What do you think of when you hear the word "computer"? A play station perhaps or maybe you are still living in the age of the Atari, or you might even imagine a boring office full of screens and keys with people typing frantically in front of them. All of those visions are correct and here we will take a brief look at the history of computers right from the first typewriter way back in 1714 to the present day PC.
After doing my research I found out that the 1st English Typewriter Patent was way back in 1714, and following the success or fame brought by this wonderful invention a man by the name of William Austin Burt from Detroit was awarded the honour of the 1st American Patent for a typewriter. But like all inventors Burt discovered that the life of an inventor was never a smooth one as his office containing the typographer burned down just a mere 7years after he had received his Patent. But that was possibly no great loss as it was so much easier and quicker to write at the time than to use his invention. After a 2nd attempt Burt managed to produce a typewriter the size of a present day pinball machine, thank god I don't get Christmas presents from him!!.
Believe it or not some of the future inventions of typewriters were just as bad. However three friends from America invented the 1st commercial typewriter in 1876. Christopher Latham, Carlos Glidden and Samuel W.Soule. However their venture was not exactly a booming business and produced about 30 models in 5years.
You can look at the all the electronic versions of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" that you want to, but certainly the Transistor and Subsequently the Integrated Circuit must without a shadow of a doubt qualify as two of the greatest inventions of the 20th centaury. And on the 23rd of December 1947 physicists William Shockley, Walter Brattain & John Bardeen succeeded in creating the first point-contact germanium transistor and Shockley went on to further impress people and in 1950 created a new device called a bipolar junction transistor, easy to use and cheaper to build and 3yrs later the 1st TV dinner was marketed by the CA.