Engineering Innovations

One of the most important innovations leading to the creation of Personal Computers is the miniaturization of the transistor. Initially, early computers like ENIAC relied on large vacuum tubes to carry electrical signals from one part of the machine to another. This solution was large, power hungry, and generated large amounts of heat. Additionally, due to the requirements of early computers, entire rooms and warehouses were filled with just the vacuum tubes needed to make these computers work.

On December 16th, 1947, researchers at the Nokia Bell Labs in Murray Hill New Jersey figured out how to create a small circuit made out of a spring, two gold contacts, and a small piece of germanium. This circuit served as a switch and an amplifier, suddenly allowing computers to massively shrink in size overnight with the replacement of vacuum tubes, and directly leading to the creation of the personal computer.

The second big innovation came with the invention of the Integrated Circuit. While the miniaturization of the transistor allowed for ever complicating computer designs. Computer hardware eventually reached the point it could no longer be reliable and economical with all of the hand-soldered joints, resistors, capacitors, etc. required to make the computer function.

In 1958, Jack Kilby was hired by Texas Instruments to work on the Army’s Micromodule program. With no concrete direction given, just a focus on “miniaturization”, Kilby built the first Integrated Circuit (IC) out of a block of germanium, a single junction transistor, input/output terminals, gold wires, and wax. This invention allowed engineers to design isolated components of a much smaller size than previously. This is because all of the components are integrated into the IC. Instead of having hundreds of vacuum tubes, capacitors, transistors, etc. just for one function, a single IC the size of a half a paperclip could perform the same function.

The third big innovation that directly led to the development of the personal computer is the invention of the microcontroller. Previously, any additional component added to a computer required an additional chip and IC in order to deal with the new intructions. This is because each chip had the logic programming for its functions physically built into the chip. This means that in order to change the function of anything, it would have to be completely redesigned and replaced. 

Ted Hoff, an engineer at Intel, created an all purpose chip, named the 4004, that could be mass produced and utilized for any scenario. He did this by fundamentally changing how chips were designed and utilized. Instead of making a chip that was programmed at its hardware level, he designed a chip that could be programmed through its software. This breakthrough allowed almost any company needing a proprietary design to purchase a Intel 4004, and software code it to function exactly as they need.