SeriesSearchFull courseOur workAbout & contact
// TECH STORY · 1947

Tech Stories

Stories from Electronics History — True stories behind the inventions you use every day.

1 of 10 lessons out · next: The transistor that changed everything

▶ Start lesson 1
  1. 01 Tech Story: the first computer bug was a real mothThe first computer "bug" was a real moth (1947, Harvard Mark II, logged by Grace Hopper's team). EP.71 · 24 s
  2. 03 PLANNEDThe war of currents: Edison's DC vs Tesla and Westinghouse's ACThe war of currents: Edison's DC vs Tesla and Westinghouse's AC (1880s–1890s).
  3. 04 PLANNEDThe first integrated circuitThe first integrated circuit (Jack Kilby, Texas Instruments, 1958; Robert Noyce, silicon, 1959).
  4. 05 PLANNEDThe blue LED that took 30 yearsNobel Prize 2014) and made white LEDs possible.
  5. 06 PLANNEDWhy it's called ArduinoWhy it's called "Arduino" (named after a bar in Ivrea, Italy, 2005).
  6. 07 PLANNEDThe first microprocessor: Intel 4004The first microprocessor: Intel 4004 (1971, about 2,300 transistors) vs a phone chip today (billions).
  7. 08 PLANNEDOhm's law was laughed atOhm's law was laughed at (Georg Ohm, 1827).
  8. 09 PLANNEDThe first SMS: Merry ChristmasThe first SMS: "Merry Christmas" (1992).
  9. 10 PLANNEDThe first webcam watched a coffee potThe first webcam watched a coffee pot (Cambridge, 1991).