English Chapter 5

FROM THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION TO THE FIRST MODERN COMPUTER

After the Industrial Revolution, most advances in the development of the computer took place in the United States. The first significant develop¬ments in the history of computers in the U.S. were made by a man named Herman Hollerith. Dr. Hollerith worked for the U.S. Bureau of the Census, the agency that keeps information on the population. Because the 1880 census count was not truly complete until 1889, it was clear that census reports could not be up-to-date. First, in the late 1880s, Dr. Hollerith devel¬oped a card that had coded data in punched holes. Then he invented machines which could read these data and process them. For example, one machine sorted, or separated the cards; another machine tabulated, or counted, numbers; and still another merged, or joined, two sets of punched cards. As a result of these inventions, the 1890 census took only two and a half years to tabulate. A few years afterward, Hollerith started the Tabulating Machine Company in order to manufacture his devices. Subsequently, this company became part of the world-famous company called IBM (International Business Machines).
During the years succeeding Hollerith's inventions, both the punched card and the machines used with it were improved. The improved machines were called EAM (Electrical Accounting Machines) devices. The punched cards and the machines based on Hollerith's inventions are not used very frequently today.
Later, certain problems with the punched card and the accounting machines developed. First, because the machines were mechanical (oper¬ating with gears and levers), their speed was limited. Second, since each machine performed a different job, extra time was needed to change the cards from one machine to another. Last, and above all, the possibility for mistakes was high because of the need to keep transferring the cards.
During the Second World War the modern age of computers began with the development of the first electronic computers. Several develop¬ments took place during this period of time which changed the history of computation.
I. 1938-1942. Professor John V. Atanasoff of Iowa State College and his assistant, Clifford Berry, designed and built the Atanasoff-Berry com¬puter, the ABC. It was the first electronic digital computer and provided the basis for the development of the ENIAC.
1939-1944. Professor Howard Aiken of Harvard University„ together with some engineers from IBM, built an enormous calculating machine. This joint effort produced the MARK 1, an electromechanical device that was controlled by punched cards. MARK 1 was used in mil¬itary ballistics (the study of the motion of bullets, missiles, bombs, etc.).
1943-1946. Dr. John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert, with funding from the U.S. Army, constructed the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer). This was the first major electronic digital computer. The ENIAC was an enormous machine which weighed about 30 tons (1 ton = 2,000 pounds) and took up an area of 1,500 square feet (see illustration 5-4). The ENIAC is particularly important in the history of computers because it provided the basis of modern computer technology.
The developments which took place during World War II led to the 12 important advances made in the period after the war. This period can be referred to as the modern age of computers. We will study the develop¬ments which have taken place during this time in the following chapter.