The Life and Times of Stephen Wolfram:Timeline

1950s and 1960s
1959: Born August 29 in London, England
1967–1972: Dragon School, Oxford
1968–1976: Won various prizes for English, science, math, etc.

1970s
1972: Won scholarship to Eton College
1972–1976: King’s Scholar, Eton College
1972–1973: Wrote unpublished book on particle physics
1973: Started programming Elliott 903C computer
1973: Did first scientific computer experiments
1974: Wrote first scientific paper
1975: Published first scientific paper
1975: Won scholarship to Oxford University
1976: Worked in Theory Division, Rutherford Laboratory
1976: Published second scientific paper
1976: Started using ARPANET and algebraic computation systems
1976–1978: Attended Oxford University St. John’s College
1977: Placed top in university examinations
1977: Worked in Theoretical High-Energy Physics Group, Argonne National Laboratory
1977: Wrote classic paper on heavy quark production in QCD
1978: Discovered early connections between cosmology and particle physics
1978: Moved to Caltech
1978: Invented Fox–Wolfram variables for analysis of event shapes in particle physics
1979: Discovered Politzer–Wolfram upper bound on masses of quarks in the Standard Model
1979: Published tenth scientific paper
1979: PhD in theoretical physics from Caltech
1979: Began development of SMP

1980s
1979–1982: Developed standard QCD approach to simulation of particle events
1980: Described basic phenomenon of inflationary cosmology
1980–1981: Carried out first complete calculation of matter-antimatter asymmetry generation
1981: Began work on cellular automata
1980–1982: Faculty member at Caltech
1981: First version of SMP released
1981: Won MacArthur Prize Fellowship
1981: Founded Computer Mathematics Corporation (later merged into Inference Corporation)
1981: Published twenty-fifth scientific paper
1982: Wrote landmark paper “Statistical Mechanics of Cellular Automata
1982: Discovered fractal structure of binomial coefficients mod a prime
1981–1986: Consultant on science and technology to many organizations
1982: Coined the term “complex systems research”
1983–1986: Long-term member of Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
1983: Discovered Wolfram classification of cellular automata
1983: Developed algebraic formalism for additive cellular automata
1984: Invented regular language complexity
1984: Discovered computational irreducibility
1985: Published fiftieth scientific paper
1985: Published “Undecidability and Intractability in Theoretical Physics
1985: Published “Origins of Randomness in Physical Systems
1985: Invented a cellular automaton–based system for cryptography
1985: Invented a cellular automaton approach to fluid dynamics
1986: Worked on the development of languages for massively parallel computers
1986: Founded the Center for Complex Systems Research
1986: Joined the University of Illinois as Professor of Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science
1986: Began development of Mathematica
1987: Founded the journal Complex Systems
1987: Founded Wolfram Research, Inc.
1988: Ended active position at University of Illinois
1988: First edition of The Mathematica Book published
1988: Mathematica Version 1.0 released (June 23)
1989: Mathematica available on more than 10 computer platforms
1989: 1000 technical papers cite Wolfram’s 1983 cellular automaton paper

1990s
1990: 100,000 users of Mathematica
1990: Wolfram Research reached $10M in annual revenue
1990: Completed second edition of The Mathematica Book
1990: Wolfram Research Europe founded
1990: Wolfram Research reached 100 employees
1991: Second edition of The Mathematica Book published
1991: Mathematica Version 2.0 released
1991: 38-city international lecture tour
1991: Began work on A New Kind of Science (NKS)
1991–1992: Wrote NKS Chapter 2: “The Crucial Experiment
1992: Wrote NKS Chapter 3: “The World of Simple Programs
1992–1993: Wrote NKS Chapter 4: “Systems Based on Numbers
1992–1993: Wrote NKS Chapter 6: “Starting from Randomness
1993: Wrote NKS Chapter 5: “Two Dimensions and Beyond
1993: Wolfram Research reached 200 employees
1994: Wolfram Research Asia founded
1994: The Mathematica Book published in Japanese and German
1994: 10,000 technical papers cite Wolfram’s work
1994: Cellular Automata and Complexity: Collected Papers published
1994–1995: Wrote early sections of NKS Chapter 8: “Implications for Everyday Systems
1994–1995: Wrote NKS Chapter 7: “Mechanisms in Programs and Nature
1995: Wolfram Media, Inc. founded
1995: The Mathematica Book published in French
1995: Over a million users of Mathematica
1995: Wrote NKS Chapter 11: “The Notion of Computation
1995–1998, 2001: Wrote NKS Chapter 9: “Fundamental Physics
1996: Complex Systems began tenth year of publication
1996: Third edition of The Mathematica Book published
1996: Mathematica Version 3.0 released
1997: Wrote later sections of NKS Chapter 8: “Implications for Everyday Systems
1998: Ten years of Mathematica celebrated
1998–1999: Wrote NKS Chapter 10: “Processes of Perception and Analysis
1999: Fourth edition of The Mathematica Book published
1999: Mathematica Version 4.0 released
1999–2001: Wrote NKS Chapter 12: “The Principle of Computational Equivalence

2001–2009
2001: webMathematica released
2001: Finished NKS Chapter 1: “The Foundations for a New Kind of Science
2002: A New Kind of Science released (May 14)
2002: A New Kind of Science becomes a bestseller
2002: Over 200 major news articles about A New Kind of Science
2002: wolframscience.com website launched
2002–2003: 50-city lecture tour
2003: Fifth edition of The Mathematica Book
2003: Mathematica Version 5.0 released
2003: First NKS Conference
2003: First NKS Summer School
2004: A New Kind of Science available online
2005: 500 technical papers cite A New Kind of Science
2005: WolframTones website launched
2007: Wolfram Demonstrations Project launched
2007: Mathematica reaches 2500 built-in functions and objects
2007: “Mathematica Reinvented”: Mathematica 6 released
2007: Wolfram 2, 3 Turing Machine Prize announced and won
2008: 20 years of Mathematica celebrated
2008: Mathematica 7 released
2009: Wolfram|Alpha launched
2009: Wolfram|Alpha mobile app released

https://www.stephenwolfram.com/scrapbook/2012-first-wolfram-high-school-summer-camp/

2010–Present
2010: Mathematica 8 released
2010: Stephen Wolfram Blog launched
2010: Touch Press founded
2012: Wolfram|Alpha Pro launched
2012: Announced 20+ years of personal analytics
2012: NKS 10th anniversary
2012: Mathematica 9 released
2013: 25 years of Mathematica celebrated
2014: Wolfram Language introduced
2014: Wolfram Cloud launched
2014: Mathematica 10 released
2015: Image Identification Project launched
2016: Wrote An Elementary Introduction to the Wolfram Language
2016: Wrote Idea Makers: Personal Perspectives on the Lives & Ideas of Some Notable People
2016: Version 11 of Mathematica and the Wolfram Language launched
2017: Wolfram Data Repository introduced
2017: Started “Live CEOing” livestreaming
2018: Wolfram Challenges launched
2018: Wolfram Neural Net Repository introduced
2018: Mathematica’s 30th birthday
2019: Version 12 of Mathematica and the Wolfram Language released
2019: Launched the Wolfram Function Repository
2019: Published Adventures of a Computational Explorer book
2020: Launched the Wolfram Physics Project
2020: Published A Project to Find the Fundamental Theory of Physics book
2021: Published Combinators: A Centennial View book
2021: A third of a century of Mathematica celebrated
2021: Version 13 of Mathematica and the Wolfram Language released
2022: Launched the Wolfram Institute
2022: NKS 20th anniversary
2022: Published Twenty Years of A New Kind of Science book
2022: Published Metamathematics: Foundations & Physicalization book
2023: Published What Is ChatGPT Doing … and Why Does It Work? book
2023: Published The Second Law: Resolving the Mystery of the Second Law of Thermodynamics book
2024: Version 14 of Mathematica and the Wolfram Language released
2024: Published Predicting the Eclipse:
A Multimillennium Tale of Computation
book
See also

The Mathematica Story: A Scrapbook