cinema history - What technology did each Pixar movie introduce?

Pixar’s subsequent films act like a timeline of technological developments in computer graphics. Building on the work of other researchers, 2001’s Monsters, Inc. introduced the on-screen representation of fur. Two years later, Finding Nemo pioneered new techniques in digital lighting, which were used to create realistic-looking water. The Incredibles and Ratatouille brought with them believable human characters, and advances in the simulation of crowds and fluids.

Not one of those statements is correct, if given as an industry wide example of developments of computer graphics.

These statements might be correct, if referring to Pixar's own usage of those technologies. Monster's Inc was the first time Pixar used Fur extensively for one of it's own feature films, but fur in computer graphics had been in use for many years by this point. I would credit them this achievement as being the largest usage of fur in a feature film to that date.

While I agree that Pixar set many milestones for standards in the level of quality in computer graphics. They were not the only studio setting new standards.

ILM set the standard for computer graphics and lighting in the 1993 Jurassic Park.

Disney set the tone for most realistic computer generated animal in the 2000 film Dinosaur.

A year later Square Pictures (R.I.P) released the 2001 film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, which to this date still exceeds anything in visual production value that Pixar has ever done. Including the claim for believable human characters.

That same year in 2001 the film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring demonstrated the most realistic human generated character (Gollum).

This isn't a list of the best, but just a list of the many other films and studios that have far out done Pixar in the area of computer graphics. Pixar at best has the best quality of children's films, but their continued focus on soft lighting and uniformly playful characters limits how far they can push technology. It's difficult to make Woody compare to Gollum, because Woody is a toy and the most photo-realistic toy just doesn't impress visually.