HISTORY OF RAM (RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY)

The first form of RAM came about in 1947 with the use of the Williams tube. It utilized a cathode ray tube (CRT) and data was stored on the face of the CRT as electrically charged spots.

The second widely used form of RAM was magnetic-core memory, invented in 1947. Frederick Viehe is credited with much of the work, having filed for several patents relating to the design. Magnetic-core memory works through the use of tiny metal rings and wires connecting to each ring. One bit of data could be stored per ring and accessed at any time.

However, RAM as we know it today, as solid-state memory, was first invented in 1968 by Robert Dennard. Known specifically as dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, transistors were used to store bits of data.