3500BC: Abstract signs; paper made from palm trees; oil and soot for writing
1184BC: Torch telegraphs transmit the fall of the town of Troy (fire signals)
360BC: Water telegraphs store detailed information transmitted by smoke signal
AD500: Indian astronomer Arya-Bhatta develops a system of decimal numbers
1794: C Chappe (France) develops an optical telegraph with its own alphabet
1809: Electric telegraph by Samuel T von Smmering, Germany (35 wires)
1840: Samuel FB Morse (United States) develops Morse code and improves telegraph
1844: Electrical switch (relay) automatically writes transmitted information
1861: Philipp Reis, a German teacher, invents the telephone
1876: Elisha Gray and Alexander Graham Bell (US) take out patents for telephones
1892: Telephone uses dial, first automatic telephone exchange (no operator)
1894: Wireless transmission of signals over 3km by the Italian Guglielmo Marconi
1902: Worldwide radio communication on ocean ships (Morse code)
1935: Multi-wire coaxial cables for communication purposes
1957: Russian Sputnik 1 first artificial satellite in orbit around the Earth: colour TV (systems SECAM and NTSC) ready to use
1960: Satellite launches become routine: first weather satellite
1961: IBM computers communicate over the telephone line, using modems
1966: Optical telephone connection over two-layer glassfibre cable
1968: Images sent over normal telephone line (one minute a TV screen)
1980: Videotext, cable television, videoconferencing, compact disc
1985: Satellite navigation (both military and civilian applications)