The document provides a chronological history of communications technologies from 3500 BC to 1994 AD. Key developments include the Phoenicians developing the first alphabet in 3500 BC, the Greeks using the first phonetic alphabet in 1400 BC, Johannes Gutenberg inventing the printing press with movable type in 1455, Alexander Graham Bell patenting the telephone in 1876, Guglielmo Marconi transmitting the first radio signals across the Atlantic in 1902, and the internet being born in 1994. The history shows the progression from early forms of writing to modern digital communication networks.

1. History of Communications
• The Phoenicians develop an
alphabet.
• The Sumerians develop
cuneiform writing -
pictographs of accounts written
on clay tablets.
• The Egyptians develop
hieroglyphic writing
3500 BC to
2900 BC

2. History of Communications
• Greeks use a phonetic
alphabet written from left to
right.
• Oldest record of writing in
China on bones.
• The first encyclopedia is
written in Syria.
1775 BC
1400 BC
1270 BC

3. History of Communications
• The very first postal service -
for government use in China.
• First recorded use of homing
pigeons to send messages -
Announcing the winner of the
Olympic Games to the
Athenians.
900 BC
776 BC

4. History of Communications
• The Greeks start the very first
library.
• Papyrus rolls and early
parchments made of dried
reeds - first portable and light
writing surfaces.
• Tsai Lun of China invents
paper as we know it.
530 BC
500 BC
to 170 BC
105 BC

5. History of Communications
• Human messengers on foot
or horseback common in
Egypt and China with
messenger relay stations built
along the route.
• Sometimes fire messages
used from relay station to
station instead of humans.
200 to
100 BC

6. History of Communications
• Romans establish postal
services.
• Heliographs - mirrors first used
to send messages by Roman
Emperor Tiberius.
• First bound books.
14 AD
37 AD
100 AD

7. History of Communications
• First wooden printing presses
invented in China - symbols
carved on a wooden block.
• Movable type (made of clay)
invented in China by Pi Sheng
• First bound books.
• Newspapers appear in Europe.
305 AD
1049 AD
1450 AD

8. History of Communications
• Johannes Gutenberg invents a
printing press with metal
movable type.
• Camera Obscura invented -
primitive image making.
• Leipzig German merchant and
printer, Timotheus Ritzsch,
prints first daily newspaper.
1455
1560
1650

9. History of Communications
• Englishmen, Henry Mill
receives the first patent for a
typewriter.
• Claude Chappe invents the
first long-distance semaphore
telegraph line.
• Joseph Niépce achieves the
first photographic image.
1714
1793
1814

10. History of Communications
• Charles Wheatstone
reproduces sound in a
primitive sound box - the first
speaker.
• Joseph Henry invents the first
electric telegraph.
• Samuel Morse invents Morse
code.
1821
1831
1835

11. History of Communications
• Samuel Morse creates the first
long distance electric telegraph
line.
• Alexander Bain patents the
first fax machine.
• United States starts the Pony
Express for mail delivery.
1843
1861

12. History of Communications
• Coleman Sellers invents the
Kinematoscope - a machine
that flashed a series of still
photographs onto a screen.
• Christopher Shoales creates
the first successful modern
typewriter.
1861
1867

13. History of Communications
• Thomas Edison patents the
mimeograph - an office copying
machine.
• Alexander Graham Bell patents
the electric telephone.
• Melvyl Dewey writes the Dewey
Decimal System for ordering
library books.
1876

14. History of Communications
• Thomas Edison patents the
phonograph - with a wax
cylinder as recording medium.
• Eadweard Muybridge invents
high speed photography -
creating first moving pictures
that captured motion.
1877

15. History of Communications
• Emile Berliner invents the
gramophone - a system of
recording which could be used
over and over again.
• George Eastman patents
Kodak roll film camera.
• Almon Strowger patents the
direct dial telephone.
1887
1889

16. History of Communications
• Guglielmo Marconi improves
wireless telegraphy.
• First telephone answering
machines appear.
• Valdemar Poulsen invents the
first magnetic recording device
using magnetized steel tape.
• Loudspeakers invented.
1894
1899

17. History of Communications
• Marconi transmits radio signals
from Cornwall to Newfoundland -
the first radio signal to cross the
Atlantic Ocean
• First regular comic books.
• Lee Deforest invents an
electronic amplifying tube
improving radios and telephones
1902
1904

18. History of Communications
• Thomas Edison demonstrates
the first talking motion picture.
It will be 17 years until “talkies”
• First cross country telephone
call made.
• First radios with tuners begin
to broadcast different stations
1910
1914
1916

19. History of Communications
• The television or iconoscope
(cathode-ray tube) invented by
Vladimir Kosma Zworykin - first
television camera.
• John Logie Baird transmits the
first experimental television
signal.
1923
1925

20. History of Communications
• Warner Brothers Studios
invents a way to record sound
separately from the film on
large disks and to synchronize
the sound and motion picture
tracks upon playback - an
improvement on Thomas
Edison's work.
1926

21. History of Communications
• NBC starts two radio networks.
• CBS founded.
• First television broadcast in
England.
• Warner Brothers releases “The
Jazz Singer” the first successful
talking motion picture.
1927

22. History of Communications
• Radio popularity spreads with
the "Golden Age" of radio.
• First television broadcasts in
the United States.
• Movietone system of recording
film sound on an audio track
right on the film invented.
1930

23. History of Communications
• Joseph Begun invents the first
magnetic tape recorder for
recording location audio.
• Television broadcasts are now
able to be taped and edited -
rather than only live or on film.
• Scheduled regular television
broadcasts begin.
1934
1938
1939

24. History of Communications
• Computers like Harvard's Mark I
put into public service - the age
of Information Science begins
• Long playing record invented -
vinyl and played at 33 rpm.
• Transistor invented - enabling
the miniaturization of electronic
devices.
1944
1948

25. History of Communications
• Network television starts in U.S.
and NBC is the First Network
• 45 rpm record invented
• Computers are first sold
commercially.
• Chester Carlson invents the
photocopier or Xerox machine.
1949
1951
1958

26. History of Communications
• Integrated Circuit invented
enabling the further
miniaturization of electronic
devices and computers.
• Zip codes invented in the US
• Xerox invents the Telecopier -
the first successful fax machine.
1958
1963
1966

27. History of Communications
• ARPANET - the first Internet
-started by MIT.
• The floppy disc is invented.
• The microprocessor is invented
- called a “computer on a chip”
• HBO invents pay-TV service for
cable.
1969
1971
1972

28. History of Communications
• First Apple home computer
invented.
• First nationwide programming
via satellite - implemented by
Ted Turner.
• First cellular phone communi-
cation network started in Japan.
1976
1979

29. History of Communications
• Sony Walkman invented.
• First IBM PC sold.
• First laptop computers sold to
public.
• Computer mouse becomes
regular part of computer.
1980
1981

30. History of Communications
• Time magazines names the
computer as "Man of the Year."
• First cellular phone network
started in the United States.
• Apple Macintosh released.
• IBM PC AT released.
1983
1984

31. History of Communications
• Cellular telephones in cars
become wide-spread.
• CD-ROMs in computers.
• American government
releases control of internet
and WWW is born - making
communication at lightspeed.
1985
1994