Computer history - 1971
Major computer events in 1971
Intel, with the help of Ted Hoff, introduced the first microprocessor, the Intel 4004, on November 15, 1971. The 4004 had 2,300 transistors, performed 60,000 OPS (operations per second), addressed 640 bytes of memory, and cost $200.00. Intel also introduced the 4-bit bus.
The first edition of Unix was released on November 03, 1971. The first edition of the Unix PROGRAMMER'S MANUAL by Ken Thompson and Dennis M. Ritchie was released. It includes over 60 commands like: b (compile B program); boot (reboot system); cat (concatenate files); chdir (change working directory); chmod (change access mode); chown (change owner); cp (copy file); ls (list directory contents); mv (move or rename file); roff (run off text); wc (get word count); who (who is on the system). The main thing missing was pipes.
New computer products and services introduced in 1971
Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney created the first arcade game called "Computer Space" in 1971.
The first 8" floppy diskette drive and floppy diskette was introduced in 1971.
Project Gutenberg was founded in 1971 with a reproduction of the Declaration of Independence.
Schadt and Helfrich developed twisted nematic in 1971.
The Unix ed command was introduced in 1971.
Niklaus Wirth invented the Pascal programming language in 1971.
A B-tree was a variation of a binary tree that was invented by Rudolf Bayer and Ed McCreight at Boeing Labs in 1971.
The SSR (solid-state relay) switch was invented in 1971.
Computer and technology-related events in 1971
The term Silicon Valley appeared in print for the first time on January 11, 1971, in Electronic News by journalist Don Hoefner.
Ray Tomlinson sends the first e-mail, the first messaging system to send messages across a network to other users.
Bob Bemer published the world's first warning on the Year 2000 problem in 1971.
While at Intel, Dov Frohman invented and patented (#3,660,819) the EPROM (erasable programmable read-only memory).
The first laser printer was developed at Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center), and Alan Kay sketched the first concepts of what we consider a tablet computer today.
In 1971, a UHF (ultra high frequency) wireless packet network was used in Hawaii, called ALOHAnet, to connect the islands. This development helped create the foundation for wireless networking and later, Wi-Fi.
FTP (file transfer protocol) was proposed on April 16, 1971, by Abhay Bhushan of MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in RFC 114.
Steve Wozniak and Bill Fernandez developed a computer called the Cream Soda Computer.
LSI (large-scale integration) chips began being developed.
Memristor was first theorized by Leon Chua.
The first microcontroller was created by Texas Instruments engineer Gary Boone in 1971.
The computer got a voice, IBM introduced its first speech recognition program capable of recognizing about 5,000 words. IBM also developed an experimental terminal that prints computer responses in Braille for the blind people.
In 1971, Mario Cardullo developed the first predecessor to today's RFID (radio frequency identification) devices.
The IBM System/370 Model 195 was announced, the most powerful computer to date in IBM's product line. By year end, more than 1,300 System/370 deliveries were made worldwide.
IBM introduced the 3410 magnetic tape subsystem
IBM released the 3670 brokerage communications system
IBM introduced the 2730 transaction validation terminal for checking credit at the point of sale
IBM released the "Selectric" II Typewriter with a dual pitch
IBM introduced the Communicating Mag Card "Selectric" Typewriter.
Computer companies and organizations founded in 1971
Luanne Johnson founded Argonaut Information Systems to sell payroll and accounts payable software in 1971.
Datatronics was founded in 1971.
Delta Electronics was founded in 1971 by Bruce Cheng.
Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney founded an engineering firm, Syzygy Engineering in 1971.
SMC was founded in 1971.
Computer pioneers born in 1971
Becky Worley was born on February 4, 1971.
Elon Musk was born on June 28, 1971.
Julian Assange was born on July 3, 1971.
Marc Andreessen was born on July 9, 1971.
Sky Dayton was born on August 8, 1971.
Computer pioneer deaths in 1971
Philo Farnsworth passed away on March 11, 1971 (Age: 64).
Wallace Eckert passed away on August 24, 1971 (Age: 69).