2400 | The counting board much like the later Abacus is believed to be first used by the Babylonians circa. |
300 | The abacus much like the device we know today begins being used. |
100 | The Antikythera mechanism is probably the first mechanical analog computer. It was designed to calculate astronomical positions. |
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0 | Should be: 14 billion 20.. after the BB. |
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1440 | Johannes Gutenberg completes his development of the Gutenberg press, the first printing press. |
1492 | Leonardo da Vinci makes drawing of 13-digit cog-wheeled adder. |
1588 | First British manual bookkeping. |
1600 | William Gilbert coins the term electricity from the Greek word elecktra. |
1617 | John Napier introduced a system called ‘Napiers Bones’, made from horn, bone or ivory the device allowed the capability of multiplying by adding numbers and dividing by subtracting. |
1622 | The circular slide rule is invented by William Oughtred. |
1623 | The first known workable mechanical calculating machine is invented by Germanys Wilhelm Schickard. |
1642 | Frances Blaise Pascal invents a machine, called the Pascaline, that can add and subtract. |
1674 | Germanys Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz creates a machine that can add, subtract, multiply and divide automatically. |
1725 | An early form of punch cards begin to be used in textile looms. |
1774 | The first telegraph is built. |
1780 | American Benjamin Franklin discovers electricity. |
1791 | Charles Babbage is born. |
1804 | Frances Joseph-Marie Jacquard completes his fully automated loom that is programmed by punched cards. |
1820 | Thomas de Colmar creates the first reliable, useful and commercially successful calculating machine. |
1821 | Charles Babbage invents the Difference Engine. |
1826 | The earliest known surviving photograph is taken by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce – a view of a courtyard from his window. |
1827 | George Simon Ohm introduces Ohm’s law in the book ‘Die galvanische Kette, mathematisch bearbeitet’. |
1831 | Joseph Henry of Princeton invents the first working telegraph. |
1832 | Semen Korsakov uses punch cards for the first time to store and search for information. |
1838 | Samuel Morse invents a code – later called Morse code – to transmit messages. |
1847 | Siemens & Halske was founded by Werner von Siemens and Johann Georg Halske on October 12. |
George Boole is the inventor of the prototype of what is now called Boolean logic, which became the basis of the modern digital computer. Boole is regarded in hindsight as a founder of the field of digital electronics. | |
1851 | Western Union was founded. |
1857 | The phonautograph – phonograph – is patented March 25 by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville. The device was capable of transcribing sound to a medium. |
1861 | The first known permanent color photograph is taken of a Tartan Ribbon by the photographer Thomas Sutton. To achieve a color image he took a photo of the ribbon three times, each time with a different color, a method developed by James Clerk Maxwell. |
1866 | The first successful Trans-Atlantic cable is laid from Ireland to Newfoundland. |
1868 | Christopher Sholes invents the typewriter in the United States utilizing the QWERTY keyboard. |
1871 | Charles Babbage passes away October 18. |
1875 | Tanaka Seizo-sho is established in Japan and later merges with another company called shibaura Seisaku-sho to form Tokyo Shibarura Denki. Later this companies name is shortened to Toshiba. |
1876 | Alexander Graham Bell is often credited as inventing the telephone. |
1877 | The microphone is invented in the by Emile Berliner. |
Thomas Edison invents and announces on November 21 the first phonograph capable of recording and replaying sounds. | |
1879 | James Jacob Ritty patents the worlds first cash register November 4. |
1880 | ASME is founded. |
1888 | Eastman Kodak is founded. |
1883 | American Thomas Edison discovers the Edison effect, in which an electric current flows through a vacuum. |
1885 | American Telegraph and Telephone company – AT&T – is incorporated. |
1888 | Nikola Tesla patents the rotating field motor May 1 and later sells the rights to George Westinghouse. This invention helps create and transmit AC power and today is still a method for generating and distributing AC power. |
William S. Burroughs patents a printing adding machine. | |
Friedrich Reintzer discovers liquid crystal. | |
1890 | Herman Hollerith developed a method for machines to to record and store information onto punch cards to be used for the US census. He later formed the company we know as IBM today. |
1891 | Phillips is founded. |
1897 | Karl Ferdinand Braun invents the Cathode-Ray Oscilloscope. |
1898 | Alcatel is founded. |