Start here
The History of the Computer: From ENIAC to AI
A plain-language overview of computing, from room-sized vacuum tube machines and the transistor to personal computers, the web and modern artificial intelligence.
Communication and Computing
Computer History
Computers, chips, mice and early video games.
The Development of the Computer Chip: A Microscopic Revolution
How silicon wafers, photolithography and cleanroom manufacturing let chipmakers fit ever more transistors onto a sliver of silicon, and what Moore's observation really said.
The Development of the Computer Graphics Card: A Visual Revolution
How PC display adapters grew from text-only boards in 1981 to color graphics, VGA and the first 3D cards, and why each step changed what screens could show.
The Development of the Computer Graphics Card: From Laboratory Experiment to Commercial Use
How specialized graphics hardware moved from research labs and expensive workstations to consumer gaming cards and scientific parallel computing.
The Development of the Computer Touchscreen: A Revolutionary Interface
From a 1960s capacitive prototype to resistive panels, stylus devices and multi-touch phones, here is how touchscreen technology developed and who is credited.
The Development of the First Computer: A Historical Account
A survey of the main contenders for the first computer, including Babbage's designs, Zuse's Z3, Colossus, ENIAC and the Manchester Baby, and why the answer depends on definitions.
The History of the Computer Mouse Scroll Wheel: A Revolutionary Feature
How the scroll wheel was added to the mouse in the mid-1990s, why long documents and web pages made it useful, and how it became nearly universal.
The History of the Computer Mouse: From Graphical to Touchpad
How pointing devices moved from the mouse used with graphical interfaces to laptop trackballs, pointing sticks, touchpads and touchscreens.
The History of the First Computer Mouse: A Clicking Pioneer
The story of the wooden prototype mouse built at a 1960s research lab, who is credited, how it was tested and why priority claims need care.
The Invention of the First Computer Chip: A Digital Breakthrough
Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce both developed the integrated circuit in 1958 and 1959. Here is what each built, how the patents were fought over, and why credit is shared.
The Story of the First Computer Bug: A Debugging Pioneer
The 1947 moth found in a Harvard relay computer popularized the word bug, but engineers used the term for faults much earlier. Here is what really happened.
The Story of the First Computer Chip: A Miniaturized Marvel
After the first integrated circuits, chips shrank through planar processing and rising integration, leading to the 1971 Intel 4004 and the first microprocessors.
The Story of the First Computer Game
Nimrod, OXO, Tennis for Two and Spacewar! all have claims to being the first video game. This article explains each one and why the answer depends on the definition.
The Story of the First Computer Game: Computer Space
Computer Space, a 1971 coin-operated game by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, was an early commercial arcade video game. Here is how it was built and how it sold.
The Story of the First Computer Graphics: The Plotter
Pen plotters were among the first machines to draw computer output on paper, serving engineers and architects and inspiring the earliest computer art.
The Story of the First Computer Mouse
Douglas Engelbart's team at SRI showed the mouse in a famous 1968 San Francisco demonstration of interactive computing. Here is who was involved and what else was shown.
The Story of the First Computer Mouse: A Pointing Device
How the mouse compares with light pens, trackballs, joysticks and graphics tablets, the pointing devices that came before and alongside it.
The Story of the First Laptop Computer: IBM ThinkPad
Portable computers existed before 1992, but the IBM ThinkPad line set design standards. Here is how earlier machines led to it and why the ThinkPad mattered.
Related topics
More in communication and computing
Cameras and Image Making Pinhole rooms, cameras, printing and recorded sound. Smart and Digital Devices Chips, calculators, smart homes and wearable devices. Printing and Writing Movable type, pencils and typewriters. Telephone and Telegraph Wires, switchboards and voices over distance. Radio and Television Broadcasting from wireless signals to the living room screen. The Electric Guitar Pickups, amplifiers and the instrument that changed popular music. Internet and Networks The internet, the web browser, fibre optic links and connected devices. Computer Security Viruses, worms, firewalls and the history of defending computers. Virtual Reality Headsets and immersive displays from laboratory prototypes to consumer products. Modern Computing Artificial intelligence, cloud, big data, quantum and connected objects. Writing Materials and Paper The surfaces and tools people used to record words.