A Computer is a device that can be programmed to carry out a variety of arithmetic and logical operations. The beginning of computers is murky, but we could say it began with Pascal's calculator, which was invented in 1642 of the Common Era, or we could go all the way back to the Sumerian abacus, invented about 5,000 years ago. But the computers that have revolutionized humanity really came on the scene in the 1930s and 40s. Alan Turing, widely regarded as the father of computer science, invented what would be called the "Turing Machine" in 1936. His computer, what he called an 'automatic machine' provided the blueprint for future digital computers. Turing's role in the development of the computer encouraged the editors of Time Magazine to write: "The fact remains that everyone who taps at a keyboard, opening a spreadsheet or a word-processing program, is working on an incarnation of a Turing Machine". Computers are found in most electronic devices, and are becoming more ubiquitous, found in everything from motor vehicles and aircraft to toys and industrial robots. Computers are the primary facilitating device that has enabled the internet, which itself has impacted the world. Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images. Ideas regarding television can date to the 19th century, but it would not be until 1926 that those ideas would be realized. In that year John Baird, a Scottish inventor and engineer, demonstrated television in London with a scanning disk of a double spiral of photographic lenses. Throughout the world, mostly in developed countries, TV has made huge impacts on culture and even shaped how we socialize since the 1950s. Although we think mostly about television as a form of entertainment, the role it has played in spreading information rapidly around the world has greatly impacted many people's way of life. Aircraft are machines that can fly by gaining support from the atmosphere. It counters the force of gravity by static lift in balloons or the use of an airfoil; in a few cases it is countered by the downward thrust of a jet engine. Ever since humans could gaze upon the tranquil flight of soaring birds, stories about flying have been spread. But for an untold number of millennia, humans were denied the privilege. That changed in the 18th century. On the 21st of November, 1783 in Paris, France, Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier (a teacher) and Francois Laurent d'Arlandes (a soldier) made the first manned flight in a hot air balloon. Their 25-minute flight took them 9 km, or 5.5 miles, attaining an altitude of 3,000 feet. The first manned, heavier-than-air flight was made just over a century later, on October 9th, 1890, also in France. Clement Ader, an engineer and inventor, reportedly flew 50 meters with very little altitude from level ground in his bat-winged, fully self-propelled Ader Eole, also called Avion and named after the Greek God of Wind.

• published: 05 Sep 2013
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