Edgar F. Codd publishes "A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks"

Codd's seminal paper laid the theoretical foundation for relational databases, proposing a model based on mathematical set theory to organize data into tables (relations) and access it through declarative queries.

Significance

This paper provided the intellectual blueprint that would inspire all subsequent relational database development, including Oracle.

Key facts

Date
1970-06-01
Type
invention
Location
San Jose, California (IBM Research Laboratory)