Software & Languages  Herbert Simon and Allen Newell unveiled Logic Theorist software that supplied rules of reasoning and proved symbolic logic theorems. The release of Logic Theorist marked a milestone in establishing the field of artificial intelligence. More Topic


Felker and Harris program TRADIC Felker and Harris program TRADIC
Components  AT&T Bell Laboratories announced the first fully transistorized computer, TRADIC. It contained nearly 800 transistors instead of vacuum tubes. Transistors -- completely cold, highly efficient amplifying devices invented at Bell Labs -- enabled the machine to operate on fewer than 100 watts, or one-twentieth the power required by comparable vacuum tube computers.

In this photograph, J. H. Felker (left) gives instructions to the TRADIC computer by means of a plug-in unit while J. R. Harris places numbers into the machine by flipping simple switches. The computer occupied only 3 cubic feet. More Topic





People & Pop Culture  First meeting of SHARE, the IBM users group, convened. User groups became a significant educational force allowing companies to communicate innovations and users to trade information. More Topic

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