Chronology of Events - 1900-1930s

The following is a chronological listing of significant events in the development of the field of Information Technology between 1900 and 1939:

1900

 * Nikola Tesla develops frequency hopping.

1901

 * The first radio message is sent across the Atlantic Ocean in Morse code.

1903

 * Nikola Tesla patents electrical logic circuits called "gates" or "switches."

1906

 * Lee deForest invents the vacuum tube.
 * The first Radiotelegraph Convention is signed in Berlin.

1907
January 29, 1907 &mdash; Lee De Frost files patent #879,532 for the vacuum tube triode &mdash; later used as an electronic switch in the first electronic computer.

1909

 * Congress passes a major revision to existing copyright law. Under the 1909 Copyright Act, the initial term of copyright protection is 28 years, with a 28 year renewal term. Copyright registration is required.

1910
June 18, 1910 &mdash; The Mann-Elkins Act places telecommunications under Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) jurisdiction.

1911
June 15, 1911 &mdash; IBM is formed.

1913
December 19, 1913 &mdash; In settlement of the first antitrust suit filed against AT&T by the U.S. government, the parties enter into what is known as the "Kingsbury Commitment." AT&T agrees to divest its holdings in Western Union, stop acquiring other telephone companies, permit other telephone companies to interconnect, and become a regulated monopoly.

1914

 * Edward Kleinschmidt invents the teletype.

1915
January 25, 1915 &mdash; The first transcontinental telephone line opens.

1918

 * The short-wave radio is invented.

1919

 * The earliest version of the Enigma cipher machine is built in Europe.
 * W. H. Eccles and F. W. Jordan discover the flip-flop vacuum tube.

1920

 * Czech novelist Karel Capek publishes the play "R.U.R." ("Rossum's Universal Robots") in Prague. It premiered in 1921. It is the first publication in which the term "robot" appears. It explores the issue of whether worker-machines will replace humans.
 * The first radio broadcasts begin in the United States.

1921

 * The Willis-Graham Act on communications confirmed the Kingsbury Commitment.

1922

 * Photo telegraphy (fax service) is offered as a telecommunications service in Germany.
 * The Interdepartment Radio Advisory Committee (IRAC) is established to coordinate U.S. telecommunications activities.

1923

 * The Enigma, the first mechanical cipher rotor machine, is introduced.


 * Philo Farnsworth devises the first fully electronic television.

1924
February 24, 1924 &mdash; IBM is formed by the merger of several other companies, including the company owned by Herman Hollerith.

1925

 * Bell Telephone Laboratories is formed.

1927
September 7, 1927 &mdash; Philo Farnsworth successfully transmits a television signal.

1928

 * IBM introduces the eighty-column punched card, which becomes the standard for the next fifty years.
 * Vladimir Zworykin invented the cathode ray tube.

1929
June 27, 1929 &mdash; The first demonstration of color television takes place at Bell Labs in New York.

1932

 * The "International Telegraph Union" becomes the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

1934
June 19, 1934 &mdash; The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is established. The telecommunications industry now is regulated by the FCC.

July 1, 1934 &mdash; The Communications Act of 1934 takes effect.

1936
April 11, 1936 &mdash; Konrad Zuse applies for a patent on his electromagnetic, program-controlled calculator, called the Z1. It was the first freely programmable, binary-based calculating machine built, although it did not function reliably. The Z1 was destroyed in World War II.

November 30, 1936 &mdash; The first coaxial cable is completed between New York and Philadelphia.


 * Alan Turing describes a Universal Turing machine.

1938
October 22, 1938 &mdash; Chester Carlson produces first electrophotographic image &mdash; a precursor to the xerography process.


 * A code-breaking service is established at Bletchley Park (U.K.).

1939

 * John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry develop the ABC (Atanasoft-Berry Computer) prototype.


 * George Stibitz develops the Complex Number Calculator &mdash; a foundation for digital computers.

Source

 * Networking and Information Technology Research and Development: Advanced Foundations for American Innovation.