History of the Personal Computer (PC)

In 1804 Joseph Marie Jacquard invented the 'Jacquard Loom.' This was a device used for weaving and allowed workers to weave with less skill and more productivity. It was automated, controlled by a chain of hole punched cards that would move certain wires.

In 1834, Semen Korsakov was the very first person to begin using punch cards to store and retrieve information in his 'machine for comparing ideas' and a few other machines of his creation. The machines held the punch cards in indexes which were chosen mechanically, and then compared the information on the cards to other data.

In 1837 mathematician Charles Babbage first proposed the Analytical Engine. This machine was to be the very first computer, but due to a lack of government funding it was never completed. However, Babbage's design introduced many crucial functions that we still use, such as the memory and processor. It was also able to change the instructions on the punched cards that it processed.

In 1910 Henry Babbage, the son of Charles Babbage, constructed a small part of the Analytical Engine and used it to make a few inaccurate calculations.

In 1918 William Eccles and F.W. Jordan built the very first 'flip-flop,' named the 'Eccles-Jordan Trigger Circuit.' A flip-flop is a type of circuit that is still used today to store information in computers.

In 1931 Konrad Zuse created 'Z1,' the first freely programmable computer. The Z1 was operated with punch tape (strips of paper with holes punched to store data), and contained many of the same parts that computers today use. It was freely programmable with the use of replaceable punch tape.

In 1939 George Stibitz created the complex number calculator, a non-programmable computer used for -you guessed it- calculating complex numbers. This computer was built out of flash light bulbs and telephone relays. In 1940 it became the first computer to be used long distance with a telephone line, and helped pave the road toward the first digital computers

In 1941 Konrad Zuse (the creator of the Z1) finished the Z3, the very first programmable and completely automatic computer. It was digital and data was stored on punched film. The computer was used for military purposes during World War II.

In 1943 the Electronic Numerical Integrator And Calculator was created by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly. This computer was 1800 square feet and weighed around 50 tons. The computer was regarded as a 'giant brain' as it was able to solve mathematical problems thousands of times faster than a human.

In 1949 the Victoria University of Manchester created Manchester Mark 1, one of the first computers capable of running a pre-stored program. It was used to run a mathematical program for nine hours straight, but its development was terminated shortly after it's creation.