computer history


ABACUS

4th Century B.C.

The abacus, a simple counting aid, may have been invented in Babylonia (now Iraq) in the fourth century B.C.

This device allows users to make computations using a system of sliding beads arranged on a rack.


John Napier4th April 1617

He was a Scot t ish landowner known as a mat hemat ician, physicist , and ast r onomer . He was t he 8t h Lair d of Mer chist oun. His Lat inized name was Joanne Nepero or Joannis Neperi.

J ohn Napier is best known as t he discover er of logar it hms. He also invent ed t he so-called "Napier ' s bones" and made common t he use of t he decimal point in ar it hmet ic and mat hemat ics.


BLAISE PASCAL

(1623 - 1662)

In 1642, the French mathematician and philosopher Bl ai s e Pas cal invented a calculating device that would come to be called the "Adding Machine". Originally called a "numerical wheel calculator" or the "Pascaline", Pascal' s invention utilized a train of 8 moveable dials or cogs to add sums of up to 8 f igures long. As one dial turned 10 notches - or a complete revolution - it mechanically turned the next dial.


CHARLES BABBAGE

(1791 - 1871)

Born in 1791, Charles Babbage was an English mathematician and professor.

In 1822, he persuaded the British government to f inance his design to build a machine that would calculate tables for logarithms.

With Charl es Babbage's creation of the "Analytical Engine", (1833) computers took the form of a general purpose machine.


HOWARD AIKEN

(1900 - 1973)

Aiken thought he could create a modern and functioning model of Babbage' s Analytical Engine.

He succeeded in securing a grant of 1 million dollars for his proposed Automatic Sequence Calculator; the Mark I for short. From IBM.

In 1944, the Mark I was "switched" on. Aiken' s colossal machine spanned 51 feet in length and 8 feet in height. 500 meters of wiring were required to connect each component.


ENIAC

1946

Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer

Under the leadership of J. Pres per Eckert (1919 - 1995) and John W. Mauchl y (1907 - 1980) the team produced a machine that computed at speeds 1,000 times faster than the Mark I was capable of only 2 years earlier.

Using 18,00- 19,000 vacuum tubes, 70,000 resistors and 5 million soldered joints this massive instrument required the output of a small power station to operate it.


UNIVAC1951

The UNIVAC I (Univer sal Aut omat ic Comput er I) was t he second commer cial comput er pr oduced in t he Unit ed St at es. I t was designed pr incipally by J . Pr esper Ecker t and J ohn Mauchly, t he invent or s of t he ENI AC. Design wor k was st ar t ed by t heir company, Ecker t –Mauchly Comput er Cor por at ion, and was complet ed af t er t he company had been acquir ed by Remingt on Rand (which lat er became par t of Sper r y, now Unisys). I n t he year s bef or e successor models of t he UNI VAC I appear ed, t he machine was simply known as "t he UNI VAC".


TRANSISTOR

1948

In the laboratories of Bell Telephone, John Bardeen, Wal t er Brat t ai n and Wi l l i am Shockl ey discovered the "transfer resistor"; later labelled the transistor.

Advantages:

increased reliability

1/13 size of vacuum tubes

consumed 1/20 of the electricity of vacuum tubes


IBM (PC)

1981

On August 12, 1981 IBM announced its own personal computer. Using the 16 bit Intel 8088 microprocessor, allowed for increased speed and huge amounts of memory. Unlike the Altair that was sold as unassembled computer kits, IBM sold its "ready- made" machine through retailers and by qualif ied salespeople.


FIRST GENERATION

(1945-1956)

First generation computers were characterized by the fact that operating instructions were made- to-order for the specif ic task for which the computer was to be used. Each computer had a dif ferent binary-coded program called a machine language that told it how to operate. This made the computer dif f icult to program and limited its versatility and speed. Other distinctive f eatures of f irst generation computers were the use of vacuum tubes (responsible for their breathtaking size) and magnetic drums for data storage.


SECOND GENERATION

(1956-1963)

Throughout the early 1960' s, there were a number of commercially successful second generation computers used in business, universities, and government from companies such as Burroughs, Control Data, Honeywell, IBM, Sperry- Rand, and others. These second generation computers were also of solid state design, and contained transistors in place of vacuum tubes.


THIRD GENERATION

(1965-1971)

Though transistors were clearly an improvement over the vacuum tube, they still generated a great deal of heat, which damaged the computer' s sensitive internal parts. The quartz rock eliminated this problem. Jack Kilby, an engineer with Texas Instruments, developed the integrated circuit (IC) in 1958. The IC combined three electronic components onto a small silicon disc, which was made from quartz. Scientists later managed to f it even more components on a single chip, called a semiconductor.


FOURTH GENERATION

(1971-Present)

In 1981, IBM introduced its personal computer (PC) for use in the home, of f ice and schools. The 1980' s saw an expansion in computer use in all three arenas as clones of the IBM PC made the personal computer even more af fordable. The number of personal computers in use more than doubled from 2 million in 1981 to 5.5 million in 1982.


FIFTH GENERATION

(Future)

Artif icial intelligence (AI) is t he int elligence exhibit ed by machines or sof t war e. I t is an academic f ield of st udy which st udies t he goal of cr eat ing int elligence. Maj or AI r esear cher s and t ext books def ine t his f ield as "t he st udy and design of int elligent agent s", wher e an int elligent agent is a syst em t hat per ceives it s envir onment and t akes act ions t hat maximize it s chances of success. J ohn McCar t hy, who coined t he t er m in 1955, def ines it as "t he science and engineer ing of making int elligent machines.

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