Chronology of Events - 1800s

The following is a chronological listing of significant events in the development of the field of Information Technology during the 1800s:

1801

 * Joseph-Marie Jacquard makes an improvement to the textile loom that used a series of punched cards as a template to allow his loom to weave intricate patterns automatically. The use of punched cards was used later by Charles Babbage in his plans for the Analytical Engine.

1803

 * In 1803 Joseph-Marie Jacquard received a patent for the loom.

1811-1813

 * The Luddite Movement in England (November 11, 1811 – January 12, 1813) results in the destruction of machinery by workers and craftsmen concerned about the loss of their jobs due to mechanization in the workplace.

1837

 * Charles Wheatstone and William Fothergill Cooke patent the telegraph.
 * Charles Babbage conceptualizes and designs a fully programmable mechanical computer that he calls the Analytical Engine.
 * Samuel F. B. Morse invents a practical form of electromagnetic telegraph using an early version of his "Morse code."

1843

 * Per and Georg Scheutz construct the first working Difference Engine based on Babbage's design in Stockholm.

1844
May 24, 1844 &mdash; Samuel Morse transmits the first message by "Morse Code."

1845

 * The transatlantic cable is proposed.

1866
July 27, 1866 &mdash; The transatlantic cable is successfully completed.

1870

 * French telegraph engineer Émile Baudot invented the Baudot code.

1873

 * The QWERTY keyboard is invented by Christopher Sholes.

1876
March 10, 1876 &mdash; Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone (U.S. Patent No. 174,465).

1877
July 9, 1877 &mdash; Bell Telephone Company is organized in Boston, Massachusetts.

1880
April 1, 1880 &mdash; Alexander Graham Bell and his assistant Charles Summer Tainter transmit the first wireless telephone message 213 meters on a beam of light.

1885
April 3, 1885 &mdash; American Telephone and Telegraph Corporation (AT&T) is established to create a commercially viable, nationwide long-distance network.

1886
September 9, 1886 &mdash; The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, an international copyright treaty is ratified in Berne, Switzerland.

1889

 * Herman Hollerith is awarded three patents (U.S. Patent Nos. 395,781, 395,782, and 395,783) for an electromechanical machine for tabulating information stored on punched cards.

1890

 * Herman Hollerith uses an automated punch card machine, manufactured by the Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation, for the U.S. census. Hollerith's firm merges with several other companies to become IBM in 1924.