What do computers look like?

1980s

2020s

Computers everywhere Har

Women computers at 1880-1950vard College Observatory. Computers in appliances, cars, homes, streets, buildings Source: Wikimedia

safer, but are there other consequences? We need toThe first small, affordaComputers on desk

ble computers are made ts

o and public places help to make life easier and

Computers are people fit on a person’s desk and they start to transform think about who has access to our data and whatPeople do laborious calculations in many areas such workplaces and classrooms. Many people have a they could do with it.as astronomy, weather forecasting and statistics.

computer at home for the first time. Their tools are pen, paper, slide rules and early

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calculators. 1950s

Computers are BIGThese room-filling machines have ‘brains’ made with

hundreds of valves. They can work faster than human 2010s computers, but are expensive to build and use a lot of

energy to run. Computers in your hand

Pocket-sized smart phones are powerful, internet-connected computers. As well as

calculating, they play music, take photos and videos, provide real-time navigation and a host of other complex information tasks.