HISTORY OF THE COMPUTER: MINITexas Instruments and Fairchild semiconductor both announce the integrated circuit in 1959.
Ivan Sutherland demonstrates a program called Sketchpad on a TX-2 mainframe at MIT's Lincoln Labs in 1962. It allows him to make engineering drawings with a light pen.
A typical minicomputer costs about $20,000.
1965: An IC that cost $1000 in 1959 now costs less than $10. Gordon Moore predicts that the number of components in an IC will double every year. This is known as Moore's Law.
Doug Engelbart demonstrates in 1968 a word processor, an early hypertext system and a collaborative application: three now common computer applications.
Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce found Intel in 1968.
Xerox creates its Palo Alto Research Center - Xerox PARC - in 1969. Its mission is to explore the "architecture of information."
Fairchild Semiconductor introduces a 256-bit RAM chip in 1970.
In late 1970 Intel introduces a 1K RAM chip and the 4004, a 4-bit microprocessor. Two years later comes the 8008, an 8-bit microprocessor.
