Who Fired Up The First Computer?
It may very well be possible that the person who invented the computer was a Cro-Magnon man living in what is now Czechoslovakia 20,000 years ago. The only evidence we have to support this is a wolf bone that was unearthed recently. It had 35 scratches in it and they were grouped in fives. Someone was using an artificial method to make a mathematical computation. It is true that things went very slowly at first, and began picking up the pace about four or five hundred years ago. Then there was a real burst of progress in the last half century. Despite this, that caveman got the ball rolling.
No one really claims to have invented the computer. There were several rudimentary attempts at mechanical calculators. Leonardo da Vinci in 1500 and Wilhelm Schickard in 1625 produced mechanical calculators. Some people call Blaise Pascal's mathematic machine made in 1640 as being the first computer. Charles Babbage could make a claim with his Difference Engine in 1822, and later his Analytical Machine. During the years that these were being invented, other inventions were taking place one at a time that would eventually lead to the modern computer.
Around the time of World War II, the first modern digital computers were developed. The Harvard Mark I invented by Howard Aiken in the United States, and the Z1, Z3, and Z4 models invented by Konrad Zuse in Germany were two of the first. The separation caused by the war prevented the sharing of notes on these two pioneer computers. It was not until after the war that each became aware of the work of the other.
Electricity was one of those enabling inventions that would pave the way for the truly modern computer. The Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) was the first electronic computer. It was over 10 feet tall and weighed in at around 30 tons. It needed around 150 kilowatts of power to operate. This would be enough power to provide the electrical needs of a small town.
In the movie, "Apollo 13" dealing with the American Moon landing program, a character predicts that one day there will be computers that will fit in a single room. This bit of prophesy would certainly come true. The last two decades have brought a technological explosion. It has made it possible to put a personal computer on a desktop in millions of homes. They are all hooked together by a vast world wide system known as the Internet. We are still on the threshold of that technological revolution, and new and wondrous things appear every day. Still, no one man can take credit for it. It was human kind that invented the computer.
Related Tags: computer, electronics, calculator, mechanical, calculate, computing
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