Computer Timeline Activity
Directions: Using the www.computerhistory.org/timeline and
www.computerhope.com/history websites. Find the answers to the following questions
by year. The computer history website goes from 1939 to 1994. Use the computer hope
website for before 1939 and after 1994. Answer the questions. This involves reading.
2600 BC – What was introduced?
1350 BC – Who developed the first decimal?
300 BC – Who released the books that summarize the mathematical knowledge of the
Greeks?
260 BC – What was introduced to the base-20 counting system?
1492 – What did Di Vinci make?
1500 – What is Di Vinci create?
1613 – What word was first used?
1623 – Who created the first mechanical calculator?
1642 – What is unique about the machine Pascal invents?
1679 – Who demonstrated binary code for the first time?
1804 – What was fully automated by punch cards?
1820 – Who created the Arithometer and why was it significant?
1837 – What is the name of Babbage’s computer?
1868 – What did Scholes patent?
1875 – What telephone company was founded?
1904 – What does Fleming experiment with?
9/9/1917 – What current abbreviation was in a message to Winston Churchill?
1939
For what movie did Disney order eight 200B Audio Oscillators?
1940
What college was George Stibitz lecturing when he performed the first
demonstration of remote access computing?
1941
What computer improved intelligence gathering capabilities for Allied
forces during WWII?
1942
What did Atanasoff-Berry Computer win relating to the invention of the
computer?
1943
What was (MIT) ask to build by the Navy for Project Whirlwind?
1944
What computers existence was not made public until the 1970’s?
1945
Who outlined the architecture of a stored-program computer?
1946
What was the floor space of the ENIAC?
What was the speed of calculations of ENIAC?
1947
Who set off the semiconductor revolution?
1948
What was identified as a fundamental unit of data and the basic unit of
computation?
1949
To whom was Thomas Watson Jr. speaking when he predicted moving
parts in machines would be replaced within a decade?
1950
The first commercially produced computer was bought by what branch of
the military?
1951
The UNIVAC 1 was used by ______________________ and was the first
commercial computer.
1952
UNIVAC was used to predict the election between what two presidential
candidates? Who won?
1953
How many computers did IBM sell of model 701?
1954
Alan Turning was instrumental in what kind of efforts during WWII?
1955
What is the name of the first transistorized computer?
1956
Researchers at what university began on direct keyboard input to a
computer?
1957
How did the language FORTRAN enable a computer to perform repetitive
tasks?
1958
What company created the first integrated circuit?
1959
What does ERMA stand for?
1960
COBOL language was developed for easy readability of programs and
machine independence. What does it stand for?
1961
The IBM 201 has what two items still used in today’s disk drive?
1962
What was the name of the first Interactive Computer game?
1963
ASCII permitted machines from different manufacturers to exchange data
with each sequence representing a letter in the English Alphabet. What
does ASCII stand for?
1964
What language was create at Dartmouth College?
1965
Object-oriented language group data and instructions into
__________________.
1966
John van Geen improved what?
1967
The program LOGO was designed for whom?
1968
The Apollo Guidance Computer debuted on which mission?
1969
Unix was developed by which company?
1970
Name two groundbreaking inventions by XEROX.
Where was the first automatic teller machine (ATM) installed.
1971
Who sent the first email? What was he credited with establishing?
What did IBM invent?
1972
What game was released?
Steve Wonziak built his blue box to do what specifically?
EXTRA CREDIT:
What company did Wonziak start?
1973
Name the earliest commercial, non-kit, personal computer.
1974
Where was the first work station with a built-in mouse for input developed?
1975
Who programmed the Altair 8800?
1976
Who designed the Apple 1 and how much did it sell for?
1977
Who launched the first video game console?
1978
What was created by Texas Instruments that marked the first duplication
of the human voice?
1979
What does MMD1 stand for? What does it allow you to do?
1980
Who created the first hard disk for microcomputers?
1981
MS-DOS BASIC software established a long term partnership between
what two companies?
1982
What did Time Magazine change in 1982?
1983
What program was announced?
What was the name of the first computer with graphical interface?
1984
What does WYSIWYG stand for?
1985
How was NSFNET formed?
1986
What movie company was founded?
1987
IBM’S PS/2 machines were the first IBM’s to have what component or
device?
1988
How did Robert Morris’s worm disable computers?
1989
Maxis released what video game?
1990
HTML stands for?
HTTP stands for?
Microsoft shipped what version of Windows?
1991
What is the most widely used encryption system for e-mail?
1992
What made Terminator 2 so expensive to make?
1993
What made the Mosaic browser special?
Doom was the first ____________________ game.
What was released?
1994
Jerry Young and David Filo founded what company?
Begin using the computerhope website and find a significant achievement for the
years listed below and record it.
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015