Computer History

I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them. as Isaac Asimov said, this wonderful machine is
necessary nowadays, both in the work life as well as the personal life. Since the first computer has been
invented, our life has been improved thus everything became much easier. The answer to the question
Who invented the computer is not simple, because many inventors contributed to the history of
computers.
Even though the word computer was used for the first time in 1613, referring to a person who carried
out calculations, or computations, one can say that using calculation devices has a long tradition in
humanity that begins in 2500BC when the Sumerian abacus was created. Another successful device is
Antikythera mechanism, an ancient astronomical computer built by the Greeks around 80 BC, which
some people called the first analog computer.
The technology is evolving and brings us in 1642 the mechanical calculator created by Pascal. However,
founders of modern information processing industry were other three inventors created by others three
people. The first was Charles Babbage who in 1837 has conceptualized and design a fully
programmable mechanical computer, his analytical engine but failed to build it. 153 years after it was
designed, in London in 2002 was created the first Babbage Engine. The second was, his son, Henry
Babbage who completed a simplified version of the analytical engine's computing unit and gave a
successful demonstration of its use in computing tables in 1906. The last was Herman Hollerith who
invented special equipment - a tabulator and sorter- to process punched cards, a piece of stiff paper
that contains digital information.
Continuing technological evolution, John Vincent Atanasoff, one of the fathers of the computer, was
created the AtanasoffBerry Computer (ABC) , with the help of one of his students Clifford E. Berry, in
1940.Tthat was the world's first electronic digital computer, albeit not programmable. Afterwards
appears the Colossus built in 1943 by Tommy Flowers, which was the first programmable electronic
computer, ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) built in 1943-1945, ERA 1101 becomes
the first commercial computer, followed by IBM 350 which is the first commercially available Hard Disk
Driver, and the list goes on until today. In 1976 we need to mention about Apple I created by Steve
Wozniak later sold to Steve Jobs. Further, in 1979 , the Atari 400 and 800 are the first computers that
have gaming options, P5 Pentium appearance, Intel launched in 1993, in 1995 Sony created PlayStation.
More recently in 2005 Intel and AMD developed their first dual-core 64-bit, whilst Microsoft created the
first Xbox 360, in 2007 Apple launched the first iPhone and in 2010 the same company created the first
iPad.

Yet, the technology does not stop here. Today we have computers, ipad, iPhone, PlayStation,
Smartphones, tablets and other things which are in a continue development, but do not forget that this
technology actually started in 2500Bc.

Reference:

Best Inventions of 2007 (2007) Time [Online].
Available:
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1677329_1678542_1677891,00.html
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PlayStation: 1995 () BBC [Online].
Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/electricdreams/1990s/90sconsole
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Atari 400 () [Online].
Available: http://oldcomputers.net/atari400.html
Accessed: 1 Dec 2012
History of Computing Part 3: 1972 to 1986. () highfields amateur radio club [Online].
Available: http://highfields-arc.co.uk/geninfo/comphist7286.htm
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History of Computing Part 2: 1943to 1971. () highfields amateur radio club [Online].
Available: http://highfields-arc.co.uk/geninfo/comphist4371.htm
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History of Computing Part 1: Up to 1942. () highfields amateur radio club [Online].
Available: http://highfields-arc.co.uk/geninfo/comphistto1942.htm
Accessed: 1 Dec 2012
Introducing the Era 1100 () Pag.2 [Online].
Available: http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/ERA/ERA.1101.1951.102646300.pdf
Accessed: 1 Dec 2012
Programming the ENIAC() [Online].
Available: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/eniac.html
Accessed: 1 Dec 2012
Biography John Vincent Atanasoff () [Online].
Available: http://www.columbia.edu/~td2177/JVAtanasoff/JVAtanasoff.html
Accessed: 1 Dec 2012
Herman Hollerith() [Online].
Available: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/hollerith.html
Accessed: 1 Dec 2012
The Babbage Engine () Computer History Museum [Online].
Available: http://www.computerhistory.org/babbage/?gclid=CLPHv8vg-7MCFSbMtAodAXMAKg
Accessed: 1 Dec 2012

Mechanical Arithmetic () pag.10 [Online].
Available: http://archive.org/stream/mechanicalarithm00feltrich#page/10/mode/2up
Accessed: 1 Dec 2012

Discovering How Greeks Computed in 100 B.C. (2008) The New York Times [Online].
Available: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/science/31computer.html?hp&_r=0
Accessed: 1 Dec 2012

The Technical Revolution (2011) Everything around it [Online].
Available: http://everythingaroundit.wordpress.com/2011/06/02/the-technical-revolution-from-the-
sumerian-abacus-to-the-world-changing-computer/
Accessed: 1 Dec 2012