Some history

• ~1850: George Boole invents Boolean algebra

  • Maps logical propositions to symbols
  • Allows us to manipulate logic statements using mathematics

• 1938: Claude Shannon links Boolean algebra to switches

  • His Master’s thesis

• 1945: John von Neumann develops the first stored program

• 1946: ENIAC…the first computer

  • 18,000 tubes
  • Several hundred multiplies per minute

• 1947: Shockley, Brittain, and Bardeen invent the transistor

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