- :: 1950 ::
- The SEAC computer is constructed, and is the first stored program computer completed in the U.S. It was also the first computer to use all diode logic, which was more reliable than vacuum tube. It’s sibling machine, the SWAC would be completed shortly after.
- The Pilot ACE, one of Britain’s first computers, runs it’s first program.
- Alan Turing introduces the Turing test in his paper “Computing Machinery and Intelligence”.
- The ERA-1101, the first commercial computer and early magnetic storage device, is introduced.
- :: 1951 ::
- The Lyons Electronic Office (LEO) becomes England’s first commercial computer. It was created at the behest of the Lyons Tea Co. president.
- The UNIVAC was the first commercial computer to gain widespread attention when it was delivered to the U.S. Census Bureau. It cost a whopping $750,000 and an additional $185,000 for a high speed printer.
- The Whirlwind computer is brought online for the first time.
- The EDVAC computer is operational.
- :: 1952 ::
- The IAS computer is operational.
- The first programming compiler, A-0 Compiler, is completed by Grace Hopper.
- The 702, the first high speed magnetic tape storage system, is announced by IBM. It was typically sold alongside the IBM 701.
- :: 1953 ::
- IBM begins to emerge with the IBM 701 computer. It’s use of speed coding trimmed weeks off the programming schedule, and was the company’s first electronic computer. 19 were sold to research companies, the federal government, and aircraft companies.
- The AVIDAC computer is operational for the first time.
- The Burroughs Adding Machine Company is renamed to Burroughs Corporation. The company would be second only to IBM in the mainframe market by the mid 1960s.
- The first color television broadcast hits the airwaves.
- :: 1954 ::
- A pivotal event came about when the junction transistor’s price came down to $2.50. Regency Electronics used it in the first transistor radio, which sold for $50.
- The IBM 650 magnetic drum calculator establishes itself as the first mass produced computer. It sold 450 in 1 year, and spun at 12,500 rpm.
- The TRADIC is introduced.
- The NORC (Naval Ordnance Research Calculator) is delivered to the U.S. Navy.
- The IBM 704 is introduced.
- :: 1955 ::
- The SAGE computer is operational, it is one of the largest ever built.
- :: 1956 ::
- M.I.T. introduces the TX-0, the first fully programmable, transistorized computer. It featured the first “bottled” transistor, hosted a 3-D tic tac toe game and a maze where mice found martinis and became increasingly drunk.
- IBM takes another stride with the 305 RAMAC, the first computer to use magnetic disk storage.
- The Bendix G-15 is produced by the Bendix Corporation.
- IBM introduces the first hard disk drive.
- The first cordless TV remote control is invented.
- The Ferranti Pegasus 1 is operational.
- :: 1957 ::
- FORTRAN is created, which enabled computers to perform repetitive tasks from a single set of instructions using loops. The first commercial FORTRAN program was run at Westinghouse.
- Seymour Cray founds the Control Data Corp. (CDC)
- In response to Sputnik, ARPA is created.
- NCR emerges with their first transistor computer, the NCR 304.
- Fairchild Semiconductor is founded.
- :: 1958 ::
- The Kilby integrated circuit is created, proving that capacitors and resistors can exist on the same piece of semiconductor.
- Researchers at Bell Labs invent the modem.
- Bolt, Beranek, and Newman (BBN) is created. The company would later create some of the most fundamental pieces of today’s computer age.
- The LISP programming language is invented.
- DEC ships it’s first products.
- NEC builds the NEAC 1101, Japan’s first electronic computer.
- One of the earliest commercially successful transistorized computers, the CDC 1604, is introduced.
- :: 1959 ::
- M.I.T introduces APT, a language used to instruct milling machine operations. Created by the Servomechanisms Laboratory, it demonstrated computer assisted manufacturing.
- The first transistorized IBM computer is introduced. The 7030, aka The Stretch, sat at the top of the heap with 64-bit word.
- ERMA is created. The digitized numbers on checks were created for Bank of America so that a special scanner could read numbers pre-printed in metallic ink.
- The U.S. Army Signal Corps brings the MOBIDIC (MOBile Digial Computer) online for the first time. It was designed and built on contract by Sylvania.
- The first fully transistorized mobile radios are introduced by Motorola.
- The first office copier, the Xerox 914, arrives.