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Information Processing: Historical Perspectives

THE FIRST CALCULATING
MACHINES
To increase the speed and accuracy of computing, John
Napier, who was a mathematician, invented logarithms,
which greatly assisted arithmetic calculations. He also
invented “Napier’s bones” in the early 1600s. This tool
was a table made from wood or bones that included mul-
tiplication inscriptions. In 1642 Frenchman Blaise Pascal
(1623–1662) invented the first adding machine, called
the Arithmetic Machine. Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716)
expanded on Pascal’s ideas and in 1671 developed the
“step reckoner,” which could perform addition, subtrac-
tion, multiplication, and division, as well as evaluate
square roots.
In 1834 Charles Babbage (1791–1871) designed the
forerunner of the computer, the mechanical Analytical
Engine. It was designed to perform complicated calcula-
tions such as multiplication, division, addition, and sub-
traction. The Analytical Engine failed to be produced
because of its mechanical nature. The mechanical parts
were extremely slow and were subject to routine break-
downs. Although this machine was never actually pro-
duced, it influenced the design of modern computers. It
included the four components of modern computing:
input, storage, processing, and output. The machine
allowed data input and it included a storage location to Herman Hollerith (1860–1929). Hollerith, inventor of the
hold data for processing. It also had a processor to calcu- punch card system, also developed tabulating machines for the
late numbers and to direct tasks to be performed, as well United States Bureau of the Census. © BETTMANN/CORBIS
as an output device to print out information.
In 1884 Herman Hollerith (1860–1929) used elec-
functions. Improving on this design, John Mauchly
tric components to devise a computer that the U.S. gov-
(1907–1980) and John Presper Eckert, Jr. (1919–1995) of
ernment used to help tabulate data for the 1890 U.S.
census. This machine received hand-fed punched cards the University of Pennsylvania designed the first large-
and allowed metal pins to pass through the holes into cups scale electronic digital computer used for general purposes
filled with mercury, completing an electric circuit. Hol- in 1945. Built by IBM, the electronic numerical integra-
lerith later improved the design and started the Tabulating tor and computer, or ENIAC, weighed 30 tons and
Machine Company in 1896. Later the company became spanned 1,500 square feet. This huge machine used
International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation. 18,000 vacuum tubes for storage and arithmetic calcula-
tions.
THE FIRST MODERN-DAY Eckert and Mauchly started their own company,
COMPUTERS which was later known as Remington Rand Corporation,
and designed the Universal Automatic Computer (UNI-
Howard Aiken (1900–1973), a Harvard professor, is cred-
VAC) in 1951. The UNIVAC became the first commer-
ited with building the first digital computer, called the
Mark I. This machine was similar to Babbage’s Analytical cial computer made available to business and industry.
Engine and was constructed out of switches and relays This machine used magnetic tape to store input and out-
(metal bars surrounded by coils of wire). This 5-ton put instead of the punched cards used in previous
machine took five years to build, which rendered it obso- machines. IBM capitalized on the concept of commercial
lete before it was even completed. applications and developed the IBM 701 and the IBM
At Iowa State University, John V. Atanasoff 752 computer systems. Because of their smaller size rela-
(1903–1995) and his graduate assistant, Clifford Berry tive to the UNIVAC I, the IBM models cornered over 70
(1918–1963), designed the first electronic digital special- percent of the industrial computer market.
purpose computer in the 1930s. The Atanasoff-Berry Transistors replaced vacuum tubes and sparked the
Computer used vacuum tubes for storage and arithmetic evolution of second-generation computers. Transistors,

382 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BUSINESS AND FINANCE, SECOND EDITION