Timeline of computing 2020–present


2020
 February 7
 AMD releases the Ryzen Threadripper 3990X, the first 64 core CPU for consumer market based on the Zen 2 microarchitecture.
 March 26
 After one of the first and largest public volunteer distributed computing projects SETI@home announced its shutdown by March 31, 2020 and due to heightened interest as a result of to the COVID-19 pandemic, the distributed computing project Folding@home becomes the world's first system to reach one exaFLOPS. The system simulates protein folding, is used for medical research on COVID-19 and achieved a speed of approximately 2.43 x86 exaFLOPS by April 13, 2020 many times faster than the fastest supercomputer Summit.
 April 20
 Researchers demonstrate a diffusive memristor fabricated from protein nanowires of the bacterium Geobacter sulfurreducens which functions at substantially lower voltages than previously described ones and may allow the construction of artificial neurons which function at voltages of biological action potentials. The nanowires have a range of advantages over silicon nanowires and the memristors may be used to directly process biosensing signals, for neuromorphic computing and/or direct communication with biological neurons.
 May 22
 Australian computer scientists report achieving, thus far, the highest internet speed in the world from a single optical chip source over standard optical fiber, amounting to 44.2 Terabits per sec, or "downloading 1000 high definition movies in a split second".
 May 27
 A study shows that social networks can function poorly as pathways for inconvenient truths, that the interplay between communication and action during disasters may depend on the structure of social networks, that communication networks suppress necessary "evacuations" in test-scenarios because of false reassurances when compared to groups of isolated individuals and that larger networks with a smaller proportion of informed subjects can suffer more damage due to human-caused misinformation.
 June
 The Linux operating system's market share breaks the 3% desktop usage marker for the first time in June 2020, reaching 3.57% in July 2020.
 July 6
 [Novel protocol/standard] – The Versatile Video Coding standard (H.266) is finalised, designed to halve the bitrate of previous formats, reducing data volume and being especially useful for on-demand 8K streaming services.
 August 28
 Elon Musk reveals a model of the prototype brain–computer interface chip, implanted in pigs, that his company Neuralink has been working on.
 September 3
 Scientists report finding "176 Open Access journals that, through lack of comprehensive and open archives, vanished from the Web between 2000-2019, spanning all major research disciplines and geographic regions of the world" and that in 2019 only about a third of the 14,068 DOAJ-indexed journals ensured the long-term preservation of their content themselves, with many papers not getting archived by Web archiving initiatives such as the Internet Archive.

 September 18
 Media reports of what may be the first publicly confirmed case of a civilian fatality as a nearly direct consequence of a cyberattack, after ransomware disrupted a hospital in Germany.
 September 25
 [Novel application of computing / software] – Chemists describe, for the first time, possible chemical pathways from nonliving prebiotic chemicals to complex biochemicals that could give rise to living organisms, based on a new computer program named ALLCHEMY.

2021 

 [Meta/Policy/Philosophy] – Thomas Metzinger, a German philosopher of cognitive science and applied ethics, calls for a "global moratorium on synthetic phenomenology" which, "until 2050", precautionarily bans "all research that directly aims at or knowingly risks the emergence of artificial consciousness on post-biotic carrier systems" – and could be gradually refined. The paper does not describe mechanisms of global enforcement of such proposed regulations which do not consider biotic or semi-biotic systems and aims to limit suffering risks.
 [Type of database] – A new global food emissions database indicates that the current food systems are responsible for one third of the global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.
 [Data usage] – In a static proprietary article that appeared in and was co-reviewed by a scientific journal, authenticated scientists analyze data from multiple public databases to create a regional representation of levels of deforestation induced by nations' recent, largely unmodulated, trade-, production- and consumption-patterns.

 A study finds that carbon emissions from Bitcoin mining in China – where a majority of the proof-of-work algorithm that generates current economic value is computed, largely fueled by nonrenewable sources – have accelerated rapidly and would soon exceed total annual emissions of countries like Italy, interfering with climate change mitigation commitments.
 Neuralink reveals a male macaque with chips embedded on each side of its brain, playing a mind-controlled version of Pong. While similar technology has been demonstrated for decades, and wireless implants have existed for years, some observers note that the organization increased the number of implanted electrodes that are read wirelessly.

 Researchers publish the first in-depth study of Web browser tab interfaces. They found that many people struggle with tab overload and conducted surveys and interviews about people's tab use. Thereby they formalized pressures for closing tabs and for keeping tabs open. The authors then developed related UI design considerations which could enable better tools and changes to the code of Web browsers – like Firefox – that allow knowledge workers and other users to better manage their tabs.

 Operation of the U.S. Colonial Pipeline is interrupted by a ransomware cyber attack.

 A new record for the smallest single-chip system is achieved, occupying a total volume of less than 0.1 mm³.

 Scientists demonstrate the first brain–computer interface that decodes neural signals for handwriting. The character output speed of a patient with a paralyzed hand was up to 90 characters per minute – more than double the previous record. Each letter is associated with a highly distinctive pattern of activity in the brain, making it relatively easy for the algorithm to distinguish them.

 Archivists initiate a rescue mission to secure enduring access to humanity's largest public library of scientific articles, Sci-Hub, due to the site's increased legal troubles, using Web and BitTorrent technologies.

 Google demonstrates a research project called LaMDA, an automatic language generation system designed to sustain a conversation with a person on any topic.

 The most comprehensive 3D map of the human brain – of a millionth of a brain and requiring 1.4 petabytes of storage space – is published.

In the debate the cognitive impacts of smartphones and digital technology a group reports that, contrary to widespread belief, scientific evidence doesn't show that these technologies harm biological cognitive abilities and that they instead change predominant ways of cognition – such as a reduced need to remember facts or conduct mathematical calculations by pen and paper outside contemporary schools. However, some activities – like reading novels – that require long attention-spans and don't feature ongoing rewarding stimulation may become more challenging in general.

 Researchers used a brain-computer interface to enable a man who was paralyzed since 2003 to produce comprehensible words and sentences by decoding signals from electrodes in the speech areas of his brain.

Japan achieves a new world record Internet speed: 319 Tbit/s over ~3000 km which, albeit not being the fastest speed overall, beats the previous record of 178 Tbit/s.

Scientists report that worldwide adolescent loneliness and depression increased substantially after 2012 and that loneliness in contemporary schools appears to be associated with smartphone access and Internet use.

DeepMind announces that its AlphaFold AI has predicted the structures of over 350,000 proteins, including 98.5% of the ~20,000 proteins in the human body. The 3D data along with their degrees of confidence for accuracy is made freely available with a new database, doubling the previous number of protein structures in the public domain.

Scientists publish the first complete neuron-level-resolution 3D map of a monkey brain which they scanned within 100 hours.

A researcher reports that solar superstorms would cause large-scale global months-long Internet outages. She describes potential mitigation measures and exceptions – such as user-powered mesh networks and related peer-to-peer applications – and the robustness of the current Internet infrastructure.

Scientists conclude that personal carbon allowances (PCAs) could be a component of climate change mitigation. They find that the economic recovery from COVID-19 and novel digital technology capacities open a window of opportunity for first implementations. PCAs would consist of – e.g. monetary – credit-feedbacks and decreasing default levels of per capita emissions concessions. The researchers find that recent advances in machine learning technology and "smarter home and transport options make it possible to easily track and manage a large share of individuals' emissions" and that feedback effective in engaging individuals to reduce their energy-related emissions and relevant new personalized apps could be designed. Issues may include privacy, evaluating emissions from individuals co-running multinational companies and the availability and prices of products and services. 

Cerebras announces a new hardware and software platform that can support AI models of 120 trillion parameters, enabling neural networks greater than the equivalent number of human brain synapses.

Pathogen researchers report the development of machine learning models for genome-based early detection and prioritization of high-risk potential zoonotic viruses in animals prior to spillover to humans. They conclude that their tool could be used for virus surveillance for pandemic prevention via (i.a.) measures of "early investigation and outbreak preparedness" and would have been capable of predicting SARS-CoV-2 as a high-risk strain.

A loss of public IP routes to the Facebook DNS servers due to malfunctioning capacity-assessment code, routinely triggered after configuration changes of routers of the company's data centers, that resulted in stoppage of BGP routing information broadcasts causes the 2021 Facebook outage.

 A study of data traffic by popular smartphones running variants of the Android software finds substantial by-default data collection and sharing with no opt-out (i.e. even the NetGuard firewall, which is not installed by default, may not reliably and completely prevent such data traffic) and implications for users' privacy, control and security.

 Media outlets report about novel technologies for virtual try-ons of clothes for more sustainable fashion and improved online shopping, which increased relative to shopping at local shops that store clothes due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A method of DNA data storage with 100 times the density of previous techniques is announced.

 Scientists demonstrate that grown brain cells integrated into digital systems can carry out goal-directed tasks with performance-scores. In particular, playing a simulated (via electrophysiological stimulation) Pong which the cells learned to play faster than known machine intelligence systems, albeit to a lower skill-level than both AI and humans. Moreover, the study suggests it provides "first empirical evidence" of information-processing capacity differences between neurons from different species.

 Researchers report the development of a system of machine learning and hyperspectral camera that can distinguish between 12 different types of plastics such as PET and PP for automated separation of waste of, as of 2020, highly unstandardized plastics products and packaging.

A scientific review summarizes research and data about telemedicine. Its results indicate that, in general, outcomes of such ICT-use are as good as in-person care with health care use staying similar.

The Log4Shell security vulnerability in a Java logging framework is publicly disclosed two weeks after its discovery. Because of the ubiquity of the affected software, experts have described it as a most serious computer vulnerability. In a high-level meeting, the importance of security maintenance of open-source software – often also carried out largely by few volunteers – to national security was clarified.

Researchers report the development of a database and analysis tool about perovskite solar cells which systematically integrates over 15,000 publications, in particular device-data about over 42,400 of such photovoltaic devices. Authors described the site – which requires signing up to access the data and uses software that is partly open source but to date not free software – as a participative "Wikipedia for perovskite solar cell research" and suggest that extensively capturing the progress of an entire field including interactive data exploration functionalities could also be applicable to many fields in materials science, engineering and biosciences.

A third main convergent graphical shell (Maui Shell) and UI framework (MauiKit), based on KDE/Kirigami, for the GNU/Linux operating system on smartphones, desktops and other devices, is released.

2022

Deaths

2020
January 2
 Robert M. Graham, American computer scientist (b. 1929)
January 3
 Joseph Karr O'Connor, American computer scientist (b. 1953)
January 8
 Peter T. Kirstein, British computer scientist (b. 1933)
February 11
 Yasumasa Kanada, Japanese computer scientist (b. 1949)
February 16
Larry Tesler, American computer scientist (b. 1945)
John Iliffe, British computer designer (b. 1931)
February 18
 Bert Sutherland, American computer scientist (b. 1936)
March 2
 Vera Pless, American mathematician (b. 1931)
March 15
 Olvi L. Mangasarian, Iraqi-American computer scientist and mathematician (b. 1934)
April 7
Mishik Kazaryan, Russian physicist (b. 1948)
Adrian V. Stokes, British computer scientist (b. 1945)
April 11
 John Horton Conway, British mathematician (b. 1937)
April 25
 Thomas Huang, American computer scientist (b. 1936)
May 9
 Timo Honkela, Finnish computer scientist (b. 1962)
June 5
 Deborah Washington Brown, American computer scientist (b. 1952)
July 10
 Michael M. Richter, German mathematician and computer scientist (b. 1938)
July 26
 Bill English, American computer engineer and co-developer of the computer mouse (b. 1929)
August 4
 Frances Allen, American computer scientist, first woman to win the Turing Award (b. 1932)
August 11
 Russell Kirsch, American computer scientist and inventor of the first digital image scanner (b. 1929)
August 25
 Rebeca Guber, Argentine mathematician and computer scientist (b.1926)
October 2
 Victor Zalgaller, Russian-Israeli mathematician (b. 1920)
November 7
 Chung Laung Liu, Taiwanese computer scientist (b. 1934)
November 14
 Peter Pagé, German computer scientist (b. 1939)
November 23
 Konrad Fiałkowski, Polish computer engineer (b. 1939)
December 1
Norman Abramson, American computer scientist and engineer (b. 1932)
Eric Engstrom, American software engineer and co-creator of DirectX (b. 1965)
December 14
 Claudio Baiocchi, Italian mathematician (b. 1940)
December 22
 Edmund M. Clarke, American computer scientist (b. 1945)
December 23
 Lars Arge, Danish computer scientist (b. 1967)

2021
 January 2
 Brad Cox, American computer scientist, and inventor of the Objective-C programming language (b. 1944)
 January 28
 Alice Recoque, French computer scientist (b. 1929)
 February 1
 Walter Savitch, American computer scientist and theoretical mathematician (b. 1943)
 February 6
 Ioan Dzițac, Romanian computer scientist and mathematician (b. 1953)
March 6
 Lou Ottens, Dutch engineer and inventor of the cassette tape (b. 1926)
April 1
 Isamu Akasaki, Japanese engineer and physicist, and inventor of the blue LED (b. 1929)
April 16
 Charles Geschke, American computer scientist, and co-founder of Adobe Inc. (b. 1939)
April 23
 Dan Kaminsky, American computer security researcher (b. 1979)
May 23
Makoto Nagao, Japanese natural language processing pioneer (b. 1936)
June 23
John McAfee, British-American antivirus software pioneer, and founder of McAfee (b. 1945)

2022

See also

 Timeline of quantum computing and communication#2020
 Timeline of free and open-source software#2020s
 Firefox version history
 History of Linux
 Timeline of Linux adoption
 Timeline of social media
Timeline of e-commerce
 Timeline of computer viruses and worms
 History of supercomputing
 Remote sensing
 :Category:Earth observation platforms
 Smart grid#Research
 Outline of finance
 Outline of public relations
 Outline of computing
 2020 in science
 2021 in science

COVID-19
 Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education
 Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on science and technology
 Use and development of software for COVID-19 pandemic mitigation

References

2020
2020s in technology