The inventor of the printed circuit was probably the Austrian engineer Paul Eisler (1907 - 1995) who, while working in England, made one in about 1936 as part of a radio set.

In about 1943 the USA began to use the technology on a large scale to make rugged radios for use in World War II. After the war, in 1948, the USA released the invention for commercial use. Printed circuits did not become commonplace in consumer electronics until the mid-1950s.

Before printed circuits, point-to-point construction was used. For prototypes, or small production runs, wire wrap can be more efficient.

Originally, every electronic component had wire leads, and the PCB had holes drilled for each wire of each component. The components were then soldered into the PCB. This method is called through-hole construction. This could be done automatically by passing the board over a ripple, or wave, of molten solder in a wave-soldering machine. Through-hole mounting is still useful in attaching physically-large and heavy components to the board. However, the wires and holes are wasteful. It costs money to drill the holes, and the protruding wires are merely cut off.