Computing history
Machines, people and ideas that built computing, from Pascal to the Web.
Ada Lovelace and Note G: the first program in history
Who Ada Lovelace was, how her Notes on the Analytical Engine came about, and why Note G on the Bernoulli numbers is regarded as a genuine program.
Alan Turing's 1936 machine: what it means to compute
Alan Turing's 1936 paper explained without formulas: the Turing machine, the universal machine and the limits of what can be computed at all.
From ARPANET to TCP/IP: how the Internet was born, 1969 to 1983
Packet switching, the first «LO» message of 1969, the Cerf and Kahn protocol and the 1983 switch to TCP/IP: the birth of the Internet, in order.
Charles Babbage: the Difference Engine and the Analytical Engine
Charles Babbage's two machines explained: the method of differences, the mill and the store, and why his design anticipated the modern computer.
The birth of the personal computer: from Altair to the IBM PC
From the 1975 Altair 8800 kit to the Apple II, the VisiCalc spreadsheet and the 1981 IBM PC: how the computer made its way into homes and offices.
From Boole to Shannon: how logic became a circuit
George Boole's algebra and Claude Shannon's 1937 thesis: how the laws of logical thought became circuits built first from relays, then from transistors.
Colossus: the secret electronic computer of Bletchley Park
How Tommy Flowers built Colossus in 1944 to attack the Lorenz cipher, and why the first large valve-based computer remained secret for decades.
Douglas Engelbart, the mouse and the 1968 demonstration
On 9 December 1968 Douglas Engelbart showed the mouse, hypertext, windows and real-time collaboration: what was seen and why it changed computing.
ENIAC: how the electronic giant of 1946 actually worked
ENIAC told accurately: why it was built, how it was programmed with cables and switches, and who the six programmers who made it work really were.
FORTRAN: John Backus and the first successful high-level language
How FORTRAN was born at IBM between 1954 and 1957, why its optimising compiler won over the sceptics, and what remains of the language today.
GNU and Linux: the story of free software from Stallman to Torvalds
The 1983 GNU project, the GPL licence, the 1991 announcement of Linux and the birth of open source in 1998: how free software came to run the servers.
Grace Hopper: compilers, COBOL and the Mark II moth
Grace Hopper from the Harvard Mark I to the A-0 compiler and COBOL: the idea of programming with words instead of numeric codes, and the famous bug.
Herman Hollerith and the 1890 census: data processing is born
How Herman Hollerith's tabulating machines processed the 1890 US census using punched cards, and how his company later became one of the roots of IBM.
The integrated circuit and Moore's law: Kilby, Noyce, Moore
How Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce invented the integrated circuit in 1958 and 1959, and what Gordon Moore actually said in his famous 1965 article.
Intel 4004: the first microprocessor and Federico Faggin's role
From the Busicom calculator to the 1971 chip: how the Intel 4004 came about, who designed it and why putting a whole CPU on one chip changed everything.
The invention of the transistor: Bell Labs, December 1947
How Bardeen, Brattain and Shockley invented the transistor at Bell Labs, why it replaced the vacuum tube and how it led to the birth of Silicon Valley.
The Jacquard loom: when punched cards were born for silk
How Joseph Marie Jacquard's loom used punched cards to weave complex patterns, and why that idea became one of the foundations of programming.
Konrad Zuse and the Z3: the programmable computer built in Berlin
The story of Konrad Zuse, from the Z1 built at home to the 1941 relay-based Z3 and the Plankalkül language: an often overlooked computing pioneer.
Olivetti Elea 9003: Mario Tchou's Italian transistor computer
The story of the Elea 9003 unveiled by Olivetti in 1959: Mario Tchou's laboratory, the choice of transistors, Sottsass's design and the end of the project.
Olivetti Programma 101: the 1965 desktop computer
Olivetti's Programma 101: how Pier Giorgio Perotto and his team conceived a programmable desktop machine, with a magnetic card and a design by Bellini.
Pascal and Leibniz: the first mechanical calculators
From the Pascaline to Leibniz's stepped drum: how the first calculating machines worked and why their ideas still live on inside today's computers.
Unix and the C language: the story that began at Bell Labs in 1969
How Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie created Unix and the C language at Bell Labs, why they spread everywhere and which of their ideas we still use daily.
Von Neumann architecture: the idea of the stored program
The 1945 First Draft, the 1948 Manchester Baby and EDSAC: how the stored-program computer was born and what the von Neumann bottleneck really is.
The World Wide Web at CERN: Tim Berners-Lee's 1989 proposal
How Tim Berners-Lee invented the Web at CERN: the 1989 proposal, HTML, HTTP and URLs, the first website and the 1993 decision to make it free for all.
Xerox PARC and the Alto: where the GUI and Ethernet were born
Xerox PARC in the 1970s: the 1973 Alto, Ethernet, the laser printer, Smalltalk, and why Xerox did not turn those inventions into a commercial success.