My report is on the development of the computer for personal use by home consumers and their impact on society. Computers were being developed as early as the 1800's and were more of a machine than a computer. The first digital computer that worked electronically was built by Clifford Berry and Dr. John V. Atanasoff in the late 30's and early 40's. The first computer as we know it was designed by Howard Aiken and …showed first 75 words of 687 total…

…showed last 75 words of 687 total…that even one transistor. It was due to the size of the IC that they were able to increase the processing power of these computers, because they could now fit more components into a smaller space. These IC chips had been in development up until this point, but began to replace the transistor in 1965 and were seen as a breakthrough because of their desirable characteristics: they were reliable, very compact and very cheap to manufacture.