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Evolution Of Computers

The Evolution of Computers

1.First Generation (1939-1954) - vacuum tube

* 1937 - John V. Atanasoff designed the first digital electronic computer
* 1939 - Atanasoff and Clifford Berry demonstrate in Nov. the ABC prototype
* 1941 - Konrad Zuse in Germany developed in secret the Z3
* 1943 - In Britain, the Colossus was designed in secret at Bletchley Park to decode German messages
* 1944 - Howard Aiken developed the Harvard Mark I mechanical computer for the Navy
* 1945 - John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert built ENIAC at U of PA for the U.S. Army
* 1946 - Mauchly and Eckert start Electronic Control Co., received grant from National Bureau of Standards to build a ENIAC-type computer with magnetic tape input/output, renamed UNIVAC in 1947 but run out of money, formed in Dec. 1947 the new company Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation (EMCC).
* 1948 - Howard Aiken developed the Harvard Mark III electronic computer with 5000 tubes
* 1948 - U of Manchester in Britain developed the SSEM Baby electronic computer with CRT memory
* 1949 - Mauchly and Eckert in March successfully tested the BINAC stored-program computer for Northrop Aircraft, with mercury delay line memory and a primitive magentic tape drive; Remington Rand bought EMCC Feb. 1950 and provided funds to finish UNIVAC
* 1950- Commander William C. Norris led Engineering Research Associates to develop the Atlas, based on the secret code-breaking computers used by the Navy in WWII; the Atlas was 38 feet long, 20 feet wide, and used 2700 vacuum tubes
* 1951 - S. A. Lebedev developed the MESM computer in Russia
* 1951 - Remington Rand successfully tested UNIVAC March 30, 1951, and announced to the public its sale to the Census Bureau June 14, 1951, the first commercial computer to feature a magnetic tape storage system, the eight UNISERVO tape drives that stood separate from the CPU and control console on the other side of a garage-size room. Each...