Science, Firsts and Sport
Where computers, chips, lasers and video games really began, set against the technology of 1967.
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No single machine was the first digital computer. Atanasoff-Berry, Zuse, Colossus, ENIAC and the Manchester Baby each have a claim, set against 1967's IBM System/360.
Apple was founded in 1976 and the Apple I dates from that year, so no Apple computer existed in 1967. Here is what computers were and who used them then.
The real story of the Apple I of 1976 and the Apple II of 1977: Wozniak, Jobs, the Homebrew Computer Club, and why the Apple II reached a mass market.
The UNIVAC I, delivered to the US Census Bureau in 1951, is the usual answer to the first commercial computer, with Ferranti and LEO as rivals, and System/360 by 1967.
The first working laser, Theodore Maiman's ruby device, ran in May 1960, not 1967. This covers the maser, Townes and Schawlow, and lasers as research tools in 1967.
The microprocessor dates from about 1971, not 1967. This describes 1967 hardware: integrated circuit chips, minicomputers, core memory and rising chip density.
The Intel 4004 of 1971, designed by Faggin, Hoff and Mazor for a Busicom calculator order, is the usual first microprocessor, with rival claims. It was not a 1967 event.
From Tennis for Two in 1958 and Spacewar! in 1962 to Ralph Baer's 1966 to 1967 television game system and the 1972 Magnavox Odyssey; no commercial game existed in 1967.
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