Timeline

595595

505

Unknown

Since you can’t have a computer without 1s and 0s, the invention of the number zero is significant. You can argue about whether this happened in Egypt, Mesopotamia or India. We opt for India, as Asian Indians were the first to treat zero as a number and have used the decimal point since year 595.
16071607

1607

Jamestown, Virginia

Colonists begin mining, botanical collection, and manufacturing at Jamestown, the first successful English settlement in the Americas.
16421642

1642

France

Blaise Pascal builds the Pascal Adding Machine – the first workable calculator. This is more significant than Napier’s bones, the development of logarithmic tables or some mechanical devices, like the watch or the quadrant, because the device does the computing.
16791679

1679

Germany

Gottfried Leibniz perfects the binary number system.
17721772

1772

France

The Chemical Revolution. Lavoisier proves the chemical composition of water using the quantitative method; the phlogistic theory is abandoned in favor of modern methods.
17741774

1774

Northumberland, Pennsylvania

English chemist Joseph Priestley discovers that air is a mixture of gases, among them the colorless and highly reactive gas we now know as oxygen.
18011801

1801

France

Joseph Jacquard builds his textile loom using the concept of a punch card to weave intricate designs into cloth. The Jacquard Loom is arguably the foundation of the programmable machine.
18331833

1833

United Kingdom

Charles Babbage had the idea for the Analytical Engine, and although he didn’t ultimately build it, it set the foundation for all modern computers. Augusta Ada Byron, Countess of Lovelace, who worked with him, proposed using punch cards like those used in Jacquard’s loom to make the Analytical Engine programmable, and is credited with proposing the first algorithm.
18461846

1846

New Orleans, Louisiana

Multiple Effect Evaporator. Norbert Rillieux invents the multiple effect evaporator in feat of chemical engineering that revolutionized the sugar processing industry.
18541854

1854

United Kingdom

George Boole creates Boolean algebra, laying the foundation for Information Theory. This is where “and,” “or” and “not” come into mathematical formulas. This formula was later used by Charles Sanders Peirce to develop the idea that Boole’s logic lends itself to electrical switching circuits. It would be 50 years before Bertrand Russell presented the idea that this is the foundation of all mathematics, and another 30 years until Claude Shannon incorporated the symbolic “true or false” logic into electrical switching circuits.
18541854

1854

Pennsylvania, USA

Samuel Kier establishes the world's first commercial still for refining crude oil into kerosene and works to develop a clean-burning kerosene lamp.
18631863

1863

USA

Thomas Edison discovers thermionic emissions, the basis of the vacuum tube, which, in turn, becomes one of the building blocks of the entire electronics industry. When the vacuum tube is invented, in 1904, it enables amplified radio and telephone technology
18691869

1869

Rhode Island, USA

Eben Horsford and the Rumford Chemical Works produce the first true, all-in-one baking powder, making baking easier, quicker and more reliable.
18861886

1886

Pennsylvania, USA

Production of Aluminum. Charles Martin Hall produces aluminum by electrochemistry, turning aluminum from a semiprecious metal into the familiar material we know today.
18871887

1887

New Jersey, USA

Thomas Edison's West Orange Lab. Edison opens his West Orange, N.J., laboratory. The complex is the world’s most advanced and serves as a model for future corporate research labs.
18921892

1892

North Carolina, USA

Production of Calcium Carbide and Acetylene. The electric-arc process for producing calcium carbide and acetylene is discovered by accident when Thomas Willson tries to make aluminum.
18951895

1895

North Carolina, USA

Atomic Weight of Oxygen. E. W. Morley publishes a new value for the atomic weight of oxygen, setting a lasting standard and providing insight into the atomic theory of matter.
18961896

1896

Missouri, USA

The National Carbon Company develops the six-inch, 1.5 volt Columbia battery, the first sealed dry cell battery mass-manufactured.
19001900

1900

Michigan, USA

Biomedical Research at Rockefeller Univ. Rockefeller University is founded as the first U.S. institution devoted to biomedical research and the molecular basis of life.
19051905

1905

Kansas, USA

Helium in Natural Gas. H. Cady and D. McFarland identify helium in a natural gas sample. Before this, helium was thought to be one of the rarest elements on Earth.
19061906

1906

New Hampshire, USA

Separation of Rare Earth Elements. Charles James devises new techniques for separating rare earth elements, producing samples desired by laboratories worldwide.
19071907

1907

Washington, D.C. USA

Bakelite: The World’s First Synthetic Plastic. Leo Hendrik Baekeland produces a sample of Bakelite, the world’s first synthetic plastic, ushering in a new era of man-made materials.
19071907

1907

Ohio, USA

Chemical Abstracts Service. The first issue of 'Chemical Abstracts' appears. In time, CAS became a vital resource in the work of chemical researchers worldwide.
19251925

1925

United Kingdom

You could argue the TV gets its roots from fax transmissions back in 1843, but when amplification made television practical, Scottish inventor John Logie Baird employed the Nipkow disk in his prototype video systems.
19281928

1928

Calcutta, India

The Raman Effect. Indian scientist C. V. Raman makes an important observation about light scattering by liquids, identifying a phenomenon now known as the Raman effect.
19281928

1928

London, U.K

Discovery of Penicillin. Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin at St. Mary’s Hospital, which leads to the introduction of antibiotics that have greatly reduced deaths from infection.
19281928

1928

Delaware, USA

Wallace Carothers' Polymers. Carothers begins his pioneering studies of giant molecules, discovering the early synthetic materials neoprene and nylon.
19281928

1928

New Jersey, USA

Thomas Edison's Botanical Lab. Edison joins with Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone to establish the Edison Botanic Research Corporation to investigate a domestic source of rubber.
19301930

1930

Minnesota, USA

Scotch Transparent Tape. 3M introduces Scotch tape, the first waterproof adhesive tape. It soon becomes a necessity for budget-minded households during the Great Depression.
19361936

1936

UK

Alan Turing provided the basis for the development of automatic programming, demonstrating that computing machines can simulate more complicated problems. If it wasn’t for him the Z2, the first digital computer which was used to break Germany’s Enigma machine, would not have been built. And although the dream of artificial intelligence was first thought of in Indian philosophies such as those of Charvaka, dating back to 3500 years, Turing championed the notion of AI for computers, leading to the Turing test
19371937

1937

Pennsylvania, USA

Houdry Process. The first full-scale catalytic cracker for producing gasoline from petroleum goes on-stream, improving the octane rating and making today’s efficient gas engines possible.
19371937

1937

Hungary

Discovery of Vitamin C. Albert Szent-Györgyi, a Hungarian biochemist, receives the Nobel Prize for his discoveries about the biological importance of vitamin C.
19381938

1938

Mexico City, Mexico

Mexican Steroid Industry. Russell Marker begins research on a synthetic method for the production of progesterone, a key hormone used in oral contraceptives.
19391939

1939

New Jersey, USA

Selman Waksman and Antibiotics. Waksman and his team at Rutgers University begin a search for microbes that fight bacteria, discovering the powerful antibiotic streptomycin.
19411941

1941

Ohio, USA

Kem-Tone Wall Finish. Sherwin-Williams Company introduces the first successful waterborne wall paint and spurs the expansion of 'do it yourself' painting following WWII.
19421942

1942

Louisiana, USA

Fluid Bed Reactor. The first commercial fluid bed reactor opens at the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, refinery of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey.
19421942

1942

New Jersey, USA

U.S. Synthetic Rubber Program. Strategic nationwide research results in the production of the first bale of synthetic rubber, a critical material for the U.S. during World War II.
19461946

1946

New York, USA

Polymer Research Institute. Herman Mark establishes PRI, the first academic facility in the U.S. devoted to the study and teaching of polymer science.
19461946

1946

Tennessee, USA

Production and Distribution of Radioisotopes. Oak Ridge National Laboratory delivers the first radioisotope produced for peacetime pursuits like cancer therapy and diagnostics.
19481948

1948

California, USA

Frozen Foods. Researchers at the USDA begin studying frozen fruits, juices, and other products, developing improvements in the quality and stability of frozen foods.
19481948

1948

USA

John Bardeen invents the transistor
19491949

1949

USA

An Wang invents magnetic core memory. Although he didn’t build it but sold the patent to IBM for $400K to get the funds to start his company, the idea was not practical until Jay Forrester at MIT enhanced the idea to put it into a matrix. This opened greater practical applications for the technology, which in turn led to the later development of computer memory by Fred Williams
19511951

1951

Michigan, USA

Polypropylene and HDPE. While attempting to convert propylene into gasoline, Phillips Petroleum chemists discover polypropylene and high-density polyethylene.
19521952

1952

USA

Grace Hopper was a star. She pioneered the idea of using higher-level computer languages and built the concept of a compiler, so we could program in words, not numbers. This gave rise to COBOL, the first language to run on multiple types of computers.
19531953

1953

Pennsylvania, USA

Acrylic Emulsion Technology. Using acrylic technology, Rohm and Hass introduces paints that are easier to prepare and perform better than traditional paints.
19531953

1953

USA

Remington Rand releases the first example of free and open-source software with its A-2 system, developed at its UNIVAC division. Without this example it’s doubtful IBM would have lead the market in releasing all of its mainframe code in open source, which would have slowed the innovation of the entire software/technology market.
19571957

1957

California, USA

Radiation Chemistry. Cook, Meikle, and Muchmore found Raychem Corporation, applying the new science of radiation chemistry to crosslink polymeric materials.
19571957

1957

USA

The airline industry develops the semi-automatic business research environment (SABRE) with two connected mainframes, the start of computer networking. This project borrowed some logic from the military SAGE project, but it is nonetheless the foundation of networking, which really took off after Robert Metcalfe created Ethernet for Xerox. The current internet gets it roots from ARPANET in 1969, the first network to implement TCP/IP and the ancestor of today’s Internet.
19581958

1958

Ohio, USA

Carbon Fibers. Roger Bacon demonstrates the first high performance carbon fibers, the strongest and stiffest materials by weight known to man.
19601960

1960

Texas, USA

Sohio Acrylonitrile Process. The first facility using the Sohio process to produce acrylonitrile, a key raw material for synthetic fiber and plastics makers, opens.
19601960

1960

California, USA

NMR Spectrometer. Varian Associates introduces the first nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer, an indispensable tool for chemists.
19611961

1961

Maryland, USA

Deciphering the Genetic Code. Nirenberg and Matthaei at the National Institutes of Health discover the key to breaking the genetic code. Five years later, Nirenberg’s team deciphers DNA.
19611961

1961

Maryland, USA

John F. Kennedy gives the “I believe we should go to the moon” speech, which puts funding and research into computer science.
19621962

1962

Oklahoma, USA

Nobel Gas Chemistry. Neil Bartlett demonstrates the first reaction of a noble gas, previously thought to be inert. Bartlett’s reaction begins the field of noble gas chemistry.
19631963

1963

USA

The database is critical to today’s computing environment. The first reference I can find to a commercial database came from General Electric’s release of IDS. Relational databases came later – Ted Codd’s paper “A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks,” was seminal (1970). No mention of relational databases is complete without a hat-tip to Mike Stonebraker. Both Codd and Stonebraker are recipients of the Turing Award
19641964

1964

USA

IBM releases the IBM System/360, the first computer system to offer the concept of modular, compatible general purpose-computing. This led to the expansion of computer systems and the foundation of the personal computer market. Some would argue that the DEC PDP-11, developed in 1975, really led to the PC market. THE PDP-11 was just easier to program, had general-purpose registers and interrupts, and could be manufactured with semi-skilled labor.
19641964

1964

USA

The first concept of a mouse and a graphical user interface is demonstrated by Doug Engelbart. It wasn’t until 10 years later, however, that Xerox PARC developed the Alto, which was later stolen by Microsoft and Apple. (1964 – USA) Ted Nelson, Project Xanadu, came up with hypertext, precursor to WWW and in many ways superior (bi-directional links, something Berners-Lee didn’t think of, 1960.)
19641964

1964

USA

Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce create Intel to build the integrated circuit. After forming the company, it takes Moore only a year to posit Moore’s Law. (1964 – USA)
19661966

1966

North Carolina, USA

Camptothecin and Taxol. Researchers at the Research Triangle Institute report the discovery of the life-saving anticancer agent Camptothecin.
19681968

1968

USA

The first software patent is issued to Martin Goetz. Without this, the software industry could not have gotten the capital to develop. (1968 – USA)
19691969

1969

North Carolina, USA

Cotton Products Research. Ruth Benerito and colleagues at the USDA receive a patent for wrinkle-resistant cotton fabrics and challenge synthetic fibers in the market.
19711971

1971

USA

The entire software security market owes its creation to the Creeper virus! Creeper was an experimental self-replicating program written by Bob Thomas at BBN Technologies. Creeper used the ARPANET to infect DEC PDP-10 computers running the TENEX operating system. Creeper gained access via the ARPANET and copied itself to the remote system where the message, “I’m the creeper, catch me if you can!” was displayed. (1971)
19721972

1972

USA

The video game market can be traced to 1948 with a checkers game built by IBM. But it really took off when Nolan Bushnell created Atari, and with the success of Pong (his second game, as the first one was too hard to play). This is what gets the younger generation and people of my age excited about the industry.
19721972

1972

USA

Intel releases the 8-bit 8008, soon replaced by the 8080, microprocessor. This was the first true microprocessor, which led to the PC revolution. (1972)
19731973

1973

California, USA

MRI Imaging. Paul Lauterbur announces the application of NMR for the study of tissues 'in vivo'. His discovery results in the revolutionary medial device MRI.
19761976

1976

California, USA

Tagamet. Pioneering work by scientists at Smith Kline & French results in the introduction of cimetidine (commercially known as Tagamet), revolutionizing the treatment peptic ulcers.
19771977

1977

USA

The basis for the RSA public-key cryptosystem is invented at MIT by Ronald Rivest, Adi Shamir and Leonard Adleman. RSA is the most common asymmetric cryptographic technique on the internet today. Without it, governments and banking could not have moved to the internet.
19791979

1979

USA

VisiCalc, the first electronic spreadsheet, is created by Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston. This set the stage for Lotus 1-2-3 and Excel years later, but it also spurred the need to have PCs on people’s desks. (1979 – USA)
19821982

1982

USA

The concepts of the PostScript language are conceived in 1976 by John Warnock. Later, he joined Xerox PARC which had developed the first laser printer and recognized the need for a standard means of defining page images. He left Xerox and founded Adobe Systems to create PostScript, a simpler language than Interpress from Xerox.
19831983

1983

Tennessee, USA

Acetyl Chemicals from Coal. Eastman Chemical Company becomes the first manufacturer in the U.S. to use coal rather than petroleum as a raw material in acetyl chemicals.
19851985

1985

Texas, USA

Discovery of Fullerenes. Buckminsterfullerene is discovered by researchers at Rice University, opening new fields in organic chemistry and materials science.
19891989

1989

Switzerland

The World Wide Web is born at the CERN physics laboratory, led by Sir Tim Berners-Lee. His paper is published in 1989, the WWW is built in 1990, and the product launches in 1991 (something I did not learn about until early 1994 when I was on a sales call working for BMC).
19911991

1991

USA

Unix (BSD or AT&T System 5 [1971]) diehards can debate operating systems forever, but by 1987 Unix was a proprietary operating system. Richard Stallman’s announcement of the GNU Project, in part built on Unix concepts, arguably created the modern framework for open source software (1983-present), although Linux, created by Linus Torvalds, is the basis for most OSS today.
19921992

1992

USA

Although Berners-Lee did build the first web browser, Mosaic is really the first consumer web browser, and drove the internet age.