Looking back on the past from an increasingly digital age, this thought-provoking installment of the History Channel's "Modern Marvels" series traces the development of digital technology from its origins to modern times. Who were the visionaries who dreamed up the world's first computers, what prompted them to do it, and did they have any idea how quickly their electronic inventions would evolve?

Trace digital technology back to the early 1940s and the first high speed electronic computer. Modern Marvels takes an in-depth look at the rapidly approaching future in places such as MIT's Media Lab, where tomorrow's technologies are being developed today, and examines how the iconic room sized WWII-era computers have now been surpassed by miniature handheld devices. A visit to the Zenith headquarters reveals the results of a side by side comparison of regular television and HDTV, while a look into a Cold War-era NASA program illustrates how personal photography is being rapidly transformed today.