1791 – Charles Babbage Born
Charles Babbage is born in London.
The son of a wealthy banker, he became a prominent figure in London’s social
and scientific circles. In 1821, he designed the Difference Engine to calculate
mathematical tables – replacing the unreliable human “computers” doing the
calculations at the time. Politics and
funding issues, however, brought the project to an end. Undeterred, in 1834,
Babbage began working on an even more ambitious invention, his “Analytical
Engine.” This invention was to be a general-purpose programmable computing
machine. Ultimately, neither Engine was completed in Babbage’s lifetime.
1982 – Time magazine Names a Non-Human “Man of the Year”
Time magazine’s editors selected
the Personal Computer for “Machine of the Year,” in lieu of their well-known
“Man of the Year” award. The computer beat out US President Ronald Reagan, UK
prime minister Margaret Thatcher, and Prime Minister of Israel, Menachem Begin.
The planet Earth became the second non-human recipient for the award in 1988.
The awards have been given since 1927. The magazine’s essay reported that in
1982, 80% of Americans expected that “in the fairly near future, home computers
will be as commonplace as television sets or dishwashers.” In 1980, 724,000
personal computers were sold in the United States, according to Time. The
following year, that number doubled to 1.4 million.
2007 – Apple Hits $200 a share
With iTunes just signing a deal
with FOX and their content for iTunes, stocks pushed upward to $200 a share. It
was the first time Apple hit that barrier, and promptly dropped after. The
company has been up and down, and in mid-2008 were at only $90 a share.
However, after March 6th, 2008, the stock started to rise to the
$400/share mark. Since then Apple climbed up to $700/share and then on June 9th,
2014 the stock was split 7-to-1. Currently, the stock is at $111.
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