Teletype Model 33
Teletype ships its Model 33 keyboard and punched tape terminal, used for input and output on many early microcomputers.
Spacewar game
MIT students Slug Russell, Shag Graetz, and Alan Kotok write Spacewar, considered the first interactive computer game.
Sketchpad
Ivan Sutherland, for his MIT doctoral thesis, creates and demonstrates a graphic system called Sketchpad. It’s the first program to use windows, icons, and a light pen, allowing easy manipulation of graphics and text onscreen.
The CDC 3600 computer
The CDC (Control Data Corporation) 3600 was the first computer at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, USA. It had 32,700 48-bit words of memory and used a FORTRAN compiler (an early computer programming language that consisted of holes punched into card).
The mouse
Douglas Engelbart receives a patent on the mouse pointing device for computers. The mouse is a block of wood with a single button.
ASCII
Finalization of the ASCII code (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) that enables machines from different manufacturers to exchange data.
IBM System 360
IBM announces System 360, a family of computers that can be used for science and business and share the same software, printer, and tape drives.
The touchtone phone
Touchtone phone is introduced.
Gordon Moore
Intel founder Gordon Moore suggests that integrated circuits would double in complexity every year. This later becomes known as Moore’s law.
BASIC
John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz develop the BASIC programming language at the Dartmouth College. BASIC is an acronym for Beginners All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code.
The PDP-8
Digital Equipment Company’s first successful minicomputer, the PDP-8. At $18,000, soon 50,000 are sold.
The Rand tablet
Rand Laboratories develops the Rand Tablet, which would translate handwriting into typed text.
The mother of all demos
Douglas Englebart of the Pentagon’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) demonstrates a new way of interacting with a computer using a keyboard, mouse, and a graphic rather than a text-based interface. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5PgQS3ZBWA
Intel
Intel Corporation is founded in Santa Clara, CA, by Fairchild veterans Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore. Andy Groove leaves Fairchild to become Intel’s employee.
Barcode scanner
Barcode scanner is invented.
Intel 3101
The first solid state memory chip. Intel’s first product, this is a 64-bit SRAM (Static Random Access Memory). It applied the newly developed Schottky Bipolar technology, which made it twice as fast as earlier implementations.
The RS232-C standard
The RS232-C standard for communication permits computers and peripheral devices to transmit information serially that is, one bit a time.
The Intel 1101
Intel introduces the 1101 chip, a 256 SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) programmable memory. The 1101 was developed in parallel with the 3101, but lost the race to be Intel’s first product. It was produced with Silicon gate MOS (Metal Oxide Semiconductor) technology, which gave Intel the edge it needed to produce high density memories. This was the world’s first high-volume MOS semiconductor memory, and the first use of MOS silicone gate technology.
AMD
Advanced Micro Devices Incorporated is founded.