On this day in 1983 TIME magazine named its first Machine of the Year: the personal computer. It was a deviation from their annual tradition of naming Man of the Year, but was an appropriate one. At that time the PC was making big strides and a big impact on the world at large. As TIME publisher John Meyers wrote: “Several human candidates might have represented 1982, but none symbolized the past year more richly, or will be viewed by history as more significant, than a machine: the computer.” The PC remains the first and only Machine of the Year that TIME magazine has ever named.
TIME magazine cover featuring the PC as Machine of the Year, 1982 – Image taken from TIME