Brief History of Computers

Name: Jerome Inniss Date: 9/2/10

BRIEF HISTORY OF COMPUTERS

In 1623 German scientist Wilhelm Schikard invented an analog machine that used 11 complete and 6 incomplete sprocketed wheels that could add, multiply and divide.

In 1642 French Philosopher, mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal invented a machine that added and subtracted automatically carrying and borrowing digits from column to column.

In the early 19th century French inventor Joseph Marie Jacquard devised a special type of computer called the silk loom. It used punched cards to program patterns that helped the loom create woven fabrics.

In the early 1820’s mathematician and scientist Charles Babbage designed a mechanical computer called the Difference Engine. Although it wasn’t completed by Babbage, the Difference Engine was intended to be a machine with a 20-decimal capacity that could solve mathematical problems. He also made plans for another machine called the Analytical Engine. It was designed to perform all arithmetic operations efficiently; however Babbage’s lack of political skills kept him from obtaining the approval and limits to build it.

In 1890 American inventor Herman Hollerith created a tabulator which combined the use of punched cards with devices that created and electronically read the cards. It was used for the 1890 U.S census and it reduced the time four times shorter than the time previously needed for hand counts. Hollerith’s company eventually changed its name to IBM.

In 1936 British mathematician Alan Turing proposed the idea of a machine that could process equations without human direction. The Turing machine resembles an automatic typewriter that used symbols for math and logic instead of letters. It’s still used by modern computational theorists

Also in the 1930’s American Mathematician Howard Aiken developed the Mark I calculating machine which was built by IBM. This machine used relays of electromagnetic components to replace mechanical components

In 1948 American Physicists Walter Houser Brattain, John Bardeen and William Bradford Shockley developed the transistor, a device that can act as an electric switch.
The transistor had a tremendous impact on computer design, replacing costly, energy-inefficient and unreliable vacuum tubes.

In the late 1960s integrated circuits (tiny transistors and other electrical components arranged on a single ship of silicon) replaced individual transistors in computers. Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce were responsible for Integrated circuits in the late 1950’s.
In the 1970’s refinements in integrated circuit technology led to the development of the modern microprocessor, integrated circuits that contained thousands of transistors. Modern microprocessors can contain more than 40 million transistors.

In 1975 the first so-called personal computer-the Altair 8800 was built and sold by Micro Instrumentation Telemetry Systems. The Altair used a 8-bit Intel 8080 microprocessor, had 256 bytes of RAM, received input through switches on the front panel, and displayed output on rows of light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Refinements in the PC continued with the inclusion of video displays, better storage devices and CPU’s with more computational abilities. Graphical user interfaces were first designed by the Xerox Corporation, then later used successfully by Apple Inc. Today the development of sophisticated operating systems such as Windows, the Mac OS and Linux enables computers to run programs and manipulate data in ways that were unimaginable in the mid- 20th century.

Citation:
Snyder, Timothy Law. "Computer" Microsoft® Student 2009 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008.