The First Computers and Internet

Who started the Internet?

By most accounts, it was the military who first started it, in the late 1960s. What later became the internet began as the "Advanced Research Projects Agency Network" or ARPANET, and it was implemented in 1969. It linked four west-coast universities that were doing computer research

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The First Computers

Today, many people all over the world use computers as part of their daily lives. And, many of these people have heard about the earliest computers in the early and mid-1900s. Those computers were the size of entire rooms, ran on as much power as a few hundred modern computers, and were significantly less powerful than modern computers. Here is a list of some of the earliest computers and a brief overview of each of them.

Z3 Circa

The Z3 Circa computer was a computer created by Konrad Zuse in 1941. The Z3 was the world's first fully programmable, electronic digital computer. Unlike computers prior to the Z3, which used paper punch cards to store "programs" and data, the Z3 used old movie film to store programs and data on. This was because, as Zuse was from Germany, there was a shortage of paper during this time, due to the ongoing World War II. Earlier models created by Zuse, the Z1 and the Z2, paved the way for the creation of the Z3, and were responsible for scientific and mathematical breakthroughs, such as the use of floating-point arithmetic and high-capacity memory.

Atanasoff-Berry Computer

The Atanasoff-Berry computer was created by Professor John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry in 1942. Originally, the pair created a prototype of the computer, which awarded them with an $850 grant to create a full-scale model of the prototype. The result was a computer that had over 300 vacuum tubes, more than a mile of wire and weighed over 700 pounds. Later, a patent dispute that discredited the patent of the ENIAC computer proved that the ENIAC was derived from the Atanasoff-Berry Computer. However, the generous John Atanasoff stated, "there is enough credit for everyone in the invention and development of the electronic computer."