From electricity to computing
The path from batteries and generators to microscopic circuits and programmable machines.
Suggested order
Start with electricity as a system of generation and distribution. The telegraph shows the first mass use of electrical signals for information. Then come the transistor and the integrated circuit, which made electronics compact. Next the first computers, and finally the personal computer, where these layers reach domestic use.
How Electricity Moved from the Laboratory to Everyday Life
Electricity went from laboratory curiosity to a system of generation and distribution through many inventors, engineers, and commercial and patent disputes.
6 min read · Energy
The Telegraph and the Beginning of Electrical Communication
Developed by many inventors in the 1830s and 1840s, the electric telegraph made information travel faster than trains and ships and reshaped railways, the press, and markets.
6 min read · Communication
The Transistor and the Miniaturization of Circuits
First demonstrated at Bell Labs in December 1947, the transistor replaced vacuum tubes in many roles and made electronics smaller, sturdier and far less power-hungry.
7 min read · Computing
Integrated Circuits and the Expansion of Electronics
In 1958 and 1959, Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce found ways to build a whole circuit in one piece of semiconductor, ending the hand-wiring of components.
6 min read · Computing
From Mechanical Calculators to the First Computers
From the 17th century to 1951, mechanical calculators, punched cards and wartime projects led to the first electronic computers and the stored program.
6 min read · Computing
The Popularization of the Personal Computer
Microprocessors, build-it-yourself kits, spreadsheets, the IBM PC and graphical interfaces carried the computer from large institutions to desks and living rooms.
6 min read · Computing