Computing & automation

An editorial selection for comparing processes, events, and lives. The interval and counts describe selected records, not the historical boundaries or importance of the subject.

Canonical records: 18
Events: 12
People: 5
Processes and periods: 1

Compare in the atlas Selection criteria and limits

Topics represented

Science (17) · Cómputo y automatización (12) · Technology (12) · Matemáticas (5) · Personas científicas (5) · Historia de la computación (4) · Álgebra (1) · Armas autónomas (1) · Control de armamentos (1) · Debates estratégicos (1) · Derecho de los conflictos armados (1) · War & military technology (1)

View distribution by region and period

Canonical records by regional label and start date. These are numerical analysis bins, not universal historical periods. A multi-region record appears in multiple rows; do not add rows as a unique-record total.
Region	3000–1 BCE	1–1499	1800–1899	1900–1999	Since 2000
Africa	0	0	0	0	0
Americas	0	0	0	2	0
Asia	0	1	0	0	0
Europe	0	0	1	2	0
Oceania	0	0	0	0	0
Global / no specific region	1	0	4	7	1

Records and sources

Ordered by start date. Long lives and processes may begin before the period you want to study.

c. 2500 BCE
Abacus and externalized calculation
Early abaci turned quantities into manipulable positions. They begin a long tradition of offloading mental operations onto artifacts.
c. 780–c. 850
Al-Khwarizmi
A mathematician and astronomer active in Baghdad whose work on algebra and calculation had a lasting impact. His birth and death dates are approximate, and later terms such as “algorithm” do not make him a modern personal identity.
1801
Jacquard loom programmed with cards
The loom’s punched cards encoded complex patterns and automatically controlled operations. They showed that a machine could follow reconfigurable instructions.
1815–1852
Ada Lovelace
An English mathematician whose notes on Babbage’s Analytical Engine describe a sequence of operations for the machine. She links to computing as a conceptual antecedent, not as the inventor of a working computer in her lifetime.
1837
Design of the Analytical Engine
Charles Babbage conceived a programmable calculating machine with memory, processor, input, and output. Though never completed, it anticipated structural elements of modern computing.
1843
Ada Lovelace’s notes on programming
In her notes on the Analytical Engine, Lovelace described a method for calculating Bernoulli numbers and envisioned symbolic uses for a programmable machine.
1890
Mechanized census tabulation
Herman Hollerith’s machines processed punched cards for the 1890 U.S. Census. The milestone accelerated large-scale administrative data processing.
1903–1957
John von Neumann
A Hungarian-American mathematician who contributed to mathematics, physics, and computing. The so-called von Neumann architecture emerged from postwar collaborations and institutions, not an isolated individual design.
1906–1992
Grace Hopper
An American mathematician and naval officer who programmed the Harvard Mark I, published early work on compilers, and helped develop COBOL. Her career shows the work of teams, standards, and organizations rather than a solo invention.
1912–1954
Alan Turing
A British mathematician whose ideas about computation and cryptanalytic work were influential. This entry links him to computing history without crediting one person with the development of modern computing.
1936
Turing machine and universal computation
Alan Turing’s formulation defined an abstract machine able to execute procedures through rules. It gave programmable computation a decisive theoretical framework.
1946
Public unveiling of ENIAC
ENIAC was unveiled as an all-electronic general-purpose computer for scientific and military calculation. It made the shift from electromechanical tabulation to electronic computing visible.
1947
Silicon transistor
The transistor progressively replaced fragile, bulky tubes with small reliable semiconductor components. It is the physical basis of digital miniaturization.
1958
Integrated circuit
Integrating several electronic components on one chip reduced size, cost, and power use. The change made it possible to scale computer complexity.
1961
Unimate and the industrial robot
Unimate entered production at an automobile plant to perform hazardous repetitive tasks. It marked programmable robots’ entry into manufacturing.
1971
First commercial microprocessor
The microprocessor concentrated a central processing unit on a chip. It lowered the material threshold for personal computers, controllers, and automated devices.
1975
Altair 8800 and the personal computer
The Altair 8800 kit popularized the idea of an affordable computer for individuals and hobbyist communities. It stimulated personal software and hardware ecosystems.
c. 2014–c. 2025
Multilateral debate on lethal autonomous weapons
States, international organizations, and civil society debated through the 2010s and up to 2025 how to characterize and regulate weapon systems with autonomy. By May 2025, no specific binding international treaty had been adopted; the UN Secretary-General was calling for one to be concluded by 2026. Disagreement over definitions, human control, accountability, and prohibition or regulatory measures prevents presenting one position as an already agreed norm.