50,000 - 20,000 BCE
Pebbles and human fingers are the first tools for calculation. The Latin word digit means finger
(or toe) as well as a number, and the Latin word for pebbles is calculus, giving us the word "calculate"
20,000 BCE
The oldest-known objects used to represent numbers are bones with carved notches
c 2400 BCE
The abacus - the first known calculator - is invented in Babylonia
c 500-300 BCE
Ancient Indian writer Pingala describes the first binary(two digit code) numbering system
87 BCE
A mechanical computer used to predict the movement of stars is built. It is discovered in a shipwreck off the coast of the Greek island of the Geek island of Antikythera in 1901
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| Front panel of a 2007 reproduction |
724 CE
Chinese engineer Liang Ling-Can builds the first mechanical clock (driven by water) parts that make a ticking sound. More than 1,300 years later, early computers and robots inherit the technology from
