The evolution of modern computing, heavily influenced by Alan Turing's universal machine concept and John von Neumann's stored-program architecture, began post-World War II amidst the Cold War. The Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) in 1946 marked the first practical implementation, but lacked program storage. The Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC), completed in 1949, addressed this issue.
The advent of transistors in the late 1950s led to mini-computers in the 1960s and personal computers in the 1970s, increasing computing power and accessibility. Notable developments include the Development of an Experimental Computer (DEC) by Ken Olsen at MIT and the PDP-1, a timeshare computer.
The Soviet Union also made strides with Sergei Aleksandrovich Lebedev's MESM in 1950. Artificial Intelligence emerged during this period, officially defined at the Dartmouth Conference in 1956. Today, we stand on the brink of another revolution: cloud computing, making computing more accessible than ever before. The future promises continued advancements in this field.
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