to break codes during World War II.

9. 1946: "ENIAC". The creation of the "ENIAC" (Electronic Digital Integrator and Computer) began during World War II, but was not completed until 1946. The first general purpose electronic digital computer was designed to solve a variety of problems (and unlike the Colossus, which was a completely secret device, its existence was announced to the public). Above: Work on ENIAC at Pennsylvania State University in 1946

10. Creators of "ENIAC". John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert next to ENIAC, 1966.

11. 1951: "UNIVAC". With the advent of "UNIVAC" (Universal Automatic Computer), computers suddenly ceased to be the exclusive domain of the government, and became available to businesses. Above: Two people working on various components of the massive UNIVAC computers in 1960.

12. 1952: UNIVAC was noticed. UNIVAC computers became famous after they were used to predict Eisenhower's victory over Stevenson in the 1952 presidential election.

13. Another use of "UNIVAC". The Honorable John W. Alison next to the "UNIVAC" ribbons used to print the Bible in 1957.

14. 1947: transistor. Although not technically necessary for a computer, the transistor was an important step in the technology of making smaller devices. In short, this is the main reason why you can now carry laptops with you instead of sitting next to a UNIVAC that takes up the entire room. Above: Miniature M-1 transistor seen on a penny in 1956.

15. Inventors of the transistor. John Bardeen, William Shockley and Walter Bratten in 1954. For their work they received the Nobel Prize in Physics.

16. 1958 Integrated circuit. The key building block of all computers, integrated circuits made it possible to make even smaller models than was possible with transistors - and most importantly, they made computers affordable, as they helped lower prices. In the photo: a model of the first working integrated circuit.

17. Inventor of the integrated circuit. Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments in Dallas, 2000. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his invention.

18. October 4, 1957: Sputnik. Although the Soviet Union was the first country to successfully launch Sputnik into orbit, Sputnik's launch may have brought significantly more benefits to America, as the specter of Russian dominance in space led the United States to decide to invest enormous resources in the development of science - including, of course, , Computer Science.

19. 1963: Mouse. Assembled by Douglas Engelbart and his team at Stanford, the mouse (so named because its cord resembled a tail) would prove essential to moving the cursor. In the photo: a mouse at an early stage of development.

20. Another example of a computer mouse from Engelbart.

21. August 1966: Computer for the Apollo mission. Developed by the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory and one of the first integrated circuit computers, it was designed as an on-board computer for guidance, navigation, and control of the command module and lunar module of the Apollo spacecraft for the mission to the Moon. Roughly speaking, it had the same memory capacity as today's musical greeting cards that can sing "Happy Birthday."

22. April 2, 1968. Premiere of the film “2001: A Space Odyssey” It was this film that shaped our ideas about computers as something very important and useful, but not particularly trustworthy. In the photo: director Stanley Kubrick with Keir Dullia and Gary Lockwood.

23. 1969: "ARPANET". Although the Internet was developed in several stages, none was more significant than when the program, then called "ARPANET" (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) and implemented with the support of the US Department of Defense, helped computers at UCLA and Stanford Research Institute come out to communicate with each other. Above: A 1969 drawing of the ARPANET interconnection process by Larry Roberts, one of the program's developers.

24. ARPANET is sweeping across America. The map shows the ARPANET communications centers in 1972.

25. Awards for ARPANET. President George W. Bush speaks in Los Angeles with scientist Leonard Kleinrock in 2008 after awarding him the National Medal of Science for his outstanding achievements, including his role in the development of ARPANET.

26. June 28, 1972: Atari founded. Atari would be vital to the proliferation of video games that would prove to people that computers weren't just for sad nerds. Computers can truly bring joy! Above photo: International Asteroids tournament in 1981.

27. April 1976: Apple I demo. The first computer with a fully assembled motherboard sold for $666.66, and allowed Apple to begin its thirty-year dominance of the hardware market.

28. Those who stood behind Apple. Apple co-founders Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs in San Francisco, 1977. (Ron Wayne was one of the founders in 1976, but he sold his shares after 12 days for $2,300).

29. 1980: Invention of the Ctrl-Alt-Delete combination. This seems like a small thing, but without David Bradley (one of the IBM PC team), you would have a much harder time turning your computer on and off than you currently do. He is credited with inventing the familiar Ctrl-Alt-Delete function for personal computers. Above photo: Bradley sitting in front of one of the first PC computers in 2001.

30. 1981: Donkey Kong. Created by Shigeru Miyamoto, Donkey Kong became a sensation and introduced the character Mario (who would later appear in countless other video games). Its success is important for Nintendo as it becomes a household name, especially in America.

31. August 12, 1981: IBM PC. At first, the computer was used only by special government services. Then it began to be used by business structures. By creating the PC (personal computer), IBM took a huge step towards ensuring that everyone had their own computer. Among the innovations: the use of an open architecture for hardware, so customers were not forced to buy exclusively from IBM, but could turn to other companies.

32. January 22, 1984: Apple Strikes Back. Apple had no intention of losing the market to IBM forever. They hit back in 1984 with a TV ad directed by future Oscar-winning director Stanley Kubrick. The ad, titled “1984,” was much ridiculed but popular. It featured a hammer being thrown at a computer screen, a symbolic blow to IBM's dominance. Above: Scott films the ad in 1985.

33. January 24, 1984: Mackintosh. Two days after the "1984" ad aired, Apple unveiled its new product—which, unlike IBM, featured a mouse and a graphical user interface—beginning the Macintosh vs. PC debate that continues today. Top : The first Apple Macintosh 128K computer.

34. June 6, 1984: Tetris. Created by Soviet scientist Alexei Pajitnov, the puzzle game Tetris became a sensation and was instrumental in the development of the Nintendo Game Boy system. It has continued to be popular for over 25 years, with over 100 million mobile phone games already sold.

35. November 20, 1985: Microsoft Windows. Brilliant! By deciding to develop not a new computer, but the operating system software needed to use the computer, Microsoft co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen figured out how to make more money than anyone in technology (or any other business).

36. Young Bill Gates. In the future he will become the richest man in the world. The photo was taken in New York in 1984.

37. 1991: Blizzard Entertainment is founded. People want to play games, but they don't want to be alone. Solution? Online Games. Founded in 1991, Blizzard Entertainment has grown to create franchises, including Warcraft, that connect millions of users across the planet. Photo above: Visitors play World Of Warcraft in the gaming room at the CeBIT technology fair in Hannover, Germany in 2010.

38. December 3, 1994: PlayStation. The development of Sony became the first home gaming console. Sales volumes amounted to more than 100 million units (one of the advantages: the ability to play audio CDs); Microsoft and Nintendo immediately responded by releasing the Xbox and Wii. Above: A teenager in a computer store in the Akihabara electronics shopping district of Tokyo in 1998.

39. Besides Japan. Gaming consoles are popular all over the world, even in Côte d'Ivoire.

40. May 11, 1997: Triumph for Deep Blue. Deep Blue is considered by many to be the ultimate chess player - the best of artificial intelligence programs. Above photo: Kasparov fighting Deep Blue in Philadelphia in 1996.

41. 1999: Napster. Created by 18-year-old Shawn Fanning, Napster made it possible to exchange files between users (for example, it suddenly became very easy to exchange music and other goods without paying for them). Show business is still in shock about this. Above: Fanning in New York in 2000.

42. February 4, 2000: The Sims. For anyone whose parents told them to stop playing games immediately and start living their lives, The Sims was a godsend. This game allowed you to exist in an online world that was incredibly similar to the real one - and once and for all changed the idea of ​​what a computer game is. Above: Game creator Will Wright in 2008.

43. January 15, 2001: Launch of the Wikipedia project. Wikipedia defines itself as “a free, online, multilingual encyclopedia project…. its 17 million articles...were collaboratively written by volunteers around the world, and nearly all articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site.” The Wikipedia project was launched on January 15, 2001 - so now you no longer need to raise money to buy a dozen encyclopedic dictionaries on different topics.. Above in the photo: Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales.

44. October 23, 2001: iPod. Apple's portable media player (and accompanying software from iTunes) showed the music business that it was possible to make money even as CDs continued to fall out of fashion. Like almost all Apple products, it also features an elegant design.

45. November 9, 2004: Firefox launched. Innovation and profitability don't always go hand in hand. Collaboration is often the key to discovery, but collaboration may not be possible when companies have strict copyright enforcement. Open source software is computer software that is available in its source form, allowing users to study, modify, improve, and redistribute the software. Perhaps the crowning achievement in this area is the free Mozilla Firefox browser, which is used by about a third of users.

46. Defender for open source software. Few people have done more to advance open source software than Tim O'Reilly, with lectures and articles including his 2004 “Open Source Paradigm Shift.” He played an important role in the transition from the term “free software” to the term “open source software” (this streamlined formulation seems less threatening to corporations). Above: O'Reilly Media CEO Tim O'Reilly (second from right) in San Francisco in 2010.

47. April 28, 2008: Grand Theft Auto IV. The game series actually debuted in 1998, but with each new version it becomes more and more popular. GTA caused heated controversy (and generated billions of dollars for its creators) due to its sexual and violent scenes. Above: A poster promoting the midnight launch of GTA IV in New York City.

48. April 3, 2010: IPAD. Apple's latest offering is a tablet computer designed to serve as a platform for books, periodicals, movies, music and games, as well as a new way to access the Internet. A huge number of competitors, including Toshiba, Motorola, Lenovo, and countless other companies around the world, immediately released their own versions of tablets. The iPad has radically changed the definition of what a computer is. Above: A customer exits the Fifth Ave Apple Store in Manhattan.