Silicone Circuits: a Computer's Engine

"The Silicone Engine" home page
Computer History Museum

This page opens with a reference to 'Moore's Law:' the observation that "Transistor density on integrated circuits doubles about every two years."

"Microelectronic silicon computer 'chips' have grown in capability from a single transistor in the 1950s to hundreds of millions of transistors per chip on today’s microprocessor and memory devices. From the first documented semiconductor effect in 1833 to the transition from transistors to integrated circuits in the 1960s and 70s, this website explores key milestones in the development of these extraordinary engines that power the computing and communications revolution of the information age...."

This page has six photos, illustrating the evolution of one part of information technology from the silicone transistor to the 64-bit microprocessor.

Looks like a pretty good resource for learning about the history of compters and information technology.

IBM: Move Over, Transistor: We'll Use Photons and Atoms

"IBM to shatter Moore’s law with 300GHz Crystal Computer" (New Tech Spy)

Impressive. Apparently, IBM's Crystal computer encodes quantum information on neodymium atoms in a silicone crystal, without using transistors.

This could be the biggest thing in information tech since, well, the transistor.