Timeline
Timeline of tech
From Babbage's engines to the EU AI Act: the milestones of computing, telecoms, the internet, AI and security, in order. Pick any point and start the lesson that tells its story.
69 milestones · 1837–2024
1830s
1840s
1850s
1860s
1870s
1880s
1890s
- 1890
1890Computing
Punched cards count the US census
Herman Hollerith's tabulating machines read data from holes in cards, the start of machine data storage.
How the computer was born · Storage: from punched cards to SSDs
- 1892
1892Telecoms
The first automatic telephone exchange
Strowger's switch connects calls without an operator, and the network starts to run itself.
Cables, waves and satellites · The telephone and the switched network
1900s
1930s
1940s
- 1944
1944Computing
Colossus at Bletchley Park
Electronic machines help break German teleprinter ciphers, years before computers were public knowledge.
How the computer was born · Turing's machine and Bletchley Park
- 1945
1945Computing
The stored-program idea
Von Neumann's EDVAC report keeps the program in memory beside the data: the architecture every CPU still follows.
How the computer was born · ENIAC and the stored program
- 1945
1945Telecoms
Clarke proposes geostationary satellites
Three satellites 35,786 km up could cover the Earth, Arthur C. Clarke argues, two decades before it happened.
Cables, waves and satellites · Satellites: high and low
- 1946
1946FebComputing
ENIAC is shown to the public
A room-sized electronic computer, fast but programmed by rewiring for every new job.
How the computer was born · ENIAC and the stored program
- 1947
1947DecComputing
The transistor
Bell Labs replaces the hot, fragile vacuum tube with a sliver of semiconductor.
How the computer was born · The transistor and the chip
1950s
- 1950
1950AI & ML
Turing's imitation game
Instead of asking whether machines think, Turing proposes a test you can actually run.
AI from zero · Turing and the imitation game
- 1956
1956AI & ML
Dartmouth gives AI its name
A summer workshop launches artificial intelligence as a field, betting on symbols, rules and search.
AI from zero · Dartmouth 1956: the field gets a name
- 1956
1956Computing
The first hard disk drive
IBM's RAMAC stores data on spinning platters that can be read in any order, not just from start to end.
How the computer was born · Storage: from punched cards to SSDs
- 1957
1957AI & ML
k-means is drafted at Bell Labs
A simple way to sort unlabelled points into groups, still a staple of unsupervised learning.
Machine learning, explained · Unsupervised learning: clusters and anomalies
- 1958
1958AI & ML
The perceptron learns
Rosenblatt's machine adjusts its own weights from examples, and the press promises thinking computers.
AI from zero · The perceptron and the first AI winter
- 1958
1958Computing
The integrated circuit
Kilby, then Noyce in 1959, put whole circuits on one piece of semiconductor: the chip.
How the computer was born · The transistor and the chip
- 1959
1959AI & ML
Machine learning gets its name
Arthur Samuel's checkers program improves by playing against itself, and his paper names the field.
Machine learning, explained · What machine learning is
1960s
- 1962
1962JulTelecoms
Telstar relays live TV across the Atlantic
The first active communications satellite carries television between the US and Europe.
Cables, waves and satellites · Satellites: high and low
- 1965
1965Computing
Moore's law
Gordon Moore predicts the number of components on a chip will keep doubling, and sets the industry's pace for fifty years.
How the computer was born · The microprocessor and Moore's law
- 1966
1966Telecoms
Glass can carry light
Charles Kao argues that pure enough glass fibre could carry signals for kilometres. It won him the 2009 Nobel Prize.
Cables, waves and satellites · Fibre optics
- 1969
196929 OctInternet
ARPANET's first message: “lo”
UCLA tries to log in to Stanford. Two letters arrive, then the system crashes. Packet switching works.
How the internet works · ARPANET and the packet
1970s
- 1971
1971Computing
The Intel 4004
A whole CPU on one chip, born from a calculator order.
How the computer was born · The microprocessor and Moore's law
- 1973
19733 AprTelecoms
The first handheld mobile phone call
Martin Cooper of Motorola calls a rival from a New York street.
Cables, waves and satellites · Mobile networks from 1G to 5G
- 1973
1973AI & ML
The first AI winter
The Lighthill report in the UK questions AI's results, and funding dries up.
AI from zero · The perceptron and the first AI winter
- 1974
1974Internet
Cerf and Kahn publish TCP
A protocol to join different networks into one: the design behind the internet.
How the internet works · TCP/IP: a network of networks
- 1975
1975Computing
The Altair 8800
A hobbyist kit computer sparks the personal-computer industry.
How the computer was born · The personal computer and its operating system
- 1977
1977Computing
The Apple II
A ready-to-use computer for homes and schools, not a kit.
How the computer was born · The personal computer and its operating system
1980s
- 1981
1981Computing
The IBM PC
Built from outside parts with an open design, it becomes the standard business computer and its clones follow.
How the computer was born · The personal computer and its operating system
- 1983
19831 JanInternet
ARPANET switches to TCP/IP
Every host moves to the new protocols on one day. The internet gets its common language.
How the internet works · TCP/IP: a network of networks
- 1983
1983Internet
DNS replaces the hosts file
Paul Mockapetris designs a distributed system of names instead of one shared list.
How the internet works · DNS: the internet's phone book
- 1986
1986AI & ML
Backpropagation is popularised
Rumelhart, Hinton and Williams show how multi-layer networks can learn from their errors.
AI from zero · How a neural network learns
- 1988
1988NovSecurity
The Morris worm
A self-copying program knocks about one in ten internet computers offline, and the first CERT is born.
Attacks that changed security · The Morris worm and the birth of CERT
- 1988
1988Telecoms
TAT-8, the first transatlantic fibre cable
Light in glass takes over from copper on the ocean floor.
Cables, waves and satellites · Submarine cables today
- 1989
1989MarInternet
Tim Berners-Lee proposes the web
A physicist at CERN suggests linked documents for sharing information. HTTP and HTML follow.
How the internet works · The web and HTTP
1990s
- 1991
1991Telecoms
The first GSM call
2G goes digital: clearer voice, encryption, and soon text messages.
Cables, waves and satellites · Mobile networks from 1G to 5G
- 1993
1993AprInternet
CERN puts the web in the public domain
Anyone can use and build on the web's software for free, and it spreads quickly.
How the internet works · The web and HTTP
- 1993
1993Internet
CIDR replaces address classes
Prefixes of any length make better use of IPv4 addresses and shrink routing tables.
How the internet works · IP addresses and subnets
- 1995
1995FebSecurity
Kevin Mitnick is arrested
The most wanted hacker of the decade often got in simply by asking people.
Attacks that changed security · Kevin Mitnick and social engineering
- 1997
1997Telecoms
IEEE 802.11: the first Wi-Fi standard
Wireless networking gets a common standard. Faster generations follow every few years.
Cables, waves and satellites · Radio and Wi-Fi
- 1999
1999Internet
TLS 1.0
The successor to SSL encrypts web traffic and proves which server you are talking to.
How the internet works · HTTPS and TLS
2000s
- 2001
2001JulSecurity
Code Red
A fast worm hits web servers through a flaw that already had a patch.
Attacks that changed security · Code Red, Slammer and the patch gap
- 2002
2002AI & ML
A Plan for Spam
Paul Graham's statistical spam filter learns from labelled emails: supervised learning at home.
Machine learning, explained · Supervised learning: features and labels
- 2003
2003JanSecurity
Slammer
A worm small enough to fit in one packet spreads across the internet in minutes.
Attacks that changed security · Code Red, Slammer and the patch gap
- 2006
2006AI & ML
The Netflix Prize
A million-dollar contest judged on hidden data teaches the world why test sets stay hidden.
Machine learning, explained · Training, validation and test sets
- 2006
2006Computing
Amazon Web Services launches
Storage and virtual servers for rent by the hour: the start of the public cloud.
How the computer was born · From the iPhone to the cloud
- 2007
2007JanComputing
The iPhone
The computer moves into your pocket, and its heavy work moves into data centres.
How the computer was born · From the iPhone to the cloud
- 2008
2008NovAI & ML
Google Flu Trends
Search data predicts flu outbreaks, then quietly drifts until it overestimates badly.
Machine learning, explained · Models in production: MLOps, drift and retraining
- 2009
2009AI & ML
ImageNet
Millions of labelled images give computer vision the data it lacked.
AI from zero · ImageNet and AlexNet: data meets GPUs
2010s
- 2010
2010JunSecurity
Stuxnet is discovered
Malware built to change how industrial machines physically run. An air gap is not enough.
Attacks that changed security · Stuxnet and attacks on industrial systems
- 2011
2011FebInternet
IANA hands out its last IPv4 blocks
The free pool of IPv4 addresses runs dry. NAT and IPv6 have to carry the growth.
How the internet works · IP addresses and subnets
- 2012
2012AI & ML
AlexNet
A neural network trained on two gaming GPUs nearly halves the error rate on ImageNet. Deep learning arrives.
AI from zero · ImageNet and AlexNet: data meets GPUs
- 2013
2013Security
The Target breach
Attackers reach a retailer's tills through its air-conditioning contractor.
Attacks that changed security · Target, a heating contractor and network segmentation
- 2014
2014AprSecurity
Heartbleed
A missing length check in OpenSSL lets anyone read a server's memory.
Attacks that changed security · Heartbleed and the code everyone depends on
- 2016
2016AprInternet
Let's Encrypt leaves beta
Free, automated certificates make HTTPS the default rather than the exception.
How the internet works · HTTPS and TLS
- 2017
2017AI & ML
Attention is all you need
The transformer drops recurrence and keeps attention. Scaled up, it becomes the large language model.
AI from zero · Transformers and how a language model writes
- 2017
2017MaySecurity
WannaCry
Ransomware built on a leaked exploit cripples hospitals and companies worldwide.
Attacks that changed security · WannaCry, NotPetya and the backup that saves you
- 2018
2018AI & ML
A hiring model learns bias
Amazon drops a recruiting model that learned from its data to mark down women.
Machine learning, explained · Data quality, bias and leakage
- 2019
2019Telecoms
Commercial 5G and the first Starlink satellites
Mobile networks built for machines go live, and low-orbit satellite broadband starts launching.
Cables, waves and satellites · Mobile networks from 1G to 5G
2020s
- 2020
2020DecSecurity
The SolarWinds compromise
A poisoned software update reaches thousands of networks through trusted code.
Attacks that changed security · SolarWinds, Log4Shell and zero trust
- 2021
20214 OctInternet
Facebook disappears for six hours
One BGP configuration change withdraws its routes and takes its services off the internet.
How the internet works · Routing and BGP
- 2021
2021DecSecurity
Log4Shell
A flaw in a ubiquitous logging library turns trusted code hostile. Zero trust goes mainstream.
Attacks that changed security · SolarWinds, Log4Shell and zero trust
- 2022
2022JanTelecoms
Tonga loses its only cable
A volcanic eruption cuts the island's single submarine cable and nearly all of its internet.
Cables, waves and satellites · Submarine cables today
- 2022
2022NovAI & ML
ChatGPT
A chatbot built on a large language model reaches millions of people within days.
AI from zero · Transformers and how a language model writes
- 2024
2024AugAI & ML
The EU AI Act enters into force
The first broad law on AI sorts systems by risk and phases in obligations over the following years.
AI from zero · AI risks and security today
Today