Given my advancing years I remember when "multitasking" became a buzz-word in PC operating systems, notably with OS/2. Arguably, earlier version of Windows supported a multitasking as well but I don't think this was not sold heavily as a feature. Soon after, it seemed the term "multitasking" entered the vocabulary to describe when a person does more than one thing at a time. Is this just a coincidence or did the computer term cross over into the general vocabulary? Large scale computers have been multitasking for decades prior so I'm guessing that it took the advertising of the day to make the term better known in the general population (like user-friendly).
Long and short question: where did the term "multitasking" originate in the context of humans.
Best Answer
Using Google Books, I found several instances of multi-task in print prior to 1966. Here's the earliest I found, in a description of a lawn mower from a 1954 issue of Chambers's Journal:
I believe this shows that the term multi-tasking did not orginate specifically as computer jargon, but was present prior as engineering jargon.
This earlier use probably did not carry the meaning of performing multiple tasks at the same time, but rather meant, simply, able to perform multiple tasks.