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1971

Intel introduced the world's first microprocessor.

A computer engineer named Ray Tomlinson sent the first e-mail message. "I sent a number of test messages to myself from one machine to the other," he recalls now. "The test messages were entirely forgettable. . . . Most likely the first message was QWERTYIOP or something similar."

Ray created the use of the @ symbol in email addresses.

January: Don Hoefler was an electronics journalist and he had published a series of articles about the many electronics companies which were springing up in Santa Clara county. He was having difficulties coming up with a title for the series, so he talked with Ralph Vaerst, who was, at the time, the president of Ion Equipment for a suggestion. Ralph said that people on the east coast referred to the area as Silicon Valley. Hoeffler named his series "Silicon Valley USA". The name stuck and became popular.