Computers used to take up vast amounts of space. Many parts of computers were needed to do the most simple tasks. The relatively inexpensive and compact central control systems we know today didn't exist, until Ted Hoff invented the microprocessor.

Tedd Hoff Credit: invent.org

Hoff developed a chip small enough and cheap enough to fit into almost any device, making computers, cameras, calculators and dozens of other appliances and machines able to do things on its own. This was an important start to the information age.

The microprocessor really was needed but would not be invented until after the microchip came into existence. The first chips had one key weakness they were hardwired, meaning they could only do jobs they were originally designed for.

Hoff's designed a set of chips that worked together to perform a device's functions. He found that if a chip was designed to run conventional computer programs on its own, to act as a Central Processing Unit (CPU), processing power could be used for many tasks.

The CPU Hoff was trying to visualize was very small. Despite its small size, Hoff's CPU had the same computing power as computers that cost more money and were twice its size.