Computers have evolved greatly over time from early mechanical devices to modern electronic computers. Some key developments include the abacus from 4000 BC, Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine in the 1800s, Herman Hollerith's Census Tabulating Machine in the 1880s, and the ENIAC, the first general-purpose electronic digital computer created in 1946. Modern computers were further advanced by developments like transistors, microprocessors, and networking technologies bringing us to the digital world and computers we know today.

1. A Brief History ofA Brief History of
ComputersComputers

2. Pre-Mechanical Computing:
Before humans invented “machines”
to help them count or do math, they
used whatever was available…
It’s possible the human facility in math
is the most significant difference
between us and other species.

3. Mechanical
computers
FromFrom
The Abacus - 4000 BCThe Abacus - 4000 BC
toto
Charles BabbageCharles Babbage
and his Difference Engine (1812)and his Difference Engine (1812)

4. Mechanical computers:
The Abacus (3000 BC)
…still used in some places for basic computation (add and
subtract)

5. Napier’s Bones andNapier’s Bones and
Logarithms (1617)Logarithms (1617)
Picture courtesy IBM
…used lookup tables to find the solution to otherwise
tedious and error-prone mathematical calculations

6. Blaise Pascal’sBlaise Pascal’s
PascalinePascaline
(1645)(1645)
…invented the first digital calculator, called the pascaline

7. Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz’sGottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz’s
Stepped Reckoner (1674)Stepped Reckoner (1674)
…could add, subtract, plus multiply and divide

8. Joseph-Marie Jacquard and hisJoseph-Marie Jacquard and his
punched card controlled looms (1804)punched card controlled looms (1804)
…a model for
the input and
output of data
in the electro-
mechanical
and electronic
computing
industry.

9. Charles Babbage (1791-1871)Charles Babbage (1791-1871)
The Father of ComputersThe Father of Computers
• …designed the
Difference Engine
and Analytical
Engine, which
foreshadowed the
invention of the
modern electronic
digital computer
• …was also involved
in several other
fascinating inventions

10. Charles Babbage’s DifferenceCharles Babbage’s Difference
Engine [1822-1842]Engine [1822-1842]
…born of the advances in technology that accompanied
the Industrial Revolution

11. The Difference Engine [1989-1991]
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Difference_engine

12. Charles Babbage’s Analytical EngineCharles Babbage’s Analytical Engine
[1837-1871—never completed][1837-1871—never completed]
Babbage was
never able to
complete
construction
of any of his
machines
due to
conflicts with
his chief
engineer and
inadequate
funding.

13. Lady Augusta AdaCountess of LovelaceLady Augusta AdaCountess of Lovelace
(1815-1852](1815-1852]
• … a brilliant
mathematician who
helped Babbage in his
work by documenting
his work
• … also wrote
programs to be run on
Babbage’s machines
(First Programmer)

14. Electro-mechanical
computers
FromFrom
Herman Hollerith’sHerman Hollerith’s
18901890
Census Counting MachineCensus Counting Machine
toto
Howard AikenHoward Aiken
and the Harvard Mark I (1944)and the Harvard Mark I (1944)

15. Herman Hollerith and hisHerman Hollerith and his
Census Tabulating Machine (1884)Census Tabulating Machine (1884)
Herman Hollerith worked as a statistician for the U.S. Census
Bureau in the 1880s and 1890s . His Tabulating Recording
Company later became IBM (International Business machines ).

16. A closer look at the CensusA closer look at the Census
Tabulating MachineTabulating Machine

17. The HarvardThe Harvard Mark IMark I (1944)(1944)
aka IBM’s Automatic Sequenceaka IBM’s Automatic Sequence
Controlled Calculator (ASCC)Controlled Calculator (ASCC)

18. Electronic digital
computers
FromFrom
John Vincent Atanasoff’sJohn Vincent Atanasoff’s
19391939
Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC)Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC)
toto
the present daythe present day

19. Alan TuringAlan Turing
1912-19541912-1954
The Turing Machine
Aka
The Universal Machine
1936
…believed that a machine capable of processing a stream of 1s and
0s according to programmed instructions would be capable of
solving any problem

20. John Vincent Atanasoff (1903-1995)John Vincent Atanasoff (1903-1995)
Physics Prof
At
Iowa State
University
…convinced there had to be a way of doing mathematics
mechanically, he designed the electronic digital computer. With the
help of Clifford Berry, they invented the Atanasoff-Berry Computer,
the ABC

21. Clifford Berry (1918-1963)Clifford Berry (1918-1963)
PhD student
of
Dr. Atanasoff’s
…with a distinguished career in the areas of mass spectrometry
and vacuum and electronics .

22. 19391939
The Atanasoff-Berry ComputerThe Atanasoff-Berry Computer
(ABC)(ABC)
The ABC was the first electronic digital computer, invented
by John Vincent Atanasoff
The ABC used vacuum tubes, punched cards and a memory device
that looked like a drum

23. 19431943
Bletchley Park’s ColossusBletchley Park’s Colossus
The Enigma
Machine

24. 19461946
The ENIACThe ENIAC
John Presper Eckert
(1919-1995)
and
John Mauchly
(1907-1980)
of the
University of
Pennsylvania Moore
School of Engineering
…designed the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and
Computer) from Atanasoff’s previous work…

25. The ENIAC:The ENIAC:
Electronic NumericalElectronic Numerical
Integrator and ComputerIntegrator and Computer
…uses
vacuum
tubes

26. Programming the ENIACProgramming the ENIAC

27. ENIAC’s Wiring!ENIAC’s Wiring!
John Von Neumann came up with the
bright idea of using part of the computer’s
internal memory (called Primary Memory)
to “store” the program inside the computer
and have the computer go get the
instructions from its own memory, just as
we do with our human brain.
John VonJohn Von
NeumannNeumann

28. Summing it all up!
First telegraph message sent by Samuel Morse, 1844Samuel Morse, 1844
Electronic and computing technology quickly progressed—
at an ever-accelerating pace—
from vacuum tubes (Lee de Forrest, the audion, 1907Lee de Forrest, the audion, 1907)
to transistors (William Shockley et al. 1947)William Shockley et al. 1947)
to semiconductors (Jack Kilby & Robert Noyce, 1958Jack Kilby & Robert Noyce, 1958)
to microprocessors (M.E. “Ted” Hoff, 1971M.E. “Ted” Hoff, 1971)
to personal computers [Atari, Apple, IBM, et al., 1975- ]
to networking and the Internet (Vinton Cerf & Robert Kahn,Vinton Cerf & Robert Kahn,
19821982]
to the World Wide Web (Tim Berners-Lee, 1991Tim Berners-Lee, 1991)
to mobile/cell phones, tablet PCs
and beyond…
Whatever next?…

29. Reference
• Most of the information for this powerpoint was
obtained from the following web page:
http://www.computersciencelab.com/ComputerHistory/
History.htm