History of Technology in Utah

1917 – Utah native and BYU graduate Harvey Fletcher joins Bell Laboratories where he oversees the development of the first electronic hearing aid. He would later become known as “the father of stereophonic sound.”

1927 – Utah native and former BYU student Philo Farnsworth invents the first electronic television set.

1956 – Deseret Pharmaceutical Company creates the disposal plastic catheter.

1959 – The Space Dynamics Lab is founded at Utah State University.

1961 – The creator of computer graphics and a University of Utah Professor, Ivan Sutherland invents the sketchpad. He is also credited as the founder of the GUI interface.

1967 – Dr. Willem Kloff, the “father of artificial organs” joins the University of Utah faculty.

1969 –The University of Utah hosts one of the first four network nodes of the ARPANET.

1971 – University of Utah Graduate and Utah native Nolan Bushnell creates the first arcade game called Computer Space. In 1972 Bushnell develops the popular game Pong and starts Atari Computers the same year.

1973 – The first artificial arm is developed by University of Utah professor Stephen Jacobsen.

1976 – Thomas Stockham, the father of digital audio, makes the first digital recording in 1976. Mr. Stockham was a professor at the University of Utah.

1977 – Alan Ashton begins work on a word processing program that goes on to become WordPerfect.  By the end of the year Ashton, Don Owens, and Bruce Bastian, start the company Satellite Systems, Inc.

1979 – Novell Data Systems is founded in Utah and goes on to become one the greatest technology companies in the world.

1980 – The Iomega Corporation was founded in Utah and went on to invent the zip drive.

1982 – Utah Native and U of U graduate John Warnock co-founds Adobe Systems. Two years later he becomes a Professor at the University of Utah, building the school's reputation as the Mecca for computer graphics.

1982 – Genetic Epidemiology database of genealogical and medical records is founded.

1982 – Jim Clark, a University of Utah graduate founds Silicon Graphics and goes on to found Netscape.

1982 – The first successful artificial human heart transplant is performed by surgeons at the University of Utah.

1983 – The Wayne Brown Institute, the oldest operating and most successful venture accelerator in the world, is founded.

1983 – The first public version of WordPerfect (2.0 for DOS) becomes available.  WordPerfect goes on to become one of the largest grossing packages of all time and is considered by many to be the father of Word Processors.

1985 – Pixar is co-founded by University of Utah Graduate Ed Catmull.

1985 – Megahertz is founded by three University of Utah graduates. The infrastructure of today’s “wireless world” is based on their portable computing innovations.

1986 – Folio is founded by a BYU graduate and launches Infobase Technology.
1986 – Utah based NPS pharmaceuticals is founded.

1990 – Utah Human Genome Center goes on to develop technology for large-scale genetic sequencing.

1990 – Utah’s Center of Excellence is established to aid Utah’s universities in the commercialization of technologies.

1994 – NPS Pharmaceutical completes a successful IPO.

1995 – Myriad Genetics raises over $54 million in initial public offering.

1996 – Omniture co-founded by BYU students Josh James and John Pestana.

1997 – Utah becomes the first government in the world to recognize digital signatures in legal documents.

1999 – Hugely successful internet retailer Overstock.com is launched.

1999 – The Huntsman Cancer Institute opens.

2000 – Orem, Utah based Caldera Systems goes public raising over $80 million.

2000 – Pharmaceutical company Anesta Corp. is acquired by Cephalon Inc. for $444 million.

2000 – Silicon Valley based Sonic Wall acquires Salt Lake City based Phobos Corp. for $279 million.

2000 – Sonic Innovations raises $53.9 million from its initial public offering.

2001 – University Venture Fund, a student run venture capital fund, is launched by University of Utah students.

2002 – Altiris completed a successful IPO and marked the first enterprise management software company in the previous 18 months to file and complete an IPO.

2002 – Internet retailer Overstock.com raises $39 million in public offering.

2002 – The 2002 Winter Olympic Games come to Utah – The most wired, state-of-the-art games in Olympic history.

2003 – Utah establishes the Utah Fund of Funds to help catalyze venture investments in the State.

2003 – Salt Lake City headquartered company Datamark, Inc. is acquired by ecollege.com for $72 million.

2006 – IM Flash Technologies, a collaboration between industry giants Micron Technologies and Intel, is formed in Utah.

2006 – USTAR founded to recruit world-class researchers and to build state-of-the-art interdisciplinary research and development facilities.

2006 – Omniture goes public and becomes the most successful technology IPO of 2006.

2007 – Symantec acquires Utah based Altiris for $830 million.

2007 –Publically traded and Utah based company Zevex International is acquired by Moog for $83.3 million.