Computers looked very different in the 1960s. Most obviously, people weren’t able to slip them into their pockets. Instead, computers were room-sized machines. And even those enormous machines had only a fraction of the computing power you use when you’re scrolling through Instagram on your phone.

Still, computers in the 1960s were great at processing large datasets. And a young Harvard undergraduate named Jeff Tarr saw a unique way to use that processing power. While most researchers were turning to computers to compile things like economic data, engineering data, medical data, and aeronautical data, Jeff decided to use computers to process personal relationship data.

Jeff sent surveys filled with relationship questions to students at college campuses around the country. Anyone who filled out his survey and sent it back along with $3 was guaranteed at least six “matches” -- contact info for someone nearby to invite on a date.

After his first mailing, Jeff received 7,800 completed surveys with over $23,000 in 1960s money -- roughly equivalent to $200,000 today -- and he knew he was onto something big. And while he might not have known it at the time, he was laying the foundation for what would become the online dating industry.

For a complete transcript of the episode, click here.