One of the highlights of my life was obtaining a master’s degree in 1975. Given today’s technology, it’s hard to believe I used a card catalog to find past research in my area of interest. After locating the relevant entries, I would walk down the library corridors to find the suggested articles, only to discover that sometimes they were torn out of the journals.

In those days, I calculated statistics using a Wang calculator, which resembled an adding machine. There were no computers in college, and a typewriter was the only option for writing my thesis. If there were any mistakes, I had to retype the entire manuscript! Looking back, I wonder what other experiences I had with technology during that time.

In 1960-61, I worked in the research lab at Westinghouse, focusing on developing computer circuit boards under the guidance of an electrical engineer. The design of the circuit board was first photographed onto an emulsion and then etched using highly corrosive hydrofluoric acid. Gold wires were subsequently attached using robotic arms under a large microscope in sanitary conditions. While the number of connections made at that time was minimal, today’s microchips contain hundreds of thousands of these connections.

Microchips have enabled computers to become much smaller than the mainframe computers of the past, which filled large, air-conditioned rooms. These earlier computers were quite expensive, making it difficult for small start-up companies to afford them; as a result, many had to rent access to these machines instead.

In the late 1960s, I enrolled in a computer class at Fullerton College taught by an IBM professional. We used sequentially punched computer cards to run our programs. I often felt anxious because if I accidentally dropped the box of cards, it would mean a very late night trying to sort them back into order.

In the late 1960s at CSUF, I had a teacher who earned a degree from Carnegie Mellon, an institution renowned for its focus on computer technology. For our class, we were assigned a project at the end of the semester that required us to outline the steps for a computer to solve a specific problem.

I had my eldest son, who was 10 years old at the time, detail his solution. I audiotaped him and later translated his steps into a program for the computer to execute. My kids were my guinea pigs for my class projects!

Here are some significant milestones in the advancement of technology:

1. As early as 1843: Ada, Countess of Lovelace, publishes notes on the Babbage’s Analytical Engine, a mechanical device for tabulating logarithms.
2. 1952: Manual ability to perform election predictions.
3. 1956: The first Artificial Intelligence conference was held.
4. 1971: Introduction of email.
5. 1975: Microsoft and Apple launched.
6. 1975: First personal computers become available.
7. 1977: Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider, a psychologist and technologist, is considered the father of the internet.
8. 1983: Microsoft announces  Windows, and the first public cell phone occurs.
9. 1984: Apple introduces Macintosh.
10. 1998: Google is launched.
11. 2001: Wikipedia is created.

Today, students can do all their research and type their papers on computers. The technology field has exploded, and unfortunately, some of the older generation has been unable to keep up, especially in the area of artificial intelligence. We have come a long way with technology.