System R

System R was an influential research project at IBM in the 1970s that developed the foundations of modern relational databases. It introduced the idea of organizing data into tables (relations) and using a standardized language called SQL (Structured Query Language) to retrieve and manipulate data efficiently. System R demonstrated how databases could be designed to manage large amounts of information reliably and with minimal effort, paving the way for the relational database systems widely used today. Its innovations laid the groundwork for data management practices that support business, government, and technology operations worldwide.