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The History of Electronics, part 6 The History of Electronics Inventors and their Inventions Over the last five issues, we have described many individuals and organisations that made vital contributions to electronics. Their work made modern technology possible. Many significant developments also emerged from universities, companies and other organisations since 1962, described in this sixth and ultimate part of the series. Part 6: by Dr David Maddison T his final article covers significant inventions that cannot be attributed to an individual made from 1963 to the present. They are associated with a company or governmental organisation, either because we don’t know the name(s) of the inventors, or because they were part of a team. Unlike the first four parts, which were organised by the date of birth of the inventor, this one (like the last) will list them by the year of the invention or discovery. Image Source: www.pexels.com/photo/2047905/ Because this list is of more recent inventions, you will notice that most of the entries are related to developments in computers, communications and software. Of course, there are too many technological developments over the last 62 years to list them all here; this will merely be a sampling of what we think are the most significant developments. Philips compact casette, ASCII etc 1963 COMPAC (the Commonwealth Pacific Cable System) undersea telephone cable was completed, linking Australia, New Zealand and Canada via Hawaii and Fiji. Parts had been operating since 1961. This coaxial cable could handle 80 phone calls or 1760 teleprinter circuits. It replaced HF radio telephone calls, which had to be booked and were delayed if transmission conditions were bad. Philips introduced the first audio cassette tape, the “Compact Cassette”. The first transpacific television transmission via satellite was made between 1591 ABS flame-retardant enclosures Learn more: hammondmfg.com/1591 uksales<at>hammfg.com • 01256 812812 Practical Electronics | June | 2025 13 Feature Article Japan and the USA, via the experimental Relay 1 communications satellite in an elliptical orbit. Nottingham Electric Valve Company in the UK released the Telcan (Fig.68), a videotape recorder intended for domestic use. It used ¼-inch audio reel-to-reel tape running at 305cm per second, a very high speed for this type of tape, and could record up to 20 minutes of monochrome video on one of two tracks. The recording bandwidth of 2.6MHz provided 405 lines. It was mainly sold as a kit, for £60, equivalent to about £1000 today. It was a commercial failure; for more details, see https://pemag.au/link/abp1 The first edition of the ASCII character encoding standard was published. TPC-1, Xerox fax system, BASIC etc 1964 The Trans-Pacific cable system, TPC-1, linking Japan, Guam, Hawaii and the mainland USA became operational. It carried 128 telephone circuits. Xerox introduced the first modern commercial fax system, which they called Long Distance Xerography or LDX. The BASIC computer programming language was released. The first prototype Moog electronic music synthesiser was built by Robert Moog (1934-2005). Commercial models were produced from 1967. geosynchronous satellite Intelsat I etc 1965 The Dadda hardware binary multiplier was invented by Luigi Dadda (1923-2012) for computer arithmetic operations. It was smaller and faster than the previous implementation. Sony released the CV-2000 (CV = “consumer video”), the first mass-­ produced domestic video tape recorder (see Fig.69). It recorded in monochrome and used 13mm tape in a reel-to-reel format. It had broad uptake among business and educational institutions. Its inability to adjust head tracking meant it was impossible to swap tapes between machines; that was corrected in later versions. The first commercial geosynchronous satellite, Intelsat I, was launched. It carried either 240 telephone circuits or one TV circuit. It was in use for over four years until it was deactivated, with a temporary reactivation for use for the Apollo 11 mission, and another temporary reactivation in 1990 to mark its 25th Anniversary. It is still in orbit. Magnafax telecopier (fax machine) PAL standard, ATM, WRESAT etc 1967 The SECAM colour television standard was released and adopted in France. PAL standard colour television started broadcasting in the UK. The world’s first automated teller machine (ATM) was installed at Barclay’s Bank, Enfield, UK. It was operated by inserting cheques, previously issued by a teller, marked with radioactive carbon-14 for machine readability and to confirm their authenticity. Australia’s first locally made satellite, WRESAT, was launched. Silicon Chip had an article on WRESAT in its October 2017 issue (see siliconchip. au/Article/10822). LCDs, Group 1 fax standards 1968 A team at RCA Laboratories demonstrated an 18×2 matrix liquid crystal display (LCD) using dynamic scattering mode (DSM), invented by George Figs.68: a Telcan home video recorder, sold mainly as a kit using ¼-inch audio tape. Source: www. nottinghampost.com/news/history/20-best-thingsnottingham-given-192680 14 1966 Xerox introduced the first easy-to-use fax machine, the Magnafax Telecopier, that used standard telephone lines. Heilmeier (described in the April issue). The ITU (International Telecommunications Union) released Group 1 fax standards. Conforming machines took about six minutes to transmit a page at 96 lines per inch (38 per cm). MOS DRAM, Unix, ARPANET etc 1969 Commercial production of MOS DRAM (metal oxide semiconductor dynamic random access memory) was started by Advanced Memory Systems, Inc, and was offered to selected companies. The chips contained 1024 bits of memory. In the same year, Intel produced the 1103 memory chip, also with 1024 bits, and sold it on the open market. It was used in popular computers such as the HP 9800 series and the PDP-11. The Unix operating system for computers was released. The first commercial quartz oscillator watch was introduced, the Seiko Quartz-Astron 35SQ. It had an accuracy of ±5 seconds per month and a battery life of around one year. The US Department of Defense (DoD) Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) established a packet-switched computer network, ARPANET (see Fig.70), which eventually evolved into the internet we have today. digital fax machine, pocket calculator 1970 Dacom produced the first digital fax machine, the DFC-10, that used data compression and could transmit a page in under one minute. The Pascal computer programming language was released. The first commercial handheld pocket calculator, the Canon Pocketronic (Fig.71), became available. It was influenced by the prototype Fig.69: the Sony CV-2000, the first mass-manufactured video recorder for the domestic market. It used half-inch (12.7mm) reelto-reel tape. Source: www.smecc.org/sony_ cv_ series_video.htm Practical Electronics | June | 2025 The History of Electronics, part 6 Texas Instruments Cal Tech calculator of 1967 and used three TI MOS integrated circuits. It had no display; results were printed on paper tape. For more information, see https:// pemag.au/link/abp4 Intel 4004, Kenbak-1 PC, EPROM etc 1971 The first commercial microprocessor, the Intel 4004, was released. It was mainly intended for calculators and cash machines. The US DoD funded a five-year program to make a speech recognition machine that could recognise 1000 words within sentences. A machine called Harpy was built that recognised 1,011 words; see the PDF at https://pemag. au/link/abp5 Docutel introduced the “Total Teller” machine, an ATM that could accept deposits, transfer from one account to another and dispense cash. It operated offline using plastic cards and had a mechanical display with messages on a printed cylinder. By 1975, 3000 ATMs had been installed worldwide, 80% from Docutel. In 1982, Docutel merged with Olivetti. The first personal computer (without a microprocessor) was released, the Kenbak-1 (Fig.72). Only 40 were sold. Intel released the first EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), invented by Dov Frohman. The Intel 1702 could store 256 bytes of data. Sony released the U-matic video cassette format to market, the first commercial video cassette format. It used ¾-inch (19mm) tape. It was initially intended for the consumer market but was too expensive; it became popular in the institutional and industrial markets, plus the television industry. S ilicon C hip magazine had a detailed series of articles on the history of videotape recording in its March, April, May & June 2021 issues (see siliconchip.au/Series/359). Intel 8008, C, Pong, blue LEDs etc Fig.70: a map of ARPANET, the internet’s predecessor, as it appeared in 1973. Source: https://w.wiki/7FPK Fig.71 (below): the Canon Pocketronic, the first commercial handheld electronic calculator. Source: https://w. wiki/7EG3 (CC-BY-SA-4.0). Fig.72 (below): Kenbak-1, the first personal computer from 1971. Source: https://w.wiki/7FPV (CC-BY-SA-4.0) 1972 The Philips VCR (video cassette recorder) format N1500 player/recorder was introduced for the domestic market. The last Philips VCR recorder was released in 1979. The eight-inch (20.3cm) floppy disk was commercially released. The ITU (International Telecommunications Union) Group 2 fax standards were published. Conforming machines took about three minutes to Practical Electronics | June | 2025 15 Feature Article transmit a page at 96 lines per inch (38 per cm). Cartrivision, a consumer videotape cartridge format, was introduced. The machines were built into expensive TV sets, which were a commercial failure. See www.angelfire.com/alt/ cartrivision/ The Unix operating system was rewritten in the C language, so 1972 could be considered a date when C became mainstream. C was mainly developed between 1969 and 1973 and is still widely used today (in its original form and derivatives like C++ and C#). The first microprocessor for personal computers was released, the 8-bit Intel 8008. The world’s first scientific pocket calculator was introduced, the HP-35. Pong, the first commercially successful computer game, was released. We created a modern, miniaturised version that was published as a project in the August 2022 issue of Practical Electronics. The first blue LED was invented at RCA by Herbert Paul Maruska (1944~), but the company was in turmoil and the project was cancelled. Also, the device was too dim for practical use; see https://pemag.au/link/abp6 Eventually, Isamu Akasaki (19292021), Hiroshi Amano (1960~), and Shūji Nakamura (1954~) won the Nobel Prize in 2014 for their 1993 invention of high-brightness blue LEDs at Nagoya University in Japan. White LEDs are blue LEDs with a scintillator coating (similar to a phosphor). SPICE, Ethernet, graphical interfaces EDUC-8 computer, CP/M OS etc 16 1974 Electronics Australia published what was thought at the time to be the world’s first kit computer, the EDUC-8 (Fig.75), but it was later found to have been beaten by a competitor by one month, the Mark-8. However, the EA design was considered superior. Bravo was the first ‘WYSIWYG’ document preparation program, running on the Xero Alto computer, an early word processor. The CP/M computer operating system was introduced, later displaced by MS-DOS. Kodak digital camera, Betamax etc Fig.73: the Xerox Alto computer from 1973. Source: https://w.wiki/7EG4 1973 Micral released the first personal computer with a microprocessor (the Intel 8008). The SPICE (Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis) analog circuit simulation program was introduced. It and its derivatives (like LTspice) are still widely used today. Ethernet was invented by Robert Melancton Metcalfe (1946~) and his team working at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (Xerox PARC) in California. It is one of the key technologies of the internet. Motorola demonstrated the cellular mobile phone, although it took some time to commercialise. The first tuneable laser was demonstrated at Bell Labs. The Xerox Alto computer (Fig.73) was released, the first computer with a graphical user interface and a mouse (see Fig.74), ten years before the Apple Lisa. It cost US$32,000, equivalent to $330,000 today. It also had a portrait-­ orientated display. 1975 The first self-contained digital camera was invented by Steven Sasson (1950~) at Kodak. It had a 100×100 pixel resolution and images were recorded digitally on cassette tape, taking 23 seconds. The Altair 8800 personal computer kit was released, considered by many to have started the microcomputer revolution. The Betamax home video recording system was released (the Silicon Chip series mentioned earlier also covers Betamax in detail). The Steadicam was invented by Garrett Brown and produced by Cinema Products Corporation. It is used for camera stabilisation, as it isolates the operator’s movement from the camera. Silicon Chip described the Steadicam in its November & December 2011 issues (siliconchip.au/Series/33). VHS tape system, 5.25in floppy etc 1976 The first word processor for home computers was released, called “Electric Pencil”, for use on computers such as Altair 8800, Sol-20 and later, the TRS-80 and the IBM PC. The VHS home video tape system was released. 5.25-inch (13.3cm) floppy disks became available. Apple II, Commodore PET, TRS-80 etc 1977 The first practical optical fibre link was installed in Turin, Italy. The influential Apple II, Commodore PET and TRS-80 home computers were released. speech synthesis, LaserDisc etc 1978 Texas Instruments released the first speech synthesiser chip, the TMS5100. It used “pitch-excited linear predictive coding” to greatly decrease the volume of data required to generate speech. It was used in the “Speak & Spell” educational toy. The LaserDisc was released on the market. Machines could play prerecorded videos but could not record. Technology from LaserDisc was later incorporated into Compact Discs, DVDs and Blu-rays. It was never hugely popular but offered good-­quality video reproduction for the period, far superior to VHS. Fairlight CMI, 1G phone networks etc 1979 The Australian Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument) was released. It was based on a design by Tony Furse, licensed by Kim Ryrie and Peter Vogel (ex ETI magazine). It was “one of the earliest music workstations with an embedded sampler”, considered revolutionary at the time. See the video titled “How the Fairlight CMI changed the course of music” at https://youtu. be/jkiYy0i8FtA The very popular WordPerfect word processor was released. Japan’s Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) deployed the first 1G cellular phone network. Philips and Grundig released the Video 2000 consumer video cassette format, discontinued in 1988. The VisiCalc spreadsheet program was released. It was considered a “killer application” for the Apple II and ran on many other computers. It is the predecessor to programs like Excel. For more details, visit: http://danbricklin. com/visicalc.htm Practical Electronics | June | 2025 The History of Electronics, part 6 Commodore VIC-20 computer etc 1980 The ITU (International Telecommunications Union) Group 3 fax standards (digital) were released. The time to transmit a page was reduced to 6-15 seconds, not including handshaking. It supported a variable scanning resolution, up to 400 lines per inch (157 per cm). The Commodore VIC-20 computer was released. MS-DOS V1.0, 16-bit DAC etc 1981 The MS-DOS V1.0 computer operating system was released, along with the IBM PC. The Osborne 1 was released, it is considered to be the first commercial truly portable/luggable computer. It is not obvious what device should get the credit for the first ‘laptop’; many contenders exist. The PCM53/DAC700 16-bit single-­ chip audio digital-to-analog converter (DAC) was released. Designed by Jimmy Naylor and a Texas Instruments/BurrBrown design team, it became the basis of nearly all audio CD players. RCA released its Capacitance Electronic Disc (CED), an analog video disc playback system. A stylus with mechanical tracking read the disc. The discs were 30cm in diameter and could record 60 minutes of NTSC video per side. The product was unpopular and discontinued due to competition from LaserDisc players and other reasons. CD player, Commodore 64 1982 The first audio Compact Disc (CD) player (co-developed by Philips and Sony) was released in Japan. The Commodore 64 computer was introduced. 3.5in floppy disk, C++ language etc Fig.74: the Xerox Alto GUI from 1973. Source: https://interface-experience.org/ objects/xerox-alto/ 1983 The first 3.5-inch (8.9cm) floppy disks became available, based on the Microfloppy Industry Committee (MIC) specification. The C++ programming language was released, an ‘object-oriented’ version of C that’s still widely used today. The first personal computer with a built-in hard disk, the IBM PC XT with 10MB standard capacity, went on the market. Motorola released the first ‘mobile’ phone, the DynaTAC 8000X. It weighed nearly a kilogram, took 10 hours to charge and retailed for US$3995 (about $18,750 in today’s money) – see Fig.76. Dr Mitsuaki Oshima at Panasonic invented electronic image stabilisation. Practical Electronics | June | 2025 Fig.75: the Electronics Australia EDUC-8 computer. Source: https://w.wiki/7EG6 17 Feature Article tially thought that its capacity would never be reached. Sharks also attacked the cable, possibly due to them being able to sense its electromagnetic radiation. It was instrumental in the development of the internet, providing a dedicated high-speed T1 connection between CERN in Europe and Cornell University in the USA. GPS receiver, World Wide Web etc 1989 The first commercial handheld GPS receiver was released, the Magellan NAV 1000. CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) was demonstrated for cellular telephone systems. The World Wide Web was invented by Tim Berners-Lee and released to the public in 1991. DragonDictate speech recognition 1990 The first consumer speech recognition software, DragonDictate, was released. Nowadays it’s called “Dragon NaturallySpeaking” and is now owned by Microsoft. 2G networks, Linux, Python 1991 Panasonic released the first video camera to feature electronic image stabilisation later, in 1988. 2G (GSM) telephone networks were introduced. The Linux operating system for computers, a free/open-source version of Unix, was released. The Python programming language was released. Apple Macintosh, CD-ROM TASMAN2 cable, Windows 3.1 etc Fig.76: a Motorola DynaTAC 8000X mobile phone. Source: https://w. wiki/7FPn (CC-BY-SA-3.0) 1984 The Apple Macintosh was released. The Commodore Amiga computer was also introduced. The CD-ROM for data storage, based on the audio CD, was announced. IBM Tangora speech recognition 1985 The IBM experimental speech recognition system Tangora became available. It ran on an IBM PC AT and recognised 20,000 words, converting them to text. Sony D-1 video recording format 1986 The professional studio Sony D-1 digital video recording format was introduced. Higher temperature superconductors 1987 “Higher temperature” superconductors were discovered. Currently, the highest-temperature superconductor works at around -135°C at normal atmospheric pressure. TAT-8 transatlantic optical fibre cable 1988 The first transatlantic optical fibre cable, TAT-8, became operational. It had a capacity of 280Mbit/s, equivalent to 40,000 telephone circuits. It was retired in 2002; it rapidly reached capacity when it was ini18 1992 Australia’s first undersea optical fibre, TASMAN2, connected us to New Zealand with a speed of around 1Gbps. Windows 3.1 was released, marking a shift away from the command-line DOS interface on PCs towards graphical interfaces. The Apple Newton MessagePad was released, an early ‘personal digital assistant’ with handwriting recognition that helped form the basis of later smart devices. Windows NT, HAARP 1993 Windows NT was released. Its core still underlies modern Windows versions such as 10 & 11. However, its GUI was still similar to that of Windows 3.1. HAARP (High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program) was established for upper atmosphere and ionospheric research. CompactFlash memory cards etc 1994 The first CompactFlash memory cards were produced by SanDisk, starting at 2MB. It was the first widespread, dedicated flash memory card format. Apple released home and office computers using IBM’s 32-bit PowerPC processors, marking a shift away from the Motorola processors they previously used. IBM released the Simon Personal Computer (SPC), the first ‘smartphone’, although that term didn’t exist at the time. It had an LCD touchscreen and could be used to make or receive phone calls, send and receive faxes, emails and pages (‘instant messages’). 50,000 were sold for US$1099 (about $3500 today). Windows 95, DAB radio 1995 Windows 95 was released, with a GUI reminiscent of modern Windows versions. DAB digital radio broadcasting began in Europe. DVD player, PalmPilot “smartphone” 1996 The first digital video disc (DVD) player was released in Japan. The ATSC digital television standard was released. The PalmPilot was released, an early predecessor to the modern smartphone. MPMan F10 portable MP3 player 1997 The DVB-T digital television standard was released, with the first broadcast in Sweden. The first portable MP3 player was released, the MPMan F10 by Saehan Information Systems. ADSL standard 1998 ADSL (Asymmetric digital subscriber line) technical standard ANSI T1.413 Issue 2 was released. ADSL enabled high-speed data over standard copper telephone lines. It was introduced in Australia in 2000. Bluetooth devices 1999 The first Bluetooth device was introduced to the market. SD memory cards, Windows 2000 2000 The first SD (Secure Digital) memory cards were released with 32MB and 64MB capacities. Windows 2000 was released, merging the core of Windows NT with the graphical interface of Windows 95. It was the basis of the modern Windows operating system in 2023. 3G networks, Mac OS X, iPod 2001 3G telephone networks were introduced, offering high-speed mobile data, up to 7.2Mbps. Apple released Mac OS X, a cleansheet redesign of their graphical operating system based on FreeBSD, still their primary operating system today. Apple released the iPod MP3 player. Practical Electronics | June | 2025 The History of Electronics, part 6 Terrington Components • Project boxes designed and manufactured in the UK. • Many of our enclosures used on former Maplin projects. • Unique designs and sizes, including square, long and deep variaaons of our screwed lid enclosures. • Sub-miniature sizes down to 23mm x 16mm, ideal for IoT devices. MADE IN BRITAIN www.terrington-components.co.uk | sales<at>terrington-components.co.uk | Tel: 01553 636999 ISDB-T digital TV broadcasts 2003 Japan started digital TV broadcasts using the ISDB-T standard. LongPen remote signing device 2004 Margaret Atwood (1939~) invented the LongPen, a remote signing device, mainly for authors to sign copies of books. It was released to the market in 2006. It is reminiscent of Elisha Gray’s telautograph from 1888. DMB standard 2005 South Korea adopted DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting), for mobile video streaming, a development of the DAB radio broadcasting standard. DTMB standard, OPAL reactor 2006 Further reading ● “Phonogram Images on Paper, 1250-1950” at https://youtu.be/TESkh3hX5oM ● “Experiments and Observations on Electricity” made at Philadelphia in America by Benjamin Franklin, 1751 – https://pemag.au/link/abpf ● Simple construction project video: “Voltaic Pile, the First Battery” at https://youtu. be/pW4UUOgJX6k ● “Electric Incandescent Lighting” by Edwin James Houston and Arthur Edwin Kennelly, 1896 – https://pemag.au/link/abpe ● “The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century” by Edward W. Byrn, 1900 – https://pemag.au/link/abpc ● “A History of Wireless Telegraphy” by J.J. Fahie, Third Edition, 1902 – https:// pemag.au/link/abpd ● “How does a spark gap transmitter sound?” at https://youtu.be/VMdYte66D2Y ● The First Digital Voltmeters and the Birth of Test Automation – www.hp9825.com/ html/dvms.html ● The oldest surviving video recording: “The Edsel Show - CBS-TV (October 13, 1957)” at https://youtu.be/Ze0Az9tdkHg ● “Oldest surviving color videotape recording: WRC-TV dedication May 22, 1958” – https://youtu.be/4vBEMGTdDYc The DTMB (Digital Terrestrial Multimedia Broadcast) TV standard was adopted in China. OPAL (the Open-pool Australian lightwater reactor) was commissioned to replace HIFAR for research and radioisotope production (eg, for medical procedures and industrial applications). DAB+ broadcasting began, starting in Australia, using less bandwidth for similar audio quality to DAB. 5G telephone networks were introduced. Apple iPhone 4G networks Apple Silicon (ARM CPU) 2007 Apple introduced the iPhone, the first truly modern smartphone (the Blackberry was released in 2000, but phones with inbuilt keyboards eventually fell out of favour). 2009 4G (LTE) telephone networks were introduced. Apple iPad 2010 Apple released the iPad, an early touchscreen tablet computer. FIND ALL YOUR ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS IN ONE PLACE 5G networks 2019 2020 Apple brought to market computers using its own Apple Silicon processors, the M1 series, using memory package stacking for high performance PE with low power consumption. BASIC MICRO E L E CT R O N I C S C O M P O N E N T S U P P L I E R w w w . basicmicro . co . u k High-quality, genuine parts Practical Electronics | June | 2025 19