A Brief History of A Brief History of ComputersComputers

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.

Mechanical computers

FromFromThe Abacus - 4000 BCThe Abacus - 4000 BC

to to Charles BabbageCharles Babbage

and his Difference Engine (1812)and his Difference Engine (1812)

Mechanical computers:The Abacus (3000 BC)

…still used in some places for basic computation (add and subtract)

Napier’s Bones andNapier’s Bones andLogarithms (1617)Logarithms (1617)

Picture courtesy IBM

…used lookup tables to find the solution to otherwise tedious and error-prone mathematical calculations

Blaise Pascal’sBlaise Pascal’sPascaline Pascaline

(1645)(1645)

…invented the first digital calculator, called the pascaline

Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz’sGottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz’sStepped Reckoner (1674)Stepped Reckoner (1674)

…could add, subtract, plus multiply and divide

Joseph-Marie Jacquard and his Joseph-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.

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

Charles Babbage’s Difference Charles Babbage’s Difference Engine [1822-1842]Engine [1822-1842]

…born of the advances in technology that accompanied the Industrial Revolution

The Difference Engine [1989-1991]

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Difference_engine

Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine Charles 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.

Lady 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)

Electro-mechanical computers

FromFromHerman Hollerith’sHerman Hollerith’s

18901890Census Counting MachineCensus Counting Machine

to to Howard AikenHoward Aiken

and the Harvard Mark I (1944)and the Harvard Mark I (1944)

Herman Hollerith and hisHerman Hollerith and hisCensus 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 ).

A closer look at the Census A closer look at the Census Tabulating MachineTabulating Machine

The Harvard The Harvard Mark IMark I (1944) (1944)aka IBM’s Automatic Sequence aka IBM’s Automatic Sequence

Controlled Calculator (ASCC)Controlled Calculator (ASCC)

Electronic digital computers

FromFromJohn Vincent Atanasoff’sJohn Vincent Atanasoff’s

19391939Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC)Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC)

to to the present daythe present day

Alan TuringAlan Turing1912-19541912-1954

The Turing MachineAka

The Universal Machine1936

…believed that a machine capable of processing a stream of 1s and 0s according to programmed instructions would be capable of solving any problem

John Vincent Atanasoff (1903-1995)John Vincent Atanasoff (1903-1995)

Physics ProfAt

Iowa StateUniversity

…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

Clifford Berry (1918-1963)Clifford Berry (1918-1963)

PhD studentof

Dr. Atanasoff’s

…with a distinguished career in the areas of mass spectrometry and vacuum and electronics .

19391939The Atanasoff-Berry Computer The 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

19431943 Bletchley Park’s Colossus Bletchley Park’s Colossus

The EnigmaMachine

19461946The ENIACThe ENIAC

John Presper Eckert(1919-1995)andJohn Mauchly(1907-1980)of theUniversity of Pennsylvania Moore School of Engineering

…designed the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) from Atanasoff’s previous work…

The ENIAC:The ENIAC:Electronic Numerical Electronic Numerical

Integrator and ComputerIntegrator and Computer

…uses vacuum tubes

Programming the ENIACProgramming the ENIAC

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 Von John Von NeumannNeumannJohn Von John Von NeumannNeumann

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 PCsand beyond…

Whatever next?…

Reference

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