The First Computer “Bug” Was an Actual Insect In 1947, engineers fixed a malfunctioning Harvard Mark II computer by removing a moth stuck in a relay. They taped it into the logbook, calling it the “first actual case of a bug being found.” This is where the term “debugging” in programming originated!
The Internet Was Born in a Garage Google, the tech giant that powers much of the internet, was started in a garage in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Their first server was built with LEGO bricks to save costs, proving that billion-dollar ideas can start small.
A Single Smartphone Outpowers NASA’s Moon Mission Computers The Apollo 11 guidance computer, which helped land humans on the moon in 1969, had less processing power than a modern smartphone. Your phone could run circles around the tech that changed history!
The First Computer Virus Was a Prank In 1982, the “Creeper” virus spread across early internet networks, displaying the cheeky message: “I’m the creeper, catch me if you can!” It was created by Bob Thomas as an experiment, not malice, but it sparked the cybersecurity revolution.
Computers Were Once Human Before electronic computers, “computer” was a job title! In the early 20th century, people (often women) performed complex calculations by hand for scientific projects, like NASA’s early space missions.
The World’s First Website Is Still Online Launched in 1991 by Tim Berners-Lee, the first website (http://info.cern.ch) explained the World Wide Web. You can still visit it today, a living piece of internet history!
Your Keyboard Hosts More Germs Than a Toilet Seat Studies show that computer keyboards can harbor up to 20,000 times more bacteria than a toilet seat. That’s because we rarely clean them, making them a surprising hotspot for germs!
AI Can Dream Like Humans Modern AI, like Google’s DeepDream, can generate surreal, dream-like images by mimicking how human brains process visuals. These psychedelic creations are both creepy and captivating, showing how computers “think” creatively.
The First Computer Game Was Played in 1958 “Tennis for Two,” created by physicist William Higinbotham, was the first video game, displayed on an oscilloscope. It predated Pong by over a decade and was built to entertain visitors at a science lab!
Quantum Computers Could Redefine Reality Unlike regular computers that use bits (0s or 1s), quantum computers use qubits, which can be 0, 1, or both at once. This could solve problems in seconds that would take today’s supercomputers billions of years, potentially revolutionizing medicine, cryptography, and more!
