History: Timeline

Timeline of important events in history ,concerning CyberPunk?, technology and computers

1888
IBM International Business Machines is founded

1921
First use of the word "robot" by Karel Čapek in his science fiction play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots)

1926
Metropolis released

1928
Early use of the term "punk" to signify a criminal

1942
Isaac Asimov, introduces the "Three Laws of Robotics" in his short story "Runaround"

1943
COLOSSUS, the first electronic computation machine is completed in Great Britain. It is in fact more advanced than ENIAC, but it will remain a military secret for decades

1946
ENIAC, the first non-classified all-electronic computer, becomes operational

1947
Vannevar Bush conceptualizes aspects of hypertext, the Internet, virtual spaces, and lots more

1948
"Cybernetics" coined by Norbert Wiener
George Orwell's "1984" published

1950
Alan Turing defines the so-called Turing Test, the philosophical foundation of artificial intelligence theory. A new science is born, and the following decades many a scientist will claim to have created an intelligent computer

1952
The heart pacemaker, the first implanted mechanical body enhancement, is introduced. Debatedly, this event marks the beginning of the post-human era

1953
Watson and Crick unravels the structure of DNA. From a scientific point of view, Man has become Computer: the Code has been revealed and the Code can be reprogrammed

1955
The Naked Lunch published

1956
The Stars My Destination (aka Tiger! Tiger!) published

1960
The term "cyborg"was created by Manfred E. Clynes and Nathan S. Kline to refer to their conception of an enhanced human being who could survive in extraterrestrial environments
Ted Nelson gets the idea for hypertext as we know it now. He won't coin the word until 1963, and the word won't see print until 1965. He works alone on the concept throughout the decade, choosing the term Xanadu for his project in 1967

1963
Modem patented by BBN
Concept of network connected by modems defined in a paper by Thomas Marill, Daniel Edwards, and Wallace Feurzig

1964
Nippon Apattchi-zoku The Japanese Apache by Sakyo Komatsu published

1965
MIT researcher Lawrence G. Roberts & Thomas Merrill connected A TX-2 computer in Massachusetts to the Q-32 in Palo Alto, California with a low speed dial-up telephone line creating the first (however small) wide-area computer network ever built. (Jan.)

1966
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress published

1968
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep published
Lawrence Roberts and the DARPA funded community refine the overall structure and specifications for the ARPANET, and bring it live. The Internet is born. (Aug.)

1969
Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and colleagues at Bell Labs create the Unix operating system on a DEC-PDP-7 microcomputer. (June)
CompuServe? is founded by John Goltz. (This seems awfully early? Source: "Hacking Into Computer Systems.")
In USA, the first primitive computer network, a nuclear defence application, is constructed. The event will entail a dramatic evolution of computer technology, perhaps most notably the development of the first global computer network, "INTERNET"

1971
A Clockwork Orange released
The first space station, the Soviet Salyut 1, is constructed and put into operative use

1972
From the Rise of Dr. Adder to the Fall of Johnny Mnemonic
K.W. Jeter completes Dr. Adder (Spring)

1973
"The Girl Who Was Plugged In" published in New Dimensions 3
Gravity's Rainbow published
composition of the first Hacker Jargon File
college kids Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, future founders of Apple Computer, begin making and selling blue boxes

1974
Tank debuts

1975
Shockwave Rider published (John Brunner)
Bill Gates and Paul Allen develop a BASIC program for the Altair 8800. They form a company initially called Micro Soft; the company's name is later changed to Microsoft

1976
The Ramones release first album; punk begins
Atari sold to Warners Communications for $28 million
Control Data Corporation buys the PLATO network
K. Eric Drexler popularises the term nano-technology in his book Engines of Creation

1977
Apple Computers founded (April)
Never Mind the Bullocks - Here's the Sex Pistols released; punk gets notorious
The Clash release first album; punk gets serious. This revolution of pop culture will influence the cyberpunk movement
Gibson publishes his first short story, "Fragments of a Hologram Rose"
Sterling publishes his first novel Involution Ocean
The Ophiuchi Hotline published
One of the earliest BBS boards, Access-80, which ran on a TRS-80 model 1 and was developed by Charles Oropallo was lanched

1978
Generation X, with Billy Idol on lead vocals, releases first album
Survival Research Laboratories begins operations (Nov. 15)

1979
The Clash release London Calling

1980
City Come A-Walkin' published
The Artificial Kid published
Missile Command debuts
Celltech becomes the UK's first biotechnology company

1981
Spacetime Donuts published
"The Gernsback Continuum" published in Universe 11
"Johnny Mnemonic" published in Omni (May)
Chaos Computer Club forms in Germany
True Names published
Sterling introduces Gibson's "Burning Chrome" to the writer's workshop in Austin
Gibson sends Terry Carr at Ace Books a five page outline for a novel to be called Jacked In (Oct. 14)

1982
Software published (Jan.)
Blade Runner released
Tron released
Gibson sends Carr a 32 page expanded outline for his novel now to be called Neuromancer (Jan. 18)
Gibson attends ArmadiloCon? and reads the opening chapter of his work-in-progress, Neuromancer. "Behind the Mirrorshade: A Look at Punk SF" panel held. (Oct.)
A program called Elk Cloner, written for Apple II systems, is credited with being the first computer virus to appear "in the wild"—that is, outside the single computer or lab where it was created
Teletel is created
Sun Microsystems incorporated with four employees. (Feb.)
Joan Vinge writes Psion

1983
Gibson, Sterling and Shiner visit Rudy Rucker in Lynchburg after Balticon; Virginia hasn't been this hip since Thomas Jefferson was alive
The word "transrealism" coined by Rudy Rucker who issues "A Transreal Manifesto" in The Bulletin of the SFWA (Winter)
War Games released
Cheap Truth begins publication
Software wins the Philip K. Dick award (Mar)
The short story "Cyberpunk" by Bruce Bethke published in Amazing Science Fiction Stories; this is, allegedly, the first use of the term anywhere (Nov.)
The 414s gain fame as a group of friends and computer hackers who break into dozens of high-profile computer systems, including ones at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sloan-Kettering? Cancer Center and Security Pacific Bank

1984
Neuromancer published; "cyberspace" coined
Dr. Adder published
Frontera published ( Lewis Shiner's first novel)
Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution published
CULT OF THE DEAD COW forms in Lubbock, Texas and begins publishing its ezine
The Comprehensive Crime Control Act gives the Secret Service jurisdiction over computer fraud
In Japan, robots kill four humans in seperate incidents
In Jackson, Michigan, a factory robot crushes a worker against a safety bar in apparently the first robot-related death in the United States
Terminator released
Decoder, a film by Klaus Maeck, released
FidoNet? is founded as a non-commercial BBS network 1984 by Tom Jennings of San Francisco
2600 begins publication
High Frontiers begins publication
VPL Research Inc. founded by Jason Lanier
Gardner Dozois, reviewing "hot new writers" for The Washington Post, refers to a group called "cyberpunks". The name sticks (Dec. 30)

1985
Bruce Sterling's Schismatrix published
20 Minutes into the Future (aka Max Headroom) released
John Shirley's Eclipse
Neuromancer wins the Philip K. Dick award (Mar.17)
Donna Haraway's "A Cyborg Manifesto" published in Socialist Review (Apr.)
Japanese translation of Neuromancer published (July)
"Cyberpunks" panel convenes at the National SF Convention in Austin.
Panelists are Rudy Rucker, John Shirley, Bruce Sterling, Lou Shiner, Pat Cadigan and Greg Bear (Aug. 31)
Blood Music , by Greg Bear.
"Slamdancing in SF" published in REM #2
The online hacker'zine Phrack is established
The Hacker's Handbook is published in the UK
Brazil released
QuantumLink?, predecessor to AOL, launches in November

1986
Burning Chrome published
Hardwired published
"Pakistani Brain" virus infects IBM computers world-wide (Jan.)
Rudy Rucker's "What is Cyberpunk?" appears in REM #3 (Feb)
William Gibson's Count Zero (Mar)
Kim Stanley Robinson's parody "Down and Out in the year 2000" appears in IASF (Apr.)
Norman Spinrad's "The Neuromantics" published in IASF (May)
John Shirley confounds the elders at the Science Fiction Research Association panel "Cyberpunk or Cyberjunk" (June 28)
Cheap Truth ceases publication (Aug)
Michael Swanwick's "A User's Guide to the Post Moderns" published in IASF (Nov)
Mirrorshades published (Dec)
Interzone reprints "the New Science Fiction" by Vincent Omniaveritas (Winter)
The first PC virus, a boot sector virus called (c)Brain is created
Paul Di Filippo completes first draft of Ciphers (Oct. 7)
The first successfully cloned mammal; Soviet scientists Chaylakhyan, Veprencev, Sviridova, Nikitin had mice "Masha" cloned

1987
Science Fiction Eye premiers with all cyberpunk issue
Robocop released
Max Headroom television series (the American version) premiers on ABC (Mar. 31). Thirteen episodes show before the program is cancelled
Akira released
Bubble Gum Crisis begins in Japan
Reality Hackers begins publication
Pat Cadigan's Mindplayers published
When Gravity Fails published
Effinger releases When Gravity Fails

1988
In England, Max Dowhham's "Cyberpunk: the Final Solution" published in Vague
Bruce Sterling's Islands in the Net published
Mississippi Review entire issue published devoted to cyberpunk; academic colonization of the Movement begins in earnest
Metrophage published
Shatter graphic novel published
Saibapanku Amerika Cyberpunk America by Tatsumi Takayuki published in Japan
Going GaGa? begins publication
bOING bOING begins publication
Wetware published (Apr)
The Internet worm strikes (Nov)
Interplay releases the Neuromancer Game; a computer role-playing game for the Apple II, Commodore C64, and Amiga
William Gibson's Mona Lisa Overdrive published (Nov)

1989
Mondo 2000 begins publication
"Fiction 2000" conference held in Leeds (June)
Wetware wins the Philip K. Dick Award
Neuromancer: The Graphic Novel published
The Cuckoo's Egg published
Semiotext(e):SF published
Cherry comix special cyberpunk issue published
Crystal Express published
Tetsuo:The Iron Man released
Shadowrun computer game released
Mattel introduces the PowerGlove?, a Virtual Reality input device
Timothy Leary interviews William Gibson
German jazz band, Blauer Hirsch, release their album Cyberpunk on FMP Records years before Billy Idol
Phrack #24 distributed containing the E911 document hacked from BellSouth? (Feb. 24)

1990
The Difference Engine published
Hardware released
EFF founded
Secret Service raids Steven Jackson Games in Austin (Mar. 1)
Harper's Magazine publishes "Is Computer Hacking a Crime?", a transcript of a WELL conference during which Phiber Optik hacks the TRW database and distributes John Barlow's credit history (Mar.)
Operation Sun Devil (May 7-9)
Paul Di Filippo's "Ribofunk" published in bOING bOING #2 (Winter)
alt.cyberpunk.chatsubo begins
Infocom releases "Circuit's Edge," a computer role-playing game/Graphic Adventure for PC/DOS based on Effinger's When Gravity Fails
Cyberpunk video released by Mystic Fire
In England, The Hardcore special "Cyberpunk is Dead" issue published (Winter)
Shirley finishes the Eclipse trilogy (with Eclipse Corona )
Total Recall released
Synners , by Cadigan

1991
The debut of the World Wide Web (WWW) as a publicly available service on the internet
Storming the Reality Studio published
Synners published
Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism published
Terminator 2 released
The Silicon Man published
Linus Torvalds starts working on the Linux kernel while attending the University of Helsinki
Transreal! published
La Primera Calle de la Soleda by G.H. Porcayo published in Mexico
Effinger finishes his cyberpunk trilogy with The Exile Kiss
U.S. intelligence agents reportedly cripple Iraqi air defense computers with a virus during the Gulf War (Jan)
Lewis Shiner announces in the Op-Ed? pages of the New York Times that he has resigned from cyberpunk (Jan.7)
Steven Jackson Games sues the Secret Service (May 1)
"Michelangelo" virus media panic begins (Dec.)

1992
EFF moves to Washington D.C. and is immediately compromised
QuantumLink? renames itself AOL
The Hacker Crackdown published
Snow Crash published
Mondo 2000: A User's Guide to the New Edge published
Lawnmower Man released
"Michelangelo" doomsday; nothing happens (Mar. 6)
Jaron Lanier loses his patents to his creditors (Nov)
Future Sex begins publication (Nov)
Hackers break into GAFB, NASA and KARI
Freejack released
Sneakers released
MindVox? opens to the public
Mortal Kombat debuts

1993
Wired begins publication
Virtual Light published
Fringe Ware Review begins publication
Deus X published (Jan)
Time Magazine "Cyberpunk" cover story; real cyberpunks outraged (Feb. 8)
Court rules in favor of Steven Jackson Games, Secret Service ordered to pay damages (Feb.)
Wild Palms premiers (May 16)
Bubble Gum Crisis released in the West
Nemisis released. Gibson will later praise the film as "sort of early Gibson meets Terminator 2 ... it has a few bits that are just brilliant Cyberpunk."
The Intel Corporation ships the first Pentium chips
Shirow Masamune's "Ghost in the Shell" appears in the Japanese magazine Young Jump
Sony releases Johnny Mnemonic Game for PC/MAC - Full Motion Video Game.
Billy Idol's new album Cyberpunk released; real cyberpunks outraged (July)
Flame Wars; The Discourse of Cyberculture published
Baird starts the Crashcourse trilogy
Mosaic makes the Internet graphical
E-zine True Cyberpunk starts (April)
E-zine Linenoiz starts (November)

1994
The Hacker and the Ants published
Data Trash published
Cyberia published
Crypt Newsletter begins

"VNS Manifesto" published in Unnatural: Techno-theory for a Contaminated Culture
Phiber Optic begins serving a 13 month sentence for computer intrusion and conspiracy (Jan.)
In Paris, "Cyber SM" gives first public demonstration of virtual sexuality, S&M style (Jan.)
10th anniversary edition of Neuromancer published (July)
Line Noiz e-zine distributes results of its opinion poll "Does Cyberpunk Still Exist?"; no conclusions, as usual (Aug. 12)
Western news media reports two thirds of Russian computer users have encountered viruses, 85% of those viruses were Russian made (Nov.)

1995
Diamond Age published
EFF retreats to San Francisco
Linenoiz ends with issue 25 (January)
The Cyberpunk Handbook published; cynical opportunism reaches new low
Wired UK edition begins (March)
Microsoft's Windows 95 launched
Synthetic Pleasures released
The Net released
Hackers released
The first macro virus for Microsoft Word is discovered
From Australia, geekgirl debuts on the Net (Jan.)
Kevin Metnick arrested by the FBI for numerous computer crimes (Feb. 15)
Italian police raid BITS Against the Empire BBS accusing the computer group of subversion (Feb. 28)
The Steampunk Trilogy published (Apr.)
VR 5 premiers (May 24). In this show, a researcher has found a way to enter virtual reality, and through it enter other people's minds. The show is cancelled after one season
Virtual Futures conference meets at Warwick University (May 26-28)
Baird finishes her first trilogy with Psykosis
Strange Days released
Ghost in the Shell released
Johnny Mnemonic released (May 26)
Silencio en la Memoria anthology published in Mexico

Post-Johnny Mnemonic

Arthur & Marilouse Kroker publish "Johnny Mnemonic: The Day Cyberpunk Died" in Ctheory (Jun.)
Gibson’s screenplay for Johnny Mnemonic published (June)
K.W. Jeter's Blade Runner 2: The Edge of Human published-- to the consternation of all (Oct.)
Western news sources identify Bulgaria as the leading exporter of computer viruses
Bruce Bethke's Head Crash published (September)
Strange Days is released (Oct.)

1996
Escape Velocity; Cyberculture at the End of the Century published
FutureSex? goes online
Ramones break up
Ribofunk! collection published (Mar.)
Datableed - the second Virtual Futures conference meets (May)
Sex Pistols reunion tour begins at Hollola, Finland (June 21)
Holy Fire Published (July)
Idoru published (Sept.)
Kyoko Date, the virtual girl, activated
Hacking the Future by Arthur & Marilouise Kroker published
Clinton signs Communications Decency Act into US law (Feb. 8)
Wired magazine, as a preliminary action to a planned IPO, files a prospectus with the SEC valuing itself at $447 million - 17 times greater than its actual revenues. Much derision follows in the financial press (May 30)
Wired magazine's IPO tanks (Oct. 24)
Cyberspace, Inc, lears that the name is taken, and changes to Second Nature Interactive. Someday, they'll make it to being called Turbine...!
Blade Runner 3: Replicants Night by K.W. Jeter published — for no good reason (Nov)
Vinge ends up with a trilogy — Dreamfall is published
Dolly the sheep, a clone
The MP3 format gains popularity in the hacker world. Many hackers begin setting up sharing sites via FTP, Hotline, IRC and USEnet

1997
A Cyberpunk Manifesto published by Christian As. Kirtchev (Feb 14 1997)
Freeware published (April) Rudy Rucker finishes his trilogy with Freeware.
Wired UK edition folds (Feb)
Scientists announce that Human artificial chromosomes have been created
United States President Bill Clinton bars federal funding for any research on human cloning
US Supreme Court rules Communications Decency Act unconstitutional (Jun 26)
Blade Runner computer game released by Westwood (Nov)
First authorized Russian translation of Neuromancer (Neiromant) published by Terra Fantastica
Armitage III: Poly Matrix (Film/Anime) released
Ciphers published
Janet Murray's Hamlet on the Holodeck published
Tad Williams begins publishing his massive four-part novel Otherland, which deals with online worlds and artificial intelligence
Saiba Panku Handobukka: Nihonban, a Japanese translation of the loathsome The Cyberbpunk Handbook, published – though God knows why
Gattaca released
IBM's Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov, the first time a computer defeated a chess grand master in a match. Deep Blue had defeated Kasparov before, but had never won a match against him

1998
William Gibson's and Tom Maddox's episode, "Kill Switch" premiers on The X-Files? (Feb 15)
Burning Chrome stage adaptation opens in Chicago (Feb 6)
Researchers in Dallas, Texas present findings about an enzyme that slows aging and cell death
"Post/Cyberpunk Symposium" appears in Nova Express (Spring)
Abel Ferrara's film, New Rose Hotel, opens at the Venice Film Festival (Sept. 9)
Tea from an Empty Cup published
Julian Dibbell's My Tiny Life is published. The first chapter is "A Rape in Cyberspace."
Terra Virtual: Navegantes del Milenio anthology published in Mexico
El Holograma Irlandes published in Mexico
The Cyberpink Project and Cyberpunk Information Database begins (Nov)

1999
The Matrix released
eXistenZ is released (Apr)
Gibson's All Tomorrow's Parties released
Paul Di Filippo's "As Through a Pair of Mirrorshades Darkly" published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (Feb.)
Sangue Sintetico: Anthologia del Cyberpunk Italiano published
The Millenium bug problem
The Melissa worm attacks the Internet
Hackers attack the Defense Department computers more than 22,000 times in the course of the year

2000
Earth's computer systems do not crash. The world does not end. (Jan. 1)
William Gibson's and Tom Maddox's second episode "First Person Shooter" on The X-Files
"I Love You" virus wrecks havoc on the world's computers (May 4)
Rudy Rucker's Realware published (May 12)
Hackers break into Nike’s Web site and reroute all traffic to an Australian activist group organizing a protest at a Word Economic Forum meeting (June)
Notorious phone phreak John Draper (aka Captain Crunch) goes legit; sets up ShopIP, an internet security firm

2001
Metropolis (Film/Anime) released
November — The European Union adopts the controversial cybercrime treaty, which makes the possession and use of hacking tools illegal

2002
Minority Report released
Armitage III: Dual Matrix (Film/Anime) released
A Tactical high energy laser prototype shot down an incoming artillery shell
The White House's Office of Homeland Security releases a draft of the "National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace", which many criticize as being too weak

2003
William Gibson's Pattern Recognition published
Neal Stephenson's Quick Silver published
The Matrix Reloaded released
The Matrix Revolutions released
The Internet-based virtual world, "Second Life" is released
The first taikonaut in space. Possibly, the event will mark the beginning of a new space race in future history books

-- Fiction becomes reality, or the post-cyberpunk time with real robots, clones, implants --

2004
MyDoom? virus spread on Internet, expected to have infected 250.000 computers in a single day
The biggest Chinese PC producer Lenovo announces its plan to purchase IBM's global PC business, making it the third largest world PC maker after Dell and Hewlett-Packard
Little Nicky, was the first cat cloned for commercial reasons
SpaceShipOne?, the first civilian space ship is launched in California, reaching an altitude of 100 km (62.5 miles), just passing the edge of space

2005
Surgeons in France carry out the first human face transplant
At the World Expo 2005 in Japan, robotic child-minders and receptionists were demonstrated to visitors alongside android medics and entertainers.
Scientists develope an IQ test for artificially intelligent machines and create a program capable of developing its own language
IBM announces an ambitious effort to create a complete map of the neural circuitry of the human brain, using a supercomputer
Sony files a patent describing a device that would transmit sensory data directly into the brain
Cellphone viruses start to appear
A reconfigurable chip made from living bacteria is invented
Nanowires capable of powering tiny nano-engines
Researchers discover a way to use micro-organisms to construct nano-circuitry
US military develop the electromagnetic pulse gun, a microwave weapon and a rifle capable of firing electric bullets

2006
Invention of a working invisible cloak
A electrode cap that lets users type messages on a screen using thought alone and a brain implant that enabled a paralysed man to check his email and control a robotic arm were both demonstrated in 2006
Release of ASTEROID tool
On December 28, 2006, the FDA approved eating meat from cloned animals

2007
Microsoft's "Windows Vista" launced

Part of this information are taken from the Duke of Hell webpage, Balaan CyberPunk, websearch. Further information added by volunteers of CyberPunkReview.com.