Top 10 Curiosities about Computers
From the early days of room-sized machines to the sleek devices that fit in our pockets today, the journey of computers is filled with fascinating anecdotes, innovations, and unexpected twists. In this article, we embark on a journey through the annals of computer history to uncover the Top 10 curiosities of these remarkable machines.
From quirky anecdotes to groundbreaking milestones, these curiosities offer a glimpse into the captivating world of computing, where every discovery sparks new possibilities and challenges our understanding of what is possible.
1 – The term “bug” in computer science originated in 1947 when a moth caused a malfunction in the Mark II computer at Harvard University. Grace Hopper famously taped the moth into the computer’s logbook, marking the first instance of a “computer bug.”
2 – During World War II, six women mathematicians were hired to program the ENIAC, one of the earliest electronic general-purpose computers. Their contributions were fundamental to the success of the project, yet their role remained largely unrecognized for decades.
3 – Alan Turing, famous for his contributions to breaking German codes during World War II, developed the Bombe, an electromechanical device used to decipher encrypted messages. This machine played a pivotal role in Allied efforts and significantly shortened the war.
4 – In 1964, Douglas Engelbart invented the first computer mouse as part of his work on human-computer interaction at the Stanford Research Institute. The device was a wooden box with two wheels and was originally called an “X-Y position indicator for a display system.”
5 – The Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) was one of the first computers to use integrated circuits. Despite having less processing power than a modern calculator, it successfully guided astronauts to the Moon and back during the Apollo missions.
6 – In 1973, Bob Metcalfe and David Boggs at Xerox PARC developed Ethernet, a widely used networking technology that laid the foundation for local area networks (LANs). The first Ethernet standard supported speeds of 2.94 Mbps.
7 – The first known computer virus, named “Creeper,” was created in 1971 by Bob Thomas as an experiment. It spread through ARPANET (a precursor to the internet) and displayed the message “I’m the creeper, catch me if you can!” on infected systems.
8 – Released in 1975, the Altair 8800 was one of the first commercially successful personal computers. It was sold as a build-it-yourself kit and featured an Intel 8080 processor, inspiring hobbyists like Bill Gates and Paul Allen to develop software for it, leading to the founding of Microsoft.
9 – In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee, a British computer scientist, proposed the concept of the World Wide Web while working at CERN. He developed the first web browser and server, laying the foundation for the modern internet as we know it today.
10 – The late 1990s saw a rapid rise in internet-based companies, leading to a speculative bubble known as the dot-com bubble. Many companies with inflated valuations collapsed when the bubble burst in the early 2000s, leading to significant losses for investors and reshaping the tech industry.
Wrapping up
Each curiosity we’ve uncovered offers a glimpse into the ingenuity, creativity, and occasional eccentricity that have defined the evolution of computing. Whether it’s the story of a moth causing a malfunction in a pioneering machine or the invention of a device as seemingly simple yet revolutionary as the computer mouse, these anecdotes remind us of the human element behind every technological breakthrough.
If you are like me and like to read books on topics you find interesting, check out this book about computer history, The History of the Computer: People, Inventions, and Technology that Changed Our World it is more like a infographic type of book, but it is a easy and nice read.
