In December 1965, an IBM 1620 computer at Arlington State College played "Jingle Bells," producing the tune through manipulations of internal operations and its console typewriter to control pitch and duration. This event was an early demonstration of computers generating music, although it was predated by the IBM 7094 singing "Daisy Bell" via speech synthesis in 1961. Credit: The University of Texas at Arlington, IBM | History In Pictures

Before using his famous voice synthesizer, Stephen Hawking continued to communicate verbally despite the progression of ALS, which he was diagnosed with in 1963. By the late 1970s, his speech had become increasingly difficult to understand due to the effects of the disease. As his condition worsened, a tracheotomy in 1985, following a severe bout of pneumonia, left him unable to speak altogether. This led him to adopt a voice synthesizer in the early 1980s, which became his primary means of comm