Timeline of computing 2020–present

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This article presents a detailed timeline of events in the history of computing from 2020 to the present. For narratives explaining the overall developments, see the History of computing.

2020[]

  • February 7
    • AMD releases the Ryzen Threadripper 3990X, the first 64 core CPU for consumer market based on the Zen 2 microarchitecture.[1]
  • March 26
    • After one of the first and largest public volunteer distributed computing projects SETI@home announced its shutdown by March 31, 2020 and due to heightened interest as a result of to the COVID-19 pandemic, the distributed computing project Folding@home becomes the world's first system to reach one exaFLOPS.[2][3][4] The system simulates protein folding, is used for medical research on COVID-19 and achieved a speed of approximately 2.43 x86 exaFLOPS by April 13, 2020 – many times faster than the fastest supercomputer Summit.[5]
  • April 20
    • Researchers demonstrate a diffusive memristor fabricated from protein nanowires of the bacterium Geobacter sulfurreducens which functions at substantially lower voltages than previously described ones and may allow the construction of artificial neurons which function at voltages of biological action potentials. The nanowires have a range of advantages over silicon nanowires and the memristors may be used to directly process biosensing signals, for neuromorphic computing and/or direct communication with biological neurons.[6][7][8]
  • May 22
    • Australian computer scientists report achieving, thus far, the highest internet speed in the world from a single optical chip source over standard optical fiber, amounting to 44.2 Terabits per sec, or "downloading 1000 high definition movies in a split second".[9][10][11]
  • May 27
    • A study shows that social networks can function poorly as pathways for inconvenient truths, that the interplay between communication and action during disasters may depend on the structure of social networks, that communication networks suppress necessary "evacuations" in test-scenarios because of false reassurances when compared to groups of isolated individuals and that larger networks with a smaller proportion of informed subjects can suffer more damage due to human-caused misinformation.[12][13]
  • June
    • The Linux operating system's market share breaks the 3% desktop usage marker for the first time in June 2020, reaching 3.57% in July 2020.[14][15]
  • July 6
    • [Novel protocol/standard] – The Versatile Video Coding standard (H.266) is finalised, designed to halve the bitrate of previous formats, reducing data volume and being especially useful for on-demand 8K streaming services.[16][17]
  • August 28
  • September 3
    • Scientists report finding "176 Open Access journals that, through lack of comprehensive and open archives, vanished from the Web between 2000-2019, spanning all major research disciplines and geographic regions of the world" and that in 2019 only about a third of the 14,068 DOAJ-indexed journals ensured the long-term preservation of their content themselves, with many papers not getting archived by Web archiving initiatives such as the Internet Archive.[20][21][22]
  • September 18
    • Media reports of what may be the first publicly confirmed case of a civilian fatality as a nearly direct consequence of a cyberattack, after ransomware disrupted a hospital in Germany.[23]
  • September 25
    • [Novel application of computing / software] – Chemists describe, for the first time, possible chemical pathways from nonliving prebiotic chemicals to complex biochemicals that could give rise to living organisms, based on a new computer program named ALLCHEMY.[24][25]

2021[]

  • [Meta/Policy/Philosophy] – Thomas Metzinger, a German philosopher of cognitive science and applied ethics, calls for a "global moratorium on synthetic phenomenology" which, "until 2050", precautionarily bans "all research that directly aims at or knowingly risks the emergence of artificial consciousness on post-biotic carrier systems" – and could be gradually refined. The paper does not describe mechanisms of global enforcement of such proposed regulations which do not consider biotic or semi-biotic systems and aims to limit suffering risks.[26][27]
  • [Type of database] – A new global food emissions database indicates that the current food systems are responsible for one third of the global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.[28][29]
  • [Data usage] – In a static proprietary article that appeared in and was co-reviewed by a scientific journal, authenticated scientists analyze data from multiple public databases to create a regional representation of levels of deforestation induced by nations' recent, largely unmodulated, trade-, production- and consumption-patterns.[30][31]
  • A study finds that carbon emissions from Bitcoin mining in China – where a majority of the proof-of-work algorithm that generates current economic value is computed, largely fueled by nonrenewable sources – have accelerated rapidly and would soon exceed total annual emissions of countries like Italy, interfering with climate change mitigation commitments.[32][33]
  • Neuralink reveals a male macaque with chips embedded on each side of its brain, playing a mind-controlled version of Pong. While similar technology has been demonstrated for decades, and wireless implants have existed for years, some observers note that the organization increased the number of implanted electrodes that are read wirelessly.[34][35][36]
  • Researchers publish the first in-depth study of Web browser tab interfaces. They found that many people struggle with tab overload and conducted surveys and interviews about people's tab use. Thereby they formalized pressures for closing tabs and for keeping tabs open. The authors then developed related UI design considerations which could enable better tools and changes to the code of Web browsers – like Firefox – that allow knowledge workers and other users to better manage their tabs.[37][38]
  • Operation of the U.S. Colonial Pipeline is interrupted by a ransomware cyber attack.[39]
  • A new record for the smallest single-chip system is achieved, occupying a total volume of less than 0.1 mm³.[40][41]
  • Scientists demonstrate the first brain–computer interface that decodes neural signals for handwriting. The character output speed of a patient with a paralyzed hand was up to 90 characters per minute – more than double the previous record. Each letter is associated with a highly distinctive pattern of activity in the brain, making it relatively easy for the algorithm to distinguish them.[42][43]
  • Archivists initiate a rescue mission to secure enduring access to humanity's largest public library of scientific articles, Sci-Hub, due to the site's increased legal troubles, using Web and BitTorrent technologies.[44]
  • In the debate the cognitive impacts of smartphones and digital technology a group reports that, contrary to widespread belief, scientific evidence doesn't show that these technologies harm biological cognitive abilities and that they instead change predominant ways of cognition – such as a reduced need to remember facts or conduct mathematical calculations by pen and paper outside contemporary schools. However, some activities – like reading novels – that require long attention-spans and don't feature ongoing rewarding stimulation may become more challenging in general.[49][50]
  • Researchers used a brain-computer interface to enable a man who was paralyzed since 2003 to produce comprehensible words and sentences by decoding signals from electrodes in the speech areas of his brain.[51][52]
  • Japan achieves a new world record Internet speed: 319 Tbit/s over ~3000 km which, albeit not being the fastest speed overall, beats the previous record of 178 Tbit/s.[53][54]
  • Scientists report that worldwide adolescent loneliness and depression increased substantially after 2012 and that loneliness in contemporary schools appears to be associated with smartphone access and Internet use.[55][56]
  • DeepMind announces that its AlphaFold AI has predicted the structures of over 350,000 proteins, including 98.5% of the ~20,000 proteins in the human body. The 3D data along with their degrees of confidence for accuracy is made freely available with a new database, doubling the previous number of protein structures in the public domain.[57]


Deaths[]

2020[]

  • January 2
  • January 3
    • Joseph Karr O'Connor, American computer scientist (b. 1953)
  • January 8
  • February 11
  • February 16
  • February 18
  • March 2
  • March 15
  • April 7
  • April 11
    • John Horton Conway, British mathematician (b. 1937)
  • April 25
    • Thomas Huang, American computer scientist (b. 1936)
  • May 9
  • June 5
  • July 10
  • July 26
    • Bill English, American computer engineer and co-developer of the computer mouse (b. 1929)
  • August 4
    • Frances Allen, American computer scientist, first woman to win the Turing Award (b. 1932)
  • August 11
    • Russell Kirsch, American computer scientist and inventor of the first digital image scanner (b. 1929)
  • August 25
    • Rebeca Guber, Argentine mathematician and computer scientist (b.1926)
  • October 2
  • November 7
  • November 14
  • November 23
  • December 1
  • December 14
  • December 22
  • December 23
    • Lars Arge, Danish computer scientist (b. 1967)

2021[]

  • January 2
  • January 28
  • February 1
    • Walter Savitch, American computer scientist and theoretical mathematician (b. 1943)
  • February 6
    • Ioan Dzițac, Romanian computer scientist and mathematician (b. 1953)
  • March 6
    • Lou Ottens, Dutch engineer and inventor of the cassette tape (b. 1926)
  • April 1
    • Isamu Akasaki, Japanese engineer and physicist, and inventor of the blue LED (b. 1929)
  • April 16
    • Charles Geschke, American computer scientist, and co-founder of Adobe Inc. (b. 1939)
  • April 23
    • Dan Kaminsky, American computer security researcher (b. 1979)
  • May 23
  • June 23

See also[]

See also: Category:Computing timelines
COVID-19

References[]

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