Information has always existed, and we know so much about past centuries precisely because people have learned to store and transmit it.
Initially, people passed information from mouth to mouth, constantly modifying it involuntarily. But later, such opportunities as drawing and writing appeared at the disposal of mankind. What can we say about the current high technologies that are capable of storing terabytes of information.
And yet, the very first tool for storing information is the human hand in the truest sense of the word. It all started with rock art.
How it all began
Ever since primitive times, people began to record events. The beginning can be called a period of time from 40 to 10 thousand years BC. On the walls of caves and rocks, people depicted animals, various everyday scenes, tools with which they lived and hunted.
Today it's hard to say whether people consciously wrote down history even then, or simply decorated the walls of their dwellings with drawings. Nevertheless, it was thanks to this that scientists learned a lot about life in thosecentury, and accordingly, we also learned.
Cuneiform
A little later, in the 7th century BC, a new way of recording information appeared - cuneiform. Special clay tablets were made, and while they were still raw, inscriptions and drawings were made on them. The tablets were then fired in kilns to commemorate them.
These methods began to be invented because human memory is unreliable. To store information in its original, undistorted form, we decided to use this method and created a special room for these plates. The first libraries were just filled with such clay tablets. For example, the library of Ashurbanipal (Nineveh) contained about 30,000 different tablets.
In ancient Rome, at about the same time, a similar method was used - wooden tablets were covered with colored wax and then scribes applied information with a sharp object (stylus).
Predecessors of paper
In ancient Egypt, around the 3rd millennium BC, they learned how to make papyrus. This technology later spread throughout the Mediterranean.
Sedge family plants were used to make papyrus. The inscriptions were applied with a special pen. It was the very first tool for storing information, or rather, putting it on a medium, which is still used today.
In the 2nd century BC, another analogue of paper appeared - parchment. Gradually, it was recognized as more reliable and replacedpapyrus from everyday use. For the first time they began to make it in the city of Pergamum, where the name of the invention came from. Parchment is the untanned leather of animals (sheep, cows or goats).
By that time, water-washable inks had already been invented, and if they were applied to parchment, they could be removed and new inscriptions applied. Also, the advantage of parchment was the ability to write on both sides.
First paper
According to historical facts, the first paper appeared in China during the 2-1st century BC. The technology began to spread thanks to the Arabs and only in the 8th-9th century AD, before that it was kept in the strictest confidence.
Another interesting way to store information is birch bark (this is the top layer of birch bark). It was widely used, since paper appeared in Russia only in the 16th century.
First industrial technologies
The very first information storage tool in the era of the development of the world industrial economy is a punched card.
In 1804, Joseph Marie Jacquard invented punched cards, which he used on his loom to create intricate designs on fabrics. But as a storage device, they were invented by Herman Hollerith, who first proposed recording US census data on them in 1890.
This method was later modified into punch tapes that were used to send telegrams.
Magnetic nature of carriers
Magnetic tape appears in the 1950sfor early computers. Then there were cassettes on which music was recorded. This technology quickly spread around the world.
About the same time, the magnetic disk was already invented. Developed by IBM.
In 1969, a floppy disk (floppy disk) appears.
Technologies still in use today
The computer hard drive was developed in 1956. And this is the very first tool for storing information, which is still used today. Of course, its appearance was significantly different from what we know today. Nevertheless, the technology is still actively used and continues to develop, having long been spread throughout the globe.
There are also portable and removable media such as CDs, DVDs, USB flash drives.
Even newer technologies are cloud storages that are created on the Internet. Now any of your information will be available to you from anywhere, there is no need to have anything with you except a PC or smartphone.
The history of storing information includes many more different ways that were found to be ineffective and were forgotten.
Information in each of us
Our body also stores information. This is called DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). It is DNA that is responsible for the storage of hereditary information in our body, as well as the transmission and implementation of the program for the development of living cells. And DNAnot only in humans, but also in plants, animals and any living organisms.
