The 8051 microcontroller combines the CPU, RAM, ROM, I/O ports, and timers onto a single chip. It was introduced by Intel in 1981 as an 8-bit microcontroller called the 8051. The 8051 has 4KB of program memory, 128 bytes of RAM, 32 I/O lines, and two timers. It helped popularize embedded systems by providing these components in a single package with low power consumption.