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House Administration Committee Chairman Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, left, and legislative aide Brian Petersen read digital mail in Ney's Capitol Hill office. (©AP/WWP/Stephen J. Boitano)
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Computers figure so heavily in our daily lives that it is difficult to understand why early computer experts did not foresee much demand for these specialized machines. For example, in the 1940s, the chairman of IBM thought a total of five machines could be sold worldwide. Since then, a succession of breakthroughs has created a new economic sector: Information Technologies (IT) - the ever growing variety of ways in which we are able to gather, store, analyze, share, and display information.
Drawing on Max Planck's quantum theory and Albert Einstein's explanation of photoelectric phenomena, Bell Laboratories invented the transistor in 1948. This solid-state replacement for the vacuum tube, revolutionized electronics. With the invention of the integrated circuit in 1958, the pace of electronic and computer technology was greatly increased. Today, millions of integrated circuits can be placed on silicon chips no bigger than postage stamps. Book-sized computers of the 1990s can outperform room-sized computers of the 1960s.
Much of the innovation that spawned today's information technologies resulted directly from Federal investment in science and technology. Starting in 1969, when the Department of Defense opened its experimental nationwide computer network through the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), computer networking has especially benefited from Federal research and development funding. The National Science Foundation (NSF) extended ARPA's network to civilian academic users in 1987. These networks marked the convergence of computing and communications, one of the main drivers of information technologies in the 1990s. Networking - linking computers together to share data - has since become one of the fastest growing areas of computing. The Internet emerged from the joint effort by Federal agencies and universities to advance networking technology.
Miniaturization causes prices to spiral downward, making the technology affordable for larger numbers of small businesses, local governments, schools, libraries, families, and individuals. Estimates of the total number of computers in the world now exceed 500 million, or more than triple the total in 1991. The proportion of U.S. households with computers has jumped to more than 40 percent in 1998. In 1999, 95 % of U.S. schools had Internet access.
Abridged from U.S. State Department IIP publications and other U.S. government materials.
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