Fields

Databases

Also Known As Database Systems

Field of Study

Citation Formats

General Reference

Computing Atlas. "Databases." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://computing.interactiveatlas.org/fields/databases.

APA Style

Computing Atlas. (n.d.). Databases. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://computing.interactiveatlas.org/fields/databases

BibTeX

@misc{computingatlas-databases,
  author = {Computing Atlas},
  title = {Databases},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://computing.interactiveatlas.org/fields/databases},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

Databases is the field of computing concerned with organizing collections of data so they can be stored, queried, updated and kept consistent at scale. Its modern shape emerged in the mid 1960s, when direct access storage made organized shared data stores practical, and it was transformed in 1970 when Edgar F. Codd proposed the relational model, the theoretical basis of the relational database systems that now carry most of the world's structured data.

Facts

Origin Year

1965 1

Mid 1960s, stated as the era when the term database arrived with direct access storage; 1965 stands for that mid decade point rather than a single founding event.

Core Concern

How collections of data are structured, stored, queried and kept correct while many programs and people use them at once. 1

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Edgar F. Codd

Edgar F. Codd's 1970 paper A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks founded the field's dominant model, and he is widely called the father of the relational database.

Source Wikipedia: Edgar F. Codd