Robert Metcalfe, a newcomer to the legendary Xerox PARC, had a very serious problem to solve: connecting Xerox computers to a laser printer. And to solve this, he started with something simple: a napkin.

It was here that he sketched a rough sketch of what he then called “Ether”, showing how several PDP-11 terminals similar to those used at this research center would be connected and communicated with each other.

Metcalfe’s final admiring “Ether!” Another of his sketches where he is highlighted with . It was contained in a memo dated May 22, 1973. Metcalfe posted it inspired by ALOHAnet, a packet exchange network developed at the University of Hawaii.

Source: DigiBarn Computer Museum.

These drawings will be part of the development of Ethernet technology, which appeared more than half a century ago and has since become very important when connecting computers to data networks.

Metcalfe’s drawings have become a perfect example of the strange love affair between Silicon Valley and napkins, or at least notepads.

In 1981, Josepth R. “Rod” Canion also scribbled his own idea at a restaurant called House Pies in Houston. He sketched his concept there IBM PC compatible clone This would be the origin of the company Compaq. Over the years, this company became the world’s most important computer supplier, but after some setbacks, Compaq was acquired by HP in 2002.

In October 2008, David Lieb had an idea that would eventually become the Bump mobile app. However, simply “crashing” your mobile phone with another was enough for you to be able to transfer files between them. Shake Exchange, the name he originally suggested for the napkin, did not progress beyond this sketch. Added to the napkin is the concept on which the technology is based: comparing the position of the devices with the accelerometer data. Google buys it and promptly (and inexplicably) shuts it down.

There were other, not always technological, business projects that had their origins in a humble napkin, as they explained in Network World. For example, Southwest Airlines, which was born as a triangle on a napkin, did this.

Twitter’s original idea Also recorded in a notebook. Jack Dorsey actually released an unnamed image with this concept. The first name was Stat.us and it was intended to show someone’s status at any given moment.

Facebook also once took advantage of this unique tool. They did this to launch the Open Computing Project, which aims to create a super-efficient data center in Prineville, Oregon. Jay Park, one of the company’s engineers, was responsible for creating the electrical design on the napkin.

There were other unique ideas that appeared for the first time on a napkin. Paul Lauterbur, one of the creators of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), had the idea in a bar in Pittsburgh and recorded it on a napkin: he would eventually win the Nobel Prize for this idea.

And the idea for the experimental Voyager plane, which would circumnavigate the world without refueling, was born on a napkin. JK Rowling sketched her first ideas for Harry Potter on a napkin in 1990 after her train from Manchester to London was delayed.

By the way, the world of cinema also has stories about napkins. Aaron Sorkin wrote the script for ‘A Few Good Men’ on cocktail napkins behind the bar counter where he worked.

Something similar happened at Pixar: After production wrapped on Toy Story in 1994, four of the company’s executives met for lunch. at that meal They finally started using napkins recommending the production company’s next four films: ‘A Bug’s Life’, ‘Monsters SA’, ‘Finding Nemo’ and ‘WALL-E’. The story of those napkins was actually featured in the ‘WALL-E’ teaser.

in Xataka | The story of the first commercial mouse: A fascinating journey into the prestigious Xerox PARC laboratory