"Who controls the past commands the future. Who commands the future conquers the past." -George Orwell Video to Accompany Slide Show: “Thinking Machines, The Creation of the Computer – The History Channel

Computer--An electronic device that accepts information, processes it according to specific instructions, and provides results as new information.

JOHN NAPIER 1614 Developer of the logarithm, Napier invented a system of moveable rods called NAPIER”S RODS. These rods could be used to multiply, divide, and do square and cube roots.

 Blaise Pascal is credited with the invention of the first operational calculating machine in It could only add and subtract. Pascal invented his machine to aid in collection of taxes for French government

Joseph Marie Jacquard 1810 Jacquard invented the punch card to use with his weaving loom

Charles Babbage 1820’s Known to some as the "Father of Computing" for his contributions to the basic design of the computer through his Analytical machine. Babbage utilized Jacquard’s punch card to store information.

Babbage’s Analytical Engine  Babbage’s design was to serve as a model for the early modern computer. Babbage’s machines were considered too complex to be built. Technology available at the time was unable to construct precision parts needed.

 Countess Ada Augusta Bryon, the daughter of Lord Byron. A mathematician in her own right, she worked closely with Babbage, planned his computational problems, and has been called the world's first programmer.

The Tabulating Machine  In 1880’s Herman Hollerith was hired to develop a faster way to compile the U. S. Census. The 1880 census had taken 7 years to complete. Hollerith used punch cards to store and sort information and used electricity rather than mechanical gears. As a result the 1890 census took only 6 weeks to finish.

Hollerith’s Punch Card Machine Herman Hollerith’s company later became IBM

Mark I 1930’s Programmable Calculator This calculator was not really a computer because it could not make decisions about the data it processed.

ABC Computer Atanasoff Berry “Computer”  Developed first working digital computer. Did not make decisions so not a true computer  Developers-John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry

First generation of computers  Development accelerated during WWII. Military needed computers for targeting artillery  Based on vacuum tubes, punch cards and wire circuits  These computers very large, difficult to use, and frequently broke down

Vacuum tube These devises generated large amounts of heat and burned out often making the computer unreliable.

ENIAC The First Electronic Computer developed by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert could do 100,000 calculations per second. The ENIAC was as large as 3 bedroom house and used over 17,000 vacuum tubes.

The ENIAC had 2 weakness--difficult to change its instructions and unreliable.

Grace Hopper  In 1946, she traced an error in the Mark II to a moth trapped in a relay, coining the term bug.  Sponsored development of COBOL (common- business-oriented- language). First language to use words rather than numbers to communicate with computer.

First computer bug

John von Neumann  Developed the idea of storing computer instructions in a central processing unit or CPU.  His basic design has not changed since the mid 1940’s

Based on von Neumann’s concepts, all computers process data by carrying out four specific activities:  1. Input data  2. Store data while being processed.  3. Process data according to specific instructions.  4. Output the results in the form of new data.

UNIVAC 1951 The first commercial use of the computer. GE purchased 2nd Univac to use for payroll and record keeping. The first Univac was sold to the US government to use in the census.

In 1952 the Univac was used to predict the results of the presidential election less than an hour after the polls closed. However, the prediction was considered too unreliable to broadcast.

1958 First Computer Game PONG invented at Brookhaven Laboratories. Use to demonstrate what a computer could do at a science show. Not sold to public until early 1970’s.

Second Generation The transistor replaced the vacuum tube and resulted in smaller, faster, more reliable machines. Computer languages Fortran and Cobol developed allowing the use of English like commands.

IBM Punch Card 1950’s-1960’s

Third Generation The integrated circuit replaces the transistor. Once more computers become smaller, faster, cheaper. Computing becomes available to smaller companies.

Mini Computer Late 1960’s  The PDP-8 was the first commercially successful minicomputer. It was built by DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) in Maynard, Mass., and sold for $18,000, a bargain compared to the IBM 360, the preeminent business computer of the day. The PDP-8 could operate at room temperature, avoiding the need for a special cold-room. Term minicomputer inspired by mini skirt)

December 9, 1968 Inventor Douglas Engelbart unveiled the computer mouse Didn’t become popular until 1984 when attached to the Apple Macintosh

ARPANET ARA the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) - which was created in 1958 as the US response to Sputnik - became interested in networks. Scientists would be able to share a smaller number of computers if these computers were connected together by means of a data network. The Internet evolves from this idea.

Fourth Generation present The microprocessor characterizes this generation. The personal computer evolves and computing available to public.

Altair The first home computer Cost $397 Only 256 bytes of memory

. In 1975 Gates drops out of Harvard and founds Microsoft with Paul Allen. Paul Allen and Bill Gates write first computer language ( a form of BASIC) for personal computer. Source Microsoft

1976 Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs found Apple Computer Source Apple Computer

November 20, 1985 Microsoft begins the retail shipment of Microsoft Windows.

Cray Super Computer

Fifth Generation?? Some people think the fifth generation of computers will have artificial intelligence like the computer HAL from 2001 Space Odyssey

Pictures and Information (except where noted) provided from Virtual Computer Museum web site