1960

Atalla proposes the concept of the MOS integrated circuit (MOS IC) chip

1960

The pioneering work in semiconductor technology of the Egyptian–American engineer Mohamed Mohamed Atalla laid the foundations for modern electronics. His invention of the MOSFET (metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor, or MOS transistor) in 1959, along with his earlier surface passivation and thermal oxidation processes (the basis for silicon semiconductor technology such as the monolithic integrated circuit chip), revolutionized the electronics industry.

Links:
Wikipedia
Elprocus

AT&T introduces the Data-Phone.

1960

Developed in 1949 for transmitting radar signals by Jack Harrington’s group at the Air Force Cambridge Research Center (AFCRC) near Boston, the modem modulates digital data into sounds, and demodulates received sounds into digital data (MODulation + DEModulation = MODEM). Modems will be adapted to computers in 1953 for the upcoming SAGE system, and commercialized by Bell Telephone in 1958. By letting computers use normal voice telephone lines, they offer greater coverage and lower costs than dedicated telegraph or leased data lines. The advent of MOSFET technology, integrated circuit chips and shift register MOS memory led to the application of solid-state microelectronic semiconductor technology and digital circuitry to the implementation of digital multi-channel modems. This enabled advantages such as a very small size, light weight, stability, high reliability, low cost, and freedom from adjustment.

Links:
AT&T Tech Channel

1961

Bob Bemer introduces the backslash character ( \ ).

September 18, 1961

Bob Bemer introduced the \ character into ASCII on September 18, 1961, as the result of character frequency studies. In particular, the \ was introduced so that the ALGOL boolean operators ∧(and) and ∨(or) could be composed in ASCII as /\ and \/ respectively. Both these operators were included in early versions of the C programming language. Early typewriters and computer keyboards only had a forward slash. The backward slash was not made popular until MS-DOS started being used..

Links:
Wikipedia