AJ stands for Andrew Jackson, our 7th president. His reputation for toughness earned him the nickname "Old Hickory." A hero of the War of 1812, Jackson has appeared on the $20 bill since 1928.

The UNIVAC 1 used vacuum tubes to do binary calculations.

The UNIVAC 1

In 1951, along with their own computer company, the inventors of the ENIAC designed their most famous computer, the UNIVAC 1.

The UNIVAC 1 became famous when it appeared on television. It predicted—correctly—that Dwight Eisenhower would win the presidential election over Adlai Stevenson.

UNIVAC is the acronym for "Universal Automatic Computer." It weighed 16,000 pounds and had 5,000 vacuum tubes. Not something you'd want to take home with you.

From UNIVAC to home computers

In 1947, a new device called a transistor gave computers a much better way to keep track of zeroes and ones, eliminating the need for vacuum tubes, and allowing them to take up less space.

A little less than 25 years later, in 1971, the microprocessor was invented, making the personal computer possible.

The road to modern computers was built by many famous people.

Famous People

You've probably heard of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. They might be the most famous names in modern computing.

Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft makes software that is used on most computers.

Steve Jobs founded the Apple Computer Company with his co-founder Steve Wozniak. Their company built one of the first personal computers, the Apple II, in 1977. They introduced the Macintosh in 1984.

Close Microprocessors contain transistors—millions of them! The first micro-processing chip was one-eighth inch by 1/16th inch. All by itself, it was as powerful as ENIAC!

In 1975 Micro Instrumentation Telemetry Systems (MITS) created the first home computer that people would actually go out and buy. They called it the Altair.

It didn't take long for others to follow. By the late 1970s, several personal computers were available for home use.

People quickly discovered how a home computer could make their lives better.

Try Typing This!

For example, throughout most of the 20th century people used typewriters. The last typewriter facility in the world shut its doors in 2011.

When using a typewriter, if someone typed a mistake, it was necessary to cover it up with whiteout and type over it. Too many mistakes, and you had to start over with a clean sheet of paper!

Now computers make correcting errors easy. It's a snap to write a paper that's clean and neat!

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Calling all girl geeks. Calling All Girl Geeks!

It's a compliment to be called a “geek” because the term implies a high level of technical ability.

Hackers are supposed to be more competent than geeks, but since the media almost always uses the term “hacker” to mean someone who attempts to break into computer systems, "geek" is a more desirable label.

If you like the label, check out this online community for women and girls interested in technology and computing.

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From home computers to...

The future of computers is hard to predict.

Computers of the future will be smaller, faster, and more powerful. Already you might have a computerized device in every room in your house.

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