With the rapid transformation of our lives by AI, one might wonder if there has ever been a societal force that has changed the way we work and communicate. One only has to look back at the last half ...

A look back at the room-size government computer that began the digital era Steven Levy Philadelphia schoolchildren are drilled on the names of its accomplished citizens. William Penn. Benjamin ...

C. 2500 BCE: Sumerian abacus -- c. 700 BC: Scytale -- c. 150: Antikythera mechanism -- c. 60: Programmable robot -- c. 850: "On Deciphering Cryptographic Messages" -- c. 1470: Cipher disk -- 1613: ...

In 1979, two M.I.T. computer-science alumni and a Harvard Business School graduate launched a new piece of computer software for the Apple II machine, an early home computer. Called VisiCalc, short ...

Throughout the history of computers, one aspect has plagued and restricted its growth more than any other: permanent storage. From the very first computers that used punched cards and tape for input ...

The first electronic computer was built during the 1940s by John Vincent Atanasoff, a professor of physics and mathematics at Iowa State University, and one of his students, Clifford E. Berry. But the ...

Set in the heart of Silicon Valley, the Computer History Museum long cheered the developments around it. Now, it’s taking a more nuanced approach. Credit...By Loren Elliott For The New York Times ...