Timeline of computing hardware before 1950: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 01:34, 28 September 2023

Revision as of 12:05, 28 September 2023

Line 75:

|- valign="top"

| 1206

| [[Inventions in the Islamic world|Arab engineer]], [[Al-Jazari]], invented numerous [[Automaton|automata]] and made numerous other technological innovations. One of these is a design for a [[Program (machine)|programmable]] [[Humanoid robot|humanoid]]-shaped [[mannequin]]: this seems to have been the first serious, scientific (as opposed to magical) plan for a [[robot]].<ref>[http://www.shef.ac.uk/marcoms/eview/articles58/robot.html A 13th Century Programmable Robot] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070629182810/http://www.shef.ac.uk/marcoms/eview/articles58/robot.html |date=2007-06-29 }}, [[University of Sheffield]]</ref> He also invented the "[[castle clock]]", an [[astronomical clock]] which is considered to be the earliest [[Computer programming|programmable]] [[analog computer]].<ref name="Ancient Discoveries">{{Cite journal|title=Ancient Discoveries, Episode 11: Ancient Robots|publisher=[[History (U.S. TV channel)|History Channel]]|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxjbaQl0ad8 |url-status=dead|access-date=2008-09-06|archive-date=2014-03-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301151115/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxjbaQl0ad8}}</ref> It displayed the [[zodiac]], the [[Heliocentric orbit|solar]] and [[lunar orbit]]s, a [[Lunar phase|crescent moon]]-shaped [[pointer (computer programming)|pointer]] travelling across a gateway causing automatic doors to open every hour,<ref>Howard R. Turner (1997), ''Science in Medieval Islam: An Illustrated Introduction'', p. 184, [[University of Texas Press]], {{ISBN|0-292-78149-0}}</ref><ref name=Hill2>[[Donald Routledge Hill]], "Mechanical Engineering in the Medieval Near East", ''Scientific American'', May 1991, pp. 64–9 ([[cf.]] [[Donald Routledge Hill]], [http://home.swipnet.se/islam/articles/HistoryofSciences.htm Mechanical Engineering] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225091836/http://home.swipnet.se/islam/articles/HistoryofSciences.htm |date=2007-12-25 }})</ref> and five [[robot]]ic musicians who play music when struck by levers operated by a [[camshaft]] attached to a [[water wheel]]. The length of day and night could be re-programmed every day in order to account for the changing lengths of day and night throughout the year.<ref name="Ancient Discoveries" />

|- valign="top"

| 1235

Line 484:

| 1947<br />September

| [[United Kingdom]]

|| Development of the first [[assembly language]] by [[Kathleen Booth]] at [[Birkbeck, University of London]] following work with [[John von Neumann]] and [[Herman Goldstine]] at the [[Institute for Advanced Study]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Booth|first1=A.D.|last2=Britten|first2=K.H.V.|title=Coding for the ARC|journal=Birkbeck College, London|date=September 1947|url=http://mt-archive.info/Booth-1947.pdf|access-date=23 July 2017|archive-date=24 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200324161441/http://mt-archive.info/Booth-1947.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="birkbeck">{{cite journal|last1=Campbell-Kelly|first1=Martin|title=The Development of Computer Programming in Britain (1945 to 1955)|journal=IEEE Annals of the History of Computing|date=April 1982|volume=4|issue=2|pages=121–139|doi=10.1109/MAHC.1982.10016|s2cid=14861159}}</ref>

|- valign="top"

| 1947<br />December 16