HP introduces the hand-held scientific calculator;
hand-held calculators replace the slide rule
Pong Image provided by www.atarimuseum.com
1972
Nolan Bushnell takes his video game Pong and founds
Atari, launching the computer-entertainment industry
1972
Alan Kay's ideas fuel the development of the computer
language Smalltalk
1972
Dennis Ritchie develops the programming language
C
1972
Alain Colmerauer develops the programming language
Prolog
1972
The first programmable word processor is introduced
in Canada
1972
Steve Wozniak makes free phone calls using his invention,
the "blue box"
1973
Xerox PARC's experimental Alto personal computer,
featuring a mouse, a graphical user interface, and connection to
a local area network, becomes operational.
1973
Ten thousand components are placed on a 1-square-cm
chip through large-scale integration
Courtesy Iowa State University
1973
Eckert and Mauchley's ENIAC patent is invalidated,
and John Vincent Atanasoff is federally recognized as the inventor
of the modern computer
1974
Charles Simonyi writes the first WYSIWYG ("What
You See Is What You Get") program entitled Bravo
Getty Images/ PhotoDisk 2003
1974
The first World Computer Chess Tournament takes
place in Stockholm, the winner is the program Kaissa
