First Inventions in History

First Generation of Computers (1942-1955)

The beginning of commercial computer age is from UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer). It was developed by two scientists Mauchly and Echert at the Census Department of United States in 1947. The first generation computers were used during 1942-1955. They were based on vacuum tubes. Examples of first generation computers are ENIVAC and UNIVAC-1.

Advantages

• Vacuum tubes were the only electronic component available during those days.
• Vacuum tube technology made possible to make electronic digital computers.
• These computers could calculate data in millisecond.

Disadvantages

• The computers were very large in size.
• They consumed a large amount of energy.
• They heated very soon due to thousands of vacuum tubes.
• They were not very reliable.
• Air conditioning was required.
• Constant maintenance was required.
• Non-portable.
• Costly commercial production.
• Limited commercial use.
• Very slow speed.
• Limited programming capabilities.
• Used machine language only.
• Used magnetic drums which provide very less data storage.
• Used punch cards for input.
• Not versatile and very faulty.

Second Generation Computers (1955-1964)

The second generation computers used transistors. The scientists at Bell laboratories developed transistor in 1947. These scientists include John Barden, William Brattain and William Shockley. The size of the computers was decreased by replacing vacuum tubes with transistors. The examples of second generation computers are IBM 7094 series, IBM 1400 series and CDC 164etc.

Advantages

• Smaller in size as compared to the first generation computers.
• The 2nd generation Computers were more reliable
• Used less energy and were not heated.
• Wider commercial use
• Better portability as compared to the first generation computers.
• Better speed and could calculate data in microseconds
• Used faster peripherals like tape drives, magnetic disks, printer etc.
• Used Assembly language instead of Machine language.
• Accuracy improved.

Disadvantages

• Cooling system was required
• Constant maintenance was required
• Commercial production was difficult
• Only used for specific purposes
• Costly and not versatile
• Puch cards were used for input.

Third Generation Computers (1964-1975)

The Third generation computers used the integrated circuits (IC). Jack Kilby developed the concept of integrated circuit in 1958. It was an important invention in the computer field. The first IC was invented and used in 1961. The size of an IC is about ¼ square inch. A single IC chip may contain thousands of transistors. The computer became smaller in size, faster, more reliable and less expensive. The examples of third generation computers are IBM 370, IBM System/360, UNIVAC 1108 and UNIVAC AC 9000 etc.

Advantages

• Smaller in size as compared to previous generations.
• More reliable.
• Used less energy
• Produced less heat as compared to the previous two generations of computers.
• Better speed and could calculate data in nanoseconds.
• Used fan for heat discharge to prevent damage.
• Maintenance cost was low because hardware failure is reare.
• Totally general purpose
• Could be used for high-level languages.
• Good storage
• Versatile to an extent
• Less expensive
• Better accuracy
• Commercial production increased.
• Used mouse and keyboard for input.

Disadvantages

• Air conditioning was required.
• Highly sophisticated technology required for the manufacturing of IC chips.

Fourth Generation Computers (1975-Present)

The fourth generation computers started with the invention of Microprocessor. The Microprocessor contains thousands of ICs. Ted Hoff produced the first microprocessor in 1971 for Intel. It was known as Intel 4004. The technology of integrated circuits improved rapidly. The LSI (Large Scale Integration) circuit and VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) circuit was designed. It greatly reduced the size of computer. The size of modern Microprocessors is usually one square inch. It can contain millions of electronic circuits. The examples of fourth generation computers are Apple Macintosh & IBM PC.

Advantages

• More powerful and reliable than previous generations.
• Small in size
• Fast processing power with less power consumption
• Fan for heat discharging and thus to keep cold.
• No air conditioning required.
• Totally general purpose
• Commercial production
• Less need of repair.
• Cheapest among all generations
• All types of High level languages can be used in this type of computers

Disadvantages

• The latest technology is required for manufacturing of Microprocessors.

Fifth Generation Computers (Present & Beyond)

Scientists are working hard on the 5th generation computers with quite a few breakthroughs. It is based on the technique ofArtificial Intelligence (AI). Computers can understand spoken words & imitate human reasoning. Can respond to its surroundings using different types of sensors. Scientists are constantly working to increase the processing power of computers. They are trying to create a computer with real IQ with the help of advanced programming and technologies. IBM Watson computeris one example that outsmarts Harvard University Students. The advancement in modern technologies will revolutionize the computer in future.

Lets discuss about first inventors:

1. 
   

   First computer programmer:

   Though Ada Lovelace is often referred to as the first computer programmer, there is disagreement over the extent of her contributions, and whether she can accurately be called a programmer.

2. 1975–1981: Microsoft boots up

   
   

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

   

   Microsoft co-founders Paul Allen (left) and Bill Gates

   It’s the 1970s. At work, we rely on typewriters. If we need to copy a document, we likely use a mimeograph or carbon paper. Few have heard of microcomputers, but two young computer enthusiasts, Bill Gates and Paul Allen, see that personal computing is a path to the future.

   In 1975, Gates and Allen form a partnership called Microsoft. Like most start-ups, Microsoft begins small, but has a huge vision—a computer on every desktop and in every home. During the next years, Microsoft begins to change the ways we work.

   The dawn of MS‑DOS

   In June 1980, Gates and Allen hire Gates’ former Harvard classmate Steve Ballmer to help run the company. The next month, IBM approaches Microsoft about a project code-named "Chess." In response, Microsoft focuses on a new operating system—the software that manages, or runs, the computer hardware and also serves to bridge the gap between the computer hardware and programs, such as a word processor. It’s the foundation on which computer programs can run. They name their new operating system "MS‑DOS."

   When the IBM PC running MS‑DOS ships in 1981, it introduces a whole new language to the general public. Typing “C:” and various cryptic commands gradually becomes part of daily work. People discover the backslash (\) key.

   MS‑DOS is effective, but also proves difficult to understand for many people. There has to be a better way to build an operating system.

   Geek trivia: MS‑DOS stands for Microsoft Disk Operating System.
3. First Operating System:
4. The first computers did not have operating systems. By the early 1960s, commercial computer vendors were supplying quite extensive tools for streamlining the development, scheduling, and execution of jobs on batch processing systems. Examples were produced by UNIVAC and Control Data Corporation, amongst others. 
   
   Through the 1960s, several major concepts were developed, driving the development of operating systems. The development of the IBM System/360 produced a family of mainframe computers available in widely differing capacities and price points, for which a single operating system OS/360 was planned (rather than developing ad-hoc programs for every individual model). This concept of a single OS spanning an entire product line was crucial for the success of System/360 and, in fact, IBM's current mainframe operating systems are distant descendants of this original system; applications written for the OS/360 can still be run on modern machines. OS/360 also contained another important advance: the development of the hard disk permanent storage device (which IBM called DASD). Another key development was the concept of time-sharing: the idea of sharing the resources of expensive computers amongst multiple computer users interacting in real time with the system. Time sharing allowed all of the users to have the illusion of having exclusive access to the machine; the Multics timesharing system was the most famous of a number of new operating systems developed to take advantage of the concept. 
5. DOS was the first operating system to my knowledge that allowed work T0 be saved and read from disks (Disk Operating System)
   commodore basic was not an operating system
6.    First Virus Created:
7. 
   
   
   
   1. The first ever computer virus was developed in 1986 by two Pakistani brothers in Lahore Pakistan. The first computer virus named "Brain" was designed by Amjad Farooq Alvi and Basit Farooq Alvi with the intention of determining the piracy of a software written by them.
   2. First Computer Game:
   3. 
      
   1. The first computer game is generally assumed to be the gameSpacewar!, developed in 1962 at MIT (Stephen Russell a.o.). Spacewaroriginally ran on a PDP-1 computer the size of a large car.
   2. First Keyboard Invent:
   3. 
      

      1. Today I found out the origin of the QWERTY keyboard. The first typewriter was introduced to the United States in 1868 by Christopher Latham Sholes. His first attempt to build a typing device consisted of a crude and sluggish machine that was far from perfect.

      
      
   4. First Mouse Invent:
   1. 1. The first computer mouse was publicly unveiled in 1968 by its inventor,Douglas C. Engelbart. He invented the computer mouse in 1964 — two decades before it would ship with the first Apple Macintosh.
   4. 
   5. First Floppy Disk :
   6. 
      
      The earliest floppy disks, developed in the late 1960s, were 8 inches (200 mm) in diameter;^[1] they became commercially available in 1971.^[2] These disks and associated drives were produced and improved upon by IBM and other companies such as Memorex, Shugart Associates, andBurroughs Corporation.^[3] The phrase "floppy disk" appeared in print as early as 1970,^[4] and although in 1973 IBM announced its first media as "Type 1 Diskette" the industry continued to use the terms "floppy disk" or "floppy".
   7. First RAM chip Invent:
   8. The first practical form of random-access memory was the Williams tube starting in 1947. It stored data as electrically charged spots on the face of a cathode ray tube. Since the electron beam of the CRT could read and write the spots on the tube in any order, memory was random access. The capacity of the Williams tube was a few hundred to around a thousand bits, but it was much smaller, faster, and more power-efficient than using individual vacuum tube latches.
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   10. First Computer Name:
   11. 
       
       1. The ABC was at the center of a patent dispute relating to the invention of the computer, which was resolved in 1973 when it was shown that ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer)co-designer John Mauchly had come to examine the ABC shortly after it became functional.
       2. First Hard Disk Invent:
       3. A hard disk (also known as HD or HDD) drive is common data storage for computers. Hard disks use magnets to store information. So who invented hard disk?
          The hard disk was invented on September13, 1956 by IBM team led by Rey Johnson (considered as "father" of the disk drive). Earlier hard disk drives were large and cumbersome devices. A 5 or 20 megabyte hard disk capacity was considered large in early 70 and 80's.
          There are several different types of interface for hard drives. The most common is the IDE or SATA interface, which is found on most home desktop PC's.
          
          
          For high-end applications and business the SCSI or SAS interface is very popular. Again, there are several types of SCSI interface. In order to safeguard against data loss or corruption and to improve performance you need to useRAID (there are many different configurations to choose from).

       4. The First Microprocessor

          The First Microprocessor - Intel's Beginning
          Intel was founded on July 18, 1968 by Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore, and Andrew Grove.   At the time the trio had a very specific goal of making semiconductor memory practical and affordable. 
          See silicon chip memory was literally around 100 times more expensive than the more common magnetic memory used at the time. Robert Noyce felt that all they had to pull off to capture the market was to reduce the cost by nearly a factor of one hundred.  Well that is exactly what they set out to do. 
          Within 2 years Intel was a very successful memory chip manufacturer who in fact introduced the whopping 1Kb memory chip which was actually larger than anything else at the time.  While it wasn’t much compared to today’s standards, the chip stored 128 bytes of memory and it was known as the 1103 dynamic random access memory (DRAM).  In fact this chip became the world’s largest selling semiconductor by the end of the next year.  Another milestone for Intel at the time was that the company also grew to more than 100 employees.
          Intel’s success in the memory market drew in a business proposal from a Japanese manufacturer named Busicom who asked Intel to design various chips for high-performance programmable calculators.  Busicom however wanted around 12 custom chips which Intel engineer Ted Hoff rejected because it simply wasn’t practical.  Instead he designed a single chip general purpose logic device which fetched its application instructions from semiconductor memory. 
   12. First Printer Invent:
   13. Gutenberg was the first European to use movable type printing, in around 1439. Among his many contributions to printing are: the invention of a process for mass-producing movable type; the use of oil-based ink; and the use of a wooden printing press similar to the agricultural screw presses of the period.
       First Invention Of Scanner:
   14. Raymond Vahan Damadian (born March 16, 1936) is an American of Armenian origin, medical practitioner, and inventor of the first MR (Magnetic Resonance) Scanning Machine. His research into sodium and potassium in living cells led him to his first experiments with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) which caused him to first propose the MR body scanner in 1969. Damadian discovered that tumors and normal tissue can be distinguished in vivo by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) because of theirrelaxation times, both T₁ (spin-lattice relaxation) or T₂ (spin-spin relaxation). Damadian was the first to perform a full body scan of a human being in 1977 to diagnose cancer. Damadian invented an apparatus and method to use NMR safely and accurately to scan the human body, a method now well known as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

       Damadian has received several prizes: In 2001, the Lemelson-MIT Prize Program bestowed its $100,000 Lifetime Achievement Award on Damadian as "the man who invented the MRI scanner." He went on to collaborate with Wilson Greatbach, one early developer of the implantable pacemaker, to develop an MRI-compatible pacemaker. The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia gave its recognition of Damadian's work on MRI with the Bower Award in Business Leadership.He was also named Knights of Vartan 2003 "Man of the Year". He received a National Medal of Technology in 1988 and was inducted in the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1989.
   15. Invention Of Monitor:
   16. 
       
       1. John Ericsson was one of the 19th century's most creative engineers and inventors. Born July 31, 1803, in Värmland, Sweden,Ericsson joined the Swedish Army at age 17.
       2. 
          
          

          First Motherboard

          • The IBM Personal Computer featured the first motherboard as we know it, though IBM called it a “planar.” It housed the computer’s CPU and RAM, provided audio as well as many other functions, supplied ports for keyboard and cassette tape, and had expansion slots for add-on cards, as well as a system called a bus to manage these information flows. Released in 1981, the original PC, with its simplicity and openness, set the standard for many computer hardware specifications in “IBM-compatible” computers — now often simply called “PCs” — for years to come.