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Pioneers of Computing Innovation

Individuals and organizations that shaped history..

Computing Innovations

←1940→

  • ENIAC, the 1st generally-programmable computer by the US Army (1946)
  • PLANKALKUL, the 1st High-Level Programming Language by Konrad Zuse (1948)

←1950→

  • SIMON, the 1st Personal Computer by Edmund Berkeley (1950)
  • AN/FSQ-7, the 1st computer with RTG Display by IBM (1951)
  • HD, the world's 1st computer hard disk drive (IBM, 1956)
  • FORTRAN, the 1st High-Level Programming Language by John W. Backus (1957)
  • BELL 101 MODEM, the first commercial-use modem (Bell Laboratories, 1959)

←1960→

  • PACKET SWITCHING (theory) by Leonard Kleinrock (MIT, 1961)
  • BASIC PROGRAMMING language by John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz (Dartmouth College, 1964)
  • SIMULA, the 1st Object-Oriented Programming Language by Ole-Johan Dahl & Kristen Nygaard (1967)
  • PEROTTINA (Programma 101), the 1st commercial desktop computer by Pier Perotto (Olivetti, 1965)
  • ARPANET, the father of today's internet by the US Army (1967)
  • FD (Floppy disk drive), invented by IBM (1967)
  • DRAM (Dynamic Random-Access Memory) by Robert Dennard (1968)
  • UNIX, the large-scale networking OS by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and other developers (Bell Labs, 1969)
  • LASER PRINTER, invented by Gary Starkweather (Xerox, 1969)

←1970→

  • INTEL 1103, the 1st DRAM chip (1970)
  • TCP/IP protocol suite by Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn (1970)
  • INTEL 4004, the 1st CPU on a single chip by Federico Faggin, Ted Hoff, and Stanley Mazor (1971)
  • eMail, invented by Ray Tomlinson (ARPANET, 1971)
  • C Programming language, invented by Dennis Ritchie (1972)
  • ETHERNET, invented by Robert Metcalfe (Xerox, 1973)
  • XEROX ALTO, 1st personal computer with a mouse-driven GUI (1973)
  • SEQUEL (later SQL), invented by Donald Chamberlin and Raymond Boyce (IBM, 1974)
  • APPLE 1, the 1st computer with a single-circuit board and ROM by Steve Wozniak (Apple, 1976)
  • COMMODORE PET, 1st widely-available educational computer (Commodore, 1977)

←1980→

  • VRAM (Video RAM), by F. Dill, D. Ling, and R. Matick (IBM, 1980)
  • MIDI, the 1st MIDI interface designed by Dave Smith and Chet Wood (1981)
  • ARM1, the 1st commercial RISC processor by Sophie Wilson and Steve Furber (Acorn, 1985)
  • AMIGA, the 1st multimedia personal computer (Commodore, 1985)

←1990→

  • World Wide Web, by Tim Berners-Lee (CERN, 1991)
  • Linux OS, by Linus Torvalds (1991)
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Sega Mega Drive

Released in 1988 in Japan as the Mega Drive (MD) and in 1989 in North America as the Genesis, the Sega Mega Drive is a fourth-generation 16-bit console and the successor to the 8-bit Sega Master System. The console was originally launched to compete with the Nintendo NES and the NEC PC Engine, however, it ended up competing with the Nintendo SNES.

The Mega Drive is a fourth-generation 16-bit console and the successor to the successful 8-bit Master System

  • Initially sold for $189 in the US (1989) something like $470 in today's money
  • It is estimated that it sold more than 30.5 million units worldwide
  • There was a Mega Drive 2 console (released in 1993), however, the Sega community considers the original Mega Drive as the best MD console ever built

Read more: Sega Mega Drive

Atari Lynx Handheld

Atari Lynx: The First Color Handheld Console

Atari Lynx I

The Atari Lynx was released in the U.S. in September 1989, and in Europe and Japan in 1990. It was the first handheld game console with a color LCD screen. Production stopped in 1995.

  • Originally sold for $179.99 (about $440 in 2024 money)
  • Around 2 million units were sold worldwide

Read more: Atari Lynx Handheld

GameBoy

Game Boy (GB) and Game Boy Color (GBA)

Released in April 1989, the GameBoy is an 8-bit handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo.

Released in April 1989, the Game Boy is an 8-bit handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. Its immense success kept it in production until 2003.

  • Launch Price (US): $89.99 (approx. $212 in 2023 money)
  • Total Sales: Approximately 118.5 million units sold worldwide (Game Boy and Game Boy Color combined)

Read more: GameBoy

Atari Jaguar

Atari Jaguar Games Console

Released in November 1993 and discontinued in 1996, the Atari Jaguar was a 32-bit video game console notable for its advanced hardware and unique architecture. Despite being marketed as "the only 64-bit system," it was, in fact, a 32-bit system with 64-bit elements in its memory architecture. The Jaguar featured four specialized processors capable of delivering high-quality graphics and sound but proved challenging for developers due to its complex design.

  • At launch, the Jaguar was priced at $249.99 in the U.S. (equivalent to around $530 in 2023 money)
  • It is estimated that 150,000-250,000 units were ever sold

Read more: Atari Jaguar

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