History of Computing Milestones

51 question-and-answer flashcards covering key milestones in the history of computing from 1801 to 2022.

What invention by Joseph Jacquard in 1801 introduced punched cards for automated control?

A weaving loom that used punched cards.

Which mathematician conceived the "Difference Engine" in 1821?

Charles Babbage.

Who wrote what is considered the first computer program in 1848?

Ada Lovelace.

What did Scheutz and his son build in 1853?

The first printing calculator.

What system did Herman Hollerith design for the 1890 U.S. Census?

A punch-card tabulating system.

Who proposed the Universal Machine (now called the Turing Machine) in 1936?

Alan Turing.

What large analog computer did Vannevar Bush build in 1931?

The Differential Analyzer.

Who proposed the first electronic-only computer in 1937?

John Atanasoff.

Which two founders started Hewlett-Packard in a garage in 1939?

Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard.

What did Konrad Zuse complete in 1941 that is regarded as the first programmable, fully digital computer?

The Z3 computer.

What computer did Atanasoff and Berry design in 1941?

The Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC).

Name the first general-purpose electronic computer built in 1945.

ENIAC.

What business computer was built by Mauchly and Eckert in 1946?

UNIVAC.

Which revolutionary electronic component was invented at Bell Labs in 1947?

The transistor.

Name either of the early stored-program digital computers developed in 1949.

EDSAC (UK) or CSIRAC (Australia).

Which programming pioneer developed COBOL in 1953?

Grace Hopper.

What was IBM’s first commercial scientific computer, introduced in 1953?

IBM 701.

Which high-level programming language did IBM release in 1954?

FORTRAN.

Who invented the integrated circuit (microchip) in 1958?

Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce.

Who demonstrated modern computer concepts such as the mouse and hypertext in 1968?

Douglas Engelbart.

Which operating system and removable storage medium were invented in 1969?

UNIX and the floppy disk.

What type of memory chip did Intel unveil in 1969?

The first DRAM chip.

Name the first home video-game console released in 1972.

The Magnavox Odyssey.

Which arcade game released by Atari in 1972 popularized video gaming?

Pong.

Who invented Ethernet in 1973?

Robert Metcalfe.

Which computer kit released in 1975 inspired Bill Gates and Paul Allen to found Microsoft?

The Altair 8800 (based on the Intel 8080).

In what year was Apple Computer founded and the Apple I released?

1976.

Give one example of the three notable personal computers introduced in 1977.

Commodore PET, TRS-80, or Apple II.

What was the first spreadsheet program, introduced in 1978?

VisiCalc.

Name the first successful word-processing software launched in 1979.

WordStar.

What IBM personal computer released in 1981 ran MS-DOS?

The IBM PC (code-named Acorn).

Which 1983 Apple computer introduced a graphical user interface?

Apple Lisa.

What was notable about the Gavilan SC released in 1983?

It is considered the first laptop computer.

Which Apple computer announced in 1984 brought the GUI to the mass market?

The Apple Macintosh.

In what year did Microsoft launch Windows?

1985.

Who proposed the World Wide Web in 1989?

Tim Berners-Lee.

Which Intel processor released in 1993 enhanced multimedia performance on PCs?

The Pentium.

Between 1996 and 1998, which search-engine company was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin?

Google.

How much did Microsoft invest in Apple in 1997 to keep the company afloat?

$150 million.

What wireless networking technology was developed in 1999?

Wi-Fi.

What operating system did Apple launch in 2001 alongside AMD’s 64-bit Athlon processor?

Mac OS X.

Which open-source web browser reached version 1.0 in 2004?

Mozilla Firefox.

What mobile operating system did Google acquire in 2005?

Android.

Which Apple notebook released in 2006 was the first to use Intel processors?

The MacBook Pro.

What version of Windows did Microsoft release in 2009?

Windows 7.

Name one of the two devices introduced in 2010 that expanded mobile and cloud computing.

The iPad or the Chromebook.

Which smartwatch and Microsoft operating system were both released in 2015?

Apple Watch and Windows 10.

What achievement in 2016 marked the creation of a programmable quantum computer?

The first reprogrammable quantum computer.

Which U.S. defense agency began molecular computing research in 2017?

DARPA.

What did Google demonstrate with its "Sycamore" processor in 2019?

Quantum supremacy.

Which supercomputer went online in 2022 as the world’s first exascale system?

Frontier.