III. THE ELECTROMECHANICAL
AGE: 1840 - 1940The discovery of ways to harness
electricity was the key advance made during this period. Knowledge and
information could now be converted to electrical impulses.
TECHNICAL TERMS
ELECTROMECHANICAL
A machine that operates with electrical and mechanical energy.
BOOLEAN ALGEBRA
A form of algebra that is applied to the design of digital computers.
TELECOMMUNICATION
Art or science of communicating at a distance, esp. by means of electrical impulses.
•FOR THE FIRST TIME ELECTRICITY WAS USED IN THE OPERATION OF COMPUTERS, BUT COMPUTERS STILL HAD MANY MECHANICAL COMPONENTS.
• PROGRAMMING A COMPUTER DID NOT INVOLVE SOFTWARE. RATHER, THE PROGRAMMER ACTUALLY REWIRED THE PATHS OF ELECTRICITY THROUGH THE MACHINE IN ORDER TO CHANGE ITS MODE OF OPERATION.
1. The Beginning ofTelecommunication
YEAR INVENTOR INVENTIONS / CONTRIBUTIONS1800
ALESSANDRO VOLTA
VOLTAIC PILEThe first electric battery consists of a stack of alternating discs of zinc and copper or silver separated by felt
soaked in brine.They provided, for the first time, a simple source of stored electrical energy that didn’t rely on mechanical means.
A. VOLTAIC BATTERY
YEAR INVENTOR INVENTIONS / CONTRIBUTIONS1832-1835
SAMUEL MORSE
ELECTROMAGNETIC TELEGRAPH
Morse conceived of his version of electromagnetic telegraph
in 1832 and constructed experimental version in 1835. he did not construct a truly practical system until 1844, when he built a line from Baltimore to Washington.
B. TELEGRAPH
YEAR INVENTOR INVENTIONS / CONTRIBUTIONS1876
ALEXANDER GRAHAM
BELL
TELEPHONEBell developed the first working telephone and transmitted his
now famous quotation: “Watson, come here, I want to see you.”
C. TELEPHONE AND RADIO
1894
GUGLIELMOMARCHESE MARCONI
He discovered that electric waves travel through space and can produce an effect far from the point at which they originated.
YEAR INVENTOR INVENTIONS / CONTRIBUTIONS
YEAR INVENTOR INVENTIONS / CONTRIBUTIONS1852
GEORGE BOOLE
BOOLEAN ALGEBRAA binary algebra that
became important in the 20th century when binary computers were developed.
2. Electromechanical Computing
YEAR INVENTOR INVENTIONS / CONTRIBUTIONS1853
PEHR GEORG
SCHEUTZ
TABULATING MACHINEIt is capable of processing
fifteen-digit numbers, printing out results, and rounding off to eight digits.
1885
1889DORR
EUGENE FELT
COMPTOMETERA key-driven adding and
subtracting calculator.
COMPTOGRAPHContaining
built-in printer.
YEAR INVENTOR INVENTIONS / CONTRIBUTIONS
YEAR INVENTOR INVENTIONS / CONTRIBUTIONS1890
HERMAN HOLLERITH“Father of
Information Processing”
PUNCHED CARD
Hollerith is the first person to successfully
use punched cards – specifically for census taking.
1893OTTO
SHWEIGER- Swiss
engineer
MILLIONAIRE
The first efficient four-function calculator.
YEAR INVENTOR INVENTIONS / CONTRIBUTIONS
YEAR INVENTOR INVENTIONS / CONTRIBUTIONS1906
LEE DE FOREST
VACUUM TUBEIt is important because it
provided anelectrically controlled switch; a necessity for digital electronic computers.
IV. THE ELECTRONIC AGE:
1941 - Present
THIS ERA DEVELOPMENT IS OFTEN REFERRED TO IN REFERENCE TO THE DIFFERENT GENERATIONS OF COMPUTING DEVICES. EACH GENERATION OF COMPUTER IS CHARACTERIZED BY A MAJOR TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT THAT FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGED THE WAY COMPUTERS OPERATE, RESULTING IN INCREASINGLY SMALLER, CHEAPER, MORE POWERFUL AND MORE EFFICIENTAND RELIABLE DEVICES.
YEAR INVENTOR INVENTIONS / CONTRIBUTIONS1941
KONRAD ZUSE
Z3The first programmable
computer because it is capable of following
instructions. It is the first computer designed to
solve complex engineering equations, rather than basic arithmetic problems.
1942
HOWARD AIKEN
MARK 1The first stored program
computer. 8 feet tall, 51 feet long, 2 feet thick, weighed 5 tons, used about 750,000 parts, 500 miles of wires, 3-5 seconds per calculation.
YEAR INVENTOR INVENTIONS / CONTRIBUTIONS
YEAR INVENTOR INVENTIONS / CONTRIBUTIONS1942
JOHN ATANASOFF
CLIFFORD BERRY
ABC (ATANASOFF-BERRY COMPUTER)
The first electronic computer, it is the first computer to use electricity in the form of vacuum tubes to help make electric computation possible.
The ABC was used for solving complex systems of equations.