So when was the first computer invented? This question cannot be answered unambiguously due to the different classifications of computers. The first mechanical computer, created by Charles Babbage in 1822, is actually not very similar to what we are accustomed to call a computer today.
When was the word "computer" first used?
The word "computer" was first used in 1613, and originally referred to a person who performed calculations or any calculations. The definition of a computer had the same meaning until the end of the 19th century, when the industrial revolution gave rise to machines whose main purpose was to calculate.
The first mechanical computer or the concept of an automatic computing machine.
In 1822, Charles Babbage developed the concept and started developing the Difference Engine, which is considered the first automatic calculating machine. This is where the history of the computer began. The Difference Engine was capable of operating on multiple sets of numbers and producing paper copies of the results. Babbage was assisted in the development of the Difference Engine by Ada Lovelace, who is considered by many to be the first. Unfortunately, due to financial problems, Babbage was unable to complete a fully functional version of this machine. In June 1991, the Science Museum in London built the Difference Engine No. 2 to celebrate Babbage's bicentennial birthday, and then, in 2000, completed the printing mechanism.
In 1837, Charles Babbage proposed the first programmable computer called the Analytical Engine. The Analytical Engine contained an arithmetic logic unit (ALU), basic flow control, and onboard memory. Unfortunately, due to funding problems, this computer was never built during Charles Babbage's lifetime. It was not until 1910 that Henry Babbage, Babbage's youngest son, was able to complete the central part of this machine from his father's drawings, which was able to perform basic arithmetic.
The first computer with the ability to program.
The first electro-mechanical binary programmable computer, the Z1, was created by German engineer Konrad Zuse in his parents' living room between 1936 and 1938, and is considered the first truly functional modern computer.
The Turing machine was proposed by Alan Turing in 1936 and became the basis for theories about computing and computers. This mechanism printed characters on punched tape in a manner that emulated a person after a series of logical instructions. Without these basic principles, we wouldn't have the computers we use today.
The first electrical programmable computer.
In December 1943, the first electric programmable computer "Colossus" designed by Tommy Flowers was demonstrated and used to decipher intercepted German messages.
The first ever digital computer
The Atanasoff-Berry-ABC computer was developed by Professor Atanasov and graduate student Cliff Berry in 1937. Its development continued until 1942 at Iowa State College (now Iowa State University).
The ABC was an electrical computer that used vacuum tubes for digital computation, including binary mathematics and boolean logic, and had no processor.
On October 19, 1973, US federal judge Earl R. Larson signed the decision revoking the ENIAC patent of J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly and named Atanasoff as the inventor of the electronic digital computer.
The ENIAC was invented by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly at the University of Pennsylvania and began construction in 1943 and was not completed until 1946. It covered about 1800 square feet and used about 18000 vacuum tubes weighing nearly 50 tons. Even though the judge ruled that the ABC computer was the first computer, many still believe that the ENIAC was the first computer because it was fully functional.
The first computer with a stored program.
The British computer, known as the EDSAC, is considered to be the first electronic computer to have programs stored in memory. The computer was launched on May 6, 1949 and was the first computer to run a graphical computer game.
Around the same time, another computer called the Manchester Mark 1 was being developed at the University of Manchester, Victoria, which could also execute stored programs. The first version of the Mark 1 computer entered service in April 1949. On the night of June 16-17, 1949, a Mark 1 was used to run a program to find Mersenne primes, and in nine, he didn't make a single mistake.
The first computer company.
The first computer company was the Electronic Controls Company, which was founded in 1949 by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, the same people who helped build the ENIAC computer. The company was later renamed EMCC or Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation and produced a series of mainframe computers under the UNIVAC name.
First stored computer program
The first computer that was capable of storing and executing a program from memory was the UNIVAC 1101 or ERA 1101, introduced to the US government in 1950.
First commercial computer.
In 1942, Konrad Zuse began work on the Z4, which later became the first commercial computer. The computer was sold to Eduard Stiefel, a mathematician at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, on July 12, 1950.
IBM's first computer.
On April 7, 1953, IBM publicly unveiled the 701, the company's first commercial scientific computer.
First computer with RAM
On March 8, 1955, MIT introduced the revolutionary Whirlwind computer, which was the first computer with ferrite-core RAM and real-time graphics.
First transistorized computer
The TX-O (Transistor Experimental Computer) is the first transistorized computer that was demonstrated at MIT in 1956.
The first mini-computer.
In 1960, Digital Equipment Corporation released its first of many PDP computers, the PDP-1.
The first desktop and mass market computer.
In 1964, the first desktop computer Programma 101 was presented to the public at the New York World's Fair. It was invented by Pier Giorgio Perotto and manufactured by Olivetti. Approximately 44,000 Programma 101 computers were sold, each priced at $3,200.
In 1968, Hewlett Packard began marketing the HP 9100A, which is considered to be the first mass marketed desktop computer.
First workstation.
Despite the fact that this computer was never sold, the Xerox Alto, introduced in 1974, is considered the first workstation. The computer was revolutionary for its time and included a fully functional computer, display and mouse. This computer, like most computers today, used its operating system windows, menus and icons. Many of the features of this computer were demonstrated on December 9, 1968.
First microprocessor.
The first microcomputer.
In 1973, engineer André Truong Trong Tee, together with François Gernel, developed the Micral computer. Regarded as the first "microcomputer", it used the Intel 8008 processor and was the first commercial non-assembly computer. Originally sold for $1,750.
First personal computer.
In 1975, Ed Roberts coined the term "personal computer" when he introduced his brainchild Altair 8800, despite the fact that the first personal computer is believed by many to be the KENBAK-1, introduced for $750 in 1971. The computer relied on a series of switches for input and a series of lights for output. Thus, the history of computers reached a new level.
First laptop or portable computer
The IBM 5100 is the first portable computer that was released in September 1975. The computer weighed 55 pounds (25 kg.) and had a five-inch CRT display, tape drive, 1.9MHz PALM processor, and 64 KB random access memory.
The first truly portable computer or laptop is the Osborne I, which was designed by Adam Osborne and released in April 1981. Osborne weighed 24.5 pounds (11.1 kg), had a 5-inch display, 64 KB of memory, two 5 1/4-inch floppy drives, ran CP/M 2.2, had a modem, and cost $1,795. .
The IBM PC Division (PCD) later released the IBM, the first portable computer that weighed 30 pounds (13.6 kg.). Later in 1986, IBM, PCD announced the first laptop, weighing 12 pounds (5.4 kg). Then, in 1994, IBM introduced the IBM ThinkPad 775CD, the first laptop with an integrated CD-ROM.
The first Apple computer.
The Apple I (Apple 1) was the first Apple Computer and sold for $666.66. The computer was designed by Steve Wozniak in 1976 and was equipped with an 8-bit processor and 4 KB of memory, expandable to 8 or 48 KB expansion cards. Although sold fully assembled by Apple, it still could not function without a power supply, display, keyboard, and case, which were sold separately.
The first personal computer IBM.
IBM introduced its first personal computer, called the IBM PC, codenamed Acorn, in 1981. It was equipped with an 8088 processor, 16 KB of memory, which was expanded to 256 KB, and MS-DOS was used as the operating system.
First PC clone.
The Compaq Portable is the first PC clone and was released in March 1983 by Compaq. The Compaq Portable was 100% IBM compatible and capable of running any software developed for IBM computers.
The first multimedia computer.
In 1992, Tandy Radio Shack became one of the first computer companies based on the MPC standard with its introduction of the M2500 XL/2 and M4020 SX computers.
The computer era has come into our lives relatively recently. Literally 100 years ago, people did not know what a computer was, although its most distant predecessor, an abacus, appeared in ancient Babylon 3000 BC.
The first person to invent the first digital computing machine was Blaise Pascal in 1642. This discovery started it all...
In a geometric progression, humanity was striving for the computer era, creating more and more computers that performed more and more complex functions. And in 1938, the first test mechanical programmable machine Z1 was created, on the basis of which in 1941 the same person creates the first Z3 computer, which has all the properties of a modern computer. The person who created this first mechanical computer was the German engineer Konrad Zuse.
Who invented the first electronic computer?
In 1942, American physicist John Atanasoff and his graduate student Clifford Berry designed and began to assemble the first electronic computer. The work was not completed, but had a great influence on the creator of the first electronic computer ENIAC. The person who invented the ENIAC computer, the first digital electronic computer, was John Mauchly, an American physicist and engineer. John Mauchly summarized the basic principles of building a computer based on the experience of developing machines and in 1946 the real electronic computer ENIAC appeared to the world. The head of the development was John von Neumann, and the principles and structure of computers he outlined later became known as von Neumann.
So the questions about what year the computer was created, where the first computer was created and who created the first computer can be answered in different ways. If we are talking about a mechanical computer, then Konrad Zuse can be considered the creator of the first computer, and Germany can be considered the country in which the first computer was invented. If we consider the first computer to be ENIAC, then, accordingly, John Mauchly created the first computer in the United States.
The first computers were still far from those that we now use - personal computers. The first computers were huge, often occupied large areas, the size of a three-room apartment and weighed up to 28 tons! Personal computers (PCs) appeared much later.
The creation of the first personal computers became possible only in the 1970s. Some people began to assemble computers at home for the sake of research interest, since there were practically no useful applications for computers at home. And in 1975, the first personal computer Altair 8800 appeared, which became the first commercially successful PC. The creator of the first personal computer was the American engineer Henry Edward Roberts, who was also the founder and president of Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems, which launched the first PC. Altair 8800 was the "chief" of the population's computerization boom.
And those scientists, engineers and physicists, all those who invented the computer, who created the first personal computer and who made at least some contribution to Information Technology, have transferred us all to a new, modern and incredibly promising life stage. Thanks to these talented people.
When did the first computers appear? It is not so easy to give an answer to this question, since there is no single correct classification of electronic computers, as well as formulations of what can be attributed to them and what cannot.
First mention
The very word "computer" was first documented in 1613 and meant a person who performs calculations. But in the 19th century, people realized that the machine never gets tired of working, and it can do the job much faster and more accurately.
To start the countdown of the era of computers, most often take 1822. The first computer was invented by English mathematician Charles Babbage. He conceptualized and proceeded to manufacture the Difference Engine, which is considered to be the first automatic computing device. She was able to count multiple sets of numbers and print out the results. But, unfortunately, due to funding problems, Babbage was never able to complete its full-fledged version.
But the mathematician did not give up, and in 1837 he introduced the first mechanical computer, called the analytical engine. It was the very first computer general purpose. At the same time, his collaboration with Ada Lovelace began. She translated and supplemented his works, and also made the first programs for his invention.
The analytical engine consisted of the following parts: an arithmetic logic unit, an integrated memory unit, and a device for controlling the movement of data. Due to financial difficulties, it was also not completed during the lifetime of the scientist. But Babbage's schemes and designs helped other scientists who built the first computers.
Almost 100 years later
Oddly enough, for a whole century, computers have hardly advanced in their development. In 1936-1938, the German scientist Konrad Zuse created the Z1, the first electromechanical programmable binary computer. Then, in 1936, Alan Turing built the Turing machine.
It became the basis for further theories about computers. The machine emulated the actions of a person following a list of logical instructions, and printed the result of the work on a paper tape. The Zuse and Turing machines are the first computers in the modern sense, without which the computers we are used to today would not have appeared.
Everything for the front
The Second World War also influenced the development of computers. In December 1943, Tommy Flowers introduced a secret machine called the Collos, which helped British agents break the ciphers of German messages. It was the first all-electric programmable computer. The general public learned about its existence only in the 70s. Since then, computers have attracted the attention of not only scientists, but also the ministries of defense, which actively supported and financed their development.
As for which digital computer to consider the first, there are disputes. In 1937-1942 University of Iowa professor John Vincent Atanasoff and Cliff Berry (graduate student) developed their ABC computer. And in 1943-1946, J. Presper Eckert and D. Mauchly, scientists at the University of Pennsylvania, built the most powerful ENIAC weighing 50 tons. Thus, Atanasoff and Berry built their machine before, but since it was never fully functional, the title of "very first computer" often goes to ENIAC.
First commercial samples
With huge dimensions and complexity of design, computers were available only to the military departments and large universities, which assembled them on their own. But already in 1942, K. Zuse began work on the fourth version of his brainchild - Z4, and in July 1950 he sold it to the Swedish mathematician Eduard Stiefel.
And the first computers that began to be mass-produced were models with the laconic name 701, produced by IBM on April 7, 1953. A total of 19,701 pieces were sold. Of course, these were still machines intended only for large institutions. In order to become truly massive, they needed a few more important improvements.
So, on March 8, 1955, the Whirlwind, a computer that was originally conceived during the Second World War as a simulator for pilots, was launched on March 8, but by the time of its creation came to the rescue by the beginning of the Cold War. Then it became the basis for the development of SAGE - an air defense subsystem designed for automatic targeting of interceptor aircraft. Key Features"Whirlwind" became the presence of RAM with a capacity of 512 bytes and the display of graphic information on the screen in real time.
Technology to the masses
The TX-O computer, introduced in 1956 at MIT, was the first to use transistors. This greatly reduced the cost and dimensions of the equipment.
Then the team of scientists who developed the TX-O left the institute, founded the Digital Equipment Corporation, and in 1960 introduced the PDP-1 computer, which began the era of minicomputers. Their size was no more than one room or even a closet, and they were intended for a wider range of clients.
Well, the first desktop computers began to be produced by Hewlett Packard in 1968.
Have you ever wondered who invented the machine that lets you read those very words while listening to music, maintaining a social profile, and shooting down terrorists in games, all at the push of a button?
This outstanding man was Charles Babbage (December 26, 1791 - October 18, 1871). He invented the first programmable computer in 1833. Thanks to his priceless invention, Babbage is considered the father of the computer.
Did you know?
Until the 19th century, the term "computer" was applied to people assigned to perform "mathematical calculations"!
The image shows Babbage's creation.
Charles Babbage's father, Benjamin Babbage, was a wealthy businessman. Thus, young Charles went to many prestigious schools until he got to Holmwood Academy in Enfield. It was there that his love for mathematics began.
Later, he went to Peterhouse, Cambridge for further research. At Peterhouse he studied analytic philosophy and went on to study mathematics. Even before graduating from college, he was awarded an honorary degree in mathematics without examination.
In addition to being a talented mathematician, Babbage was also a philosopher and an avid cryptographer.
Babbage noticed that human calculations, especially with respect to logarithms, are often wrong. This led him to the idea of a machine capable of doing calculations, in fact, without the right to error. Ada Lovelace, who helped Babbage program his machine, is considered the world's first computer programmer.
Interestingly, the history of programming itself does not begin with Babbage's Analytical Engine. The first programmable device in the world was actually a loom! Invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard, the Jacquard Loom was the first programmable machine in history. The programming, of the Jacquard loom and Babbage's computer, was done by means of punched cards. Babbage invented the mechanical predecessor of the printer as an output device for his machine.
The next leap forward in computer history was made simultaneously by Konrad Zuse and John Atanasoff, but with different designs. Atanasoff built the world's first digital computer using vacuum tubes. The Atanasoff-Berry computer laid the foundation for becoming one of the most useful and widespread devices in the world. However, this computer was not programmable. On the other hand, Konrad Zuse built a programmable computer, known as the Z3, which was electromechanical, i.e. analog.
Despite the respective disadvantages of both designs, Atanasoff and Zuse are both considered among the most important names in computer technology. George Stiebitz is also credited as one of the inventors of the digital computer.
Numerous input, output and peripherals connected to modern computers were not part of these early designs. They were invented by the following scientists:
- Monitor (CRT): Allen Dumont (1931)
- Mouse: Douglas Engelbart (1963)
- QWERTY keyboard: Christopher Scholes (1867 - on typewriters)
- Scanner: Giovanni Caselli / Edouard Belen (1858 / 1913)
In 1991, a fully functioning model of Charles Babbage's machine was built, showing the true brilliance of the predictive inventor. The model also encourages research into the possible applications of mechanical computing, which can be very useful in situations where digital computers cannot withstand physical conditions. In 2011, British scientists initiated a project to build Babbage's Analytical Engine to the most original designs, to be completed by 2021. It would indeed be a fitting tribute to the man who set the world on a constant path of unimaginable technological advancement.
Give an unambiguous answer to the question "Who invented the computer?" actually not so easy. As is the case with many other inventions, many people who worked in different countries contributed to the emergence of the computer, and the question of what kind of device, in fact, is worthy of being called the first computer, you can give different answers. So, in this post - about the inventors of the computer.
What is a computer? On the one hand, a computer is considered a kind of computer technology, but its important feature should be the ability not only to perform calculations, albeit complex ones, but to execute some arbitrarily given program. That is, devices designed to solve only certain tasks do not fit the definition of a computer, a computer is universal device for calculations that can be programmed.
The history of computers begins in the 19th century. In 1808, the French weaver Joseph Marie Jacquard (or Jacquard) invents a loom that can not only produce fabric, but make fabric with arbitrary patterns. In fact, it was a programmable machine. The pattern was set using plates with holes drilled in a certain order - punched cards.
Punched cards for the Jacquard machine
In 1832, the Russian inventor Semyon Nikolaevich Korsakov published a project of special machines for processing information using punched cards. In fact, they were database machines. However, the invention did not receive official support, the commission that considered the project expressed the opinion that "Mr. Korsakov spent too much reason on teaching others to do without reason."
Who came up with the project of the first programmable computing device, that is, a computer? This man was an Englishman Charles Babbage. Babbage was an extremely versatile man, but is best known for his computer projects. In 1822, he built a machine for calculating logarithmic tables, this machine later became known as the small difference machine. Then Babbage decided to build a full-scale version of the difference engine, received a subsidy from the government, but did not meet the deadlines or the amount of funding. Instead of the initial three years and £1,500, Babbage spent 11 years and £17,000 without completing the car. Only in 1991, on the occasion of Babbage's bicentennial, was a working version of this difference engine built in London.
Babbage's Difference Engine
The difference engine is a rather complex, but still highly specialized computing device. You can't call it a computer. However, in the process of working on the difference engine, Babbage developed a project for an even more complex and versatile analytical engine, which was, in fact, a mechanical computer. This machine had a block for storing numbers, and it itself could perform calculations according to a program written on punched cards. Alas, the machine was too complex and even today enthusiasts have not dared to reproduce it.
In the 19th and early 20th century, the development of computing technology continued, but it was still intended for highly specialized calculations. In 1936, the English mathematician Alan Turing described an abstract machine suitable for arbitrary computation. The described machine is called the Turing machine. In fact, Turing defined the criteria by which one could determine whether a computing machine was universal.
Alan Turing
By the end of the 1930s, there were two possibilities for building computers. More common were electromechanical machines, combining electrical and mechanical elements. They counted very slowly - one operation could take several seconds. But at that time, another concept appeared - to use vacuum tubes as elements. Vacuum tube machines—electronic ones—could count much faster, but the tubes were expensive and not very reliable, and often burned out.
The first computers appeared between the late thirties and late forties. The only question is, what kind of device is considered the first real computer? Consider candidates.
1) Cars by Konrad Zuse
Konrad Zuse was a German engineer who, on his own initiative, took up the development of computers. In 1938, with his own money, he developed and built the first electromechanical machine, called Z1, implemented the possibility of programming in it, but it worked unreliably. In 1939, the Second World War began and Zuse was called to the front, from where he managed to return and create a second version of his car - Z2, and in early 1941 - Z3. These machines were probably the first really working electromechanical computers. In 1941, Zuse was again called to the front. No matter how he proved to the leadership of the Wehrmacht the importance of his computers, they did not want to listen to him. Only after the intervention of the Henschel company, which produced aircraft, where Zuse had previously worked as an engineer, was he still allowed to return to work on his computers. It was assumed that they would be used to calculate the aerodynamic parameters of aircraft. The leadership of the Wehrmacht, however, was not enthusiastic about the developments and, not seeing any particular value in them, financed them very reluctantly. The next model - Z4 Zuse finished only after the war. In 1950 he sold this model to Switzerland.
Z3 (restored copy) in a German museum
Z3 could read the program from punched tape and perform calculations in accordance with it. However, this machine was electromechanical, so it worked very slowly and could not explicitly execute conditional jump instructions, which are considered an important component. computer program. Can the Z3 be considered the world's first computer, and Konrad Zuse its inventor? Some think yes, some no.
2) Atanasoff-Berry computer
In 1942 an American mathematician of Bulgarian origin John Atanasoff and engineer Clifford Berry, who helped him, built the first 100% electronic computer without mechanical parts. This machine was not universal and was intended mainly for solving linear equations, however, it was in 1973 that the US Federal District Court recognized it as the “first computer”. Perhaps something more would have come out of this car if Atanasov had not been drafted into the American army.
Atanasoff-Berry computer
3) British "Bombs" and "Colossi"
During World War II, the British were faced with the task of deciphering German messages. It was impossible to break the German ciphers by hand. Then the British resorted to the help of computers.
In 1940 in Great Britain under the project Alan Turing The first electromechanical computer was built to decipher the German Enigma code. She got the name "Bomb". One such machine weighed 2.5 tons, and in order to decipher as many messages as possible, by 1944 the British had built 210 such machines.
"Bomb"
But to transmit important messages, the Germans used a different, even more complex Lorenz code. To decipher it, a powerful electronic computer called "Colossus" was designed and built (in the amount of 10 pieces). It was programmable and quite powerful for its time, but still not a universal, but a highly specialized machine. The Colossi was designed and built by an English engineer Tommy Flowers.
4) ENIAC
Let's move to the USA. In 1943, scientists from the University of Pennsylvania John Mauchly and John Eckert conceived to build a powerful electronic computer. It was supposed to be used mainly for calculating artillery tables - a tedious and painstaking job that was entrusted to the university by the American army. Previously, tables were calculated by people with adding machines, and this took them a lot of time. The device was named ENIAC. ENIAC), short for "Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator", and he could calculate 2400 times faster than a man with an adding machine.
ENIAC
ENIAC was built by the autumn of 1945. It contained more than 10,000 electron tubes, weighed about 27 tons, and consumed 150 kW of electricity. By this time, the urgent need for calculations of artillery tables had disappeared, and the computer began to be used for other purposes, for example, for calculating the explosion of a hydrogen bomb, the aerodynamics of supersonic aircraft, and weather forecasting.
ENIAC without special reservations can be considered a real computer. It was an all-electronic mainframe that showed the full potential of computers. In addition, ENIAC became the first widely known computer, information about the Zuse and Atanasoff machines surfaced later, and British decryption computers were classified (and almost all destroyed) by order of Churchill. So the title of the world's first computer ENIAC probably deserved.
Still, working with ENIAC was still not very convenient. Computer programming was carried out by changing the position of cables and switches, and preparation for calculations often took much more time than the calculations themselves. Even before the end of the work, the American mathematician John von Neumann proposed to use an architecture for future computers that assumed the storage of commands and data in memory. This architecture became the basis for the development of subsequent computers.
Let's sum up and answer, finally, who invented the computer. In one way or another, the following were involved in the invention and creation of the first computers:
- Charles Babbage - the author of the first project of a (mechanical) computer;
- Alan Turing - described the scheme of the universal computer, the designer of the British decryption electromechanical computer "Bomb";
- Konrad Zuse - creator of the first electromechanical programmable computer;
- John Atanasoff - creator of the first electronic non-programmable computer;
- Tommy Flowers - designer of the British decryption electronic computer "Colossus";
- John Mauchly and John Eckert - designers of the first universal electronic computer ENIAC;
- John von Neumann - one of the participants in the development of the first American computers, proposed the architecture that underlies the design of all modern computers.