Today --October 4th, is the single most important day in computer history. Do you know why?

[Stuart G]

Answer: On October 4, 1957 the Russians launched Sputnik .
.............I remember it, because we were expected to launch the first satellite, and the Russians beat us.

......Following this, the U.S.A. & Soviet Union had a ..."SPACE RACE" to see who would get here or there.

......Computers were extremely important in the "Space Race" and getting them lighter and smaller was very, very,
very, important. Launching things to outer space and beyond is very costly and difficult. The less weight to launch
then it is easier to launch A, B, C, or D or anything. So computers in the 50s were very large and bulky and actually
took up many rooms, and needed to be downsized to put them into .."Outer Space." So the effort was made by
everyone who produced them to downsize "Computers"

........Of course, the history in somewhere out there on a computer site, but eventually we got to where we are.
.......In the late 70s or early 80s, I took a course on ...."Computers" and the professor said that one day computers...
.......would be so small, that you could hold one in your hand...(HAND HELD COMPUTERS???..i THOUGHT HE WAS .......TOTALLY NUTS!)

........YOU TELL ME, PLEASE................................DO THOSE "HAND HELD COMPUTERS EXIST TODAY?

.............Yes, I think they do.....We call them ....CELL PHONES,....DON'T WE?..........
........... And,,,,,,,,what the professor said has come to pass...........................................................................
............(NOT ON MY ACCOUNT, BUT I AM USING A COMPUTER RIGHT KNOW TO GET THIS POST TO YOU
........... AT DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND...............again, it is time to hide.............................

.............

[SalamanderSleeps]

1. Development has been speedy.

NASA made it to the Moon with a 64k computer that was the size of a large microwave oven. Now we have cell phones that can call the International Space Station while finding us an alternative way to our chosen destination.

I'm thinking of just hanging mine around my neck.

[Stuart G]

3. K and R. Thanks for posting. Great Idea..Hang the cell phone around my neck. Keep it ready to go...

....But where do we go?? .............That is the question.............ops ........time to hide.....

[elleng]

2. YES, and my family and I flew on that day from New York to London (through Shannon.)

Never forget!!!

[ultralite001]

4. Cannot forget the sound...

That is all...

[Bucky]

5. So, this post is not about my birthday?

I just turned 59. Today I become a man

[BumRushDaShow]

6. Happy Birthday!

[Stuart G]

7. Happy Birthday to YOU!!!! AND MANY MORE..!!!

[trof]

8. I'm 81. I remember all that.

We had LOST the 'space race'.
And THEN...JFK!
"Do not ask..."

[electric_blue68]

9. Almost all my memories start at 4 yrs old. I think I remember Sputnik ..

If I didn't remember the initial launch I may have remembered people talking about a few months later.

I sort of guessed your answer. I thought of two things of which one was close-ish.

Though the computer chip was down sized enough so
the whole thing could be made smaller.