A Brief History of A Brief History of ComputersComputers

By

Bernard John Poole, MSISAssociate Professor of Education and Instructional Technology

University of Pittsburgh at JohnstownJohnstown, PA 15904

Pre-Mechanical Computing:

From Counting on fingersFrom Counting on fingersto pebblesto pebbles

to hash marks on wallsto hash marks on wallsto hash marks on boneto hash marks on boneto hash marks in sandto hash marks in sand

Interesting thought:Do any species, other than homo sapiens, count?

Mechanical computers

FromFromThe AbacusThe Abacusc. 4000 BCEc. 4000 BCE

to to Charles BabbageCharles Babbage

and his Difference Engine (1812)and his Difference Engine (1812)

Mechanical computers:The Abacus (c. 3000 BCE)

Napier’s Bones andNapier’s Bones andLogarithms (1617)Logarithms (1617)

Picture courtesy IBM

Oughtred’s (1621) and Oughtred’s (1621) and Schickard‘s (1623]Schickard‘s (1623]

slide ruleslide rule

Blaise Blaise Pascal’sPascal’s

Pascaline Pascaline (1645)(1645)

Gottfried Wilhelm von Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibnitz’sLeibnitz’s

Stepped Reckoner (1674)Stepped Reckoner (1674)

Joseph-Marie Jacquard and his Joseph-Marie Jacquard and his punched card controlled looms punched card controlled looms

(1804)(1804)

Preparing the cards with the Preparing the cards with the pattern for the cloth to be pattern for the cloth to be

wovenwoven

Charles Babbage (1791-Charles Babbage (1791-1871)1871)

The Father of ComputersThe Father of Computers

Charles Babbage’s Difference Charles Babbage’s Difference EngineEngine

Charles Babbage’s Analytical Charles Babbage’s Analytical EngineEngine

Lady Augusta AdaCountess of Lovelace

Read Lady Augusta Ada’s translation of Menabrea’sSketch of the Analytical Engine

Electro-mechanical computers

FromFromHerman Hollerith’sHerman Hollerith’s

18901890Census Counting MachineCensus Counting Machine

to to Howard AikenHoward Aiken

and the Harvard Mark I (1944)and the Harvard Mark I (1944)

Herman Hollerith and hisHerman Hollerith and hisCensus Tabulating Machine Census Tabulating Machine

(1884)(1884)

A closer look at the Census A closer look at the Census Tabulating MachineTabulating Machine

The Harvard Mark I (1944)The Harvard Mark I (1944)aka IBM’s Automatic aka IBM’s Automatic Sequence Controlled Sequence Controlled

Calculator (ASCC)Calculator (ASCC)

The first computer bugThe first computer bugRear Admiral Dr. Grace Murray Hopper

Electronic digital computers

FromFromJohn Vincent Atanasoff’sJohn Vincent Atanasoff’s

19391939Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC)Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC)

to to the present daythe present day

Alan Turing1912-1954The Turing Machine

AkaThe Universal Machine

1936

John Vincent Atanasoff (1903-1995)

Physics ProfAt

Iowa StateUniversity,Ames, IA

Clifford Berry (1918-1963)PhD student

ofDr. Atanasoff’s

19391939The Atanasoff-Berry Computer The Atanasoff-Berry Computer

(ABC)(ABC)

The ABC was the first electronic digital computer, invented by John Vincent Atanasoff

19431943 Bletchley Park’s Colossus Bletchley Park’s Colossus

The EnigmaMachine

19461946The ENIACThe ENIAC

John Presper Eckert(1919-1995)andJohn Mauchly(1907-1980)of theUniversity of Pennsylvania Moore School of Engineering

The ENIAC:The ENIAC:Electronic Numerical Electronic Numerical

Integrator and ComputerIntegrator and Computer

Programming the ENIACProgramming the ENIAC

ENIAC’s ENIAC’s Wiring!Wiring!

John Von Neumann came up with the bright idea of using part of the computer’s internal memory (called Primary Memory) to “store” the program inside the computer

and have the computer go get the instructions from its own memory, just as

we do with our human brain.

John Von John Von NeumannNeumann

19511951UnivaUniva

ccTypical 1968 prices—EX-cluding maintenance & support!

“What hath God wrought!”(first telegraph message sent by Samuel Morse, 1844, 1844)

Electronic and computing technology quickly progressed—at an ever-accelerating pace—

from vacuum tubes (Lee de Forrest, the audion, 1907, the audion, 1907)to transistors (William Shockley et al. 1947). 1947)

to semiconductors (Jack Kilby & & Robert Noyce, 1958, 1958)to microprocessors (M.E. “Ted” Hoff, 1971, 1971)

to networking and the Internet (Vinton Cerf & & Robert Kahn, 1982, 1982]to the World Wide Web (Tim Berners-Lee, 1991, 1991)

and beyond…

Whatever next?…

Acknowledgements (continued on next slide)For one of the best written books on the history of computers, check out Engines of the Mind : The Evolution of the Computer from Mainframes to Microprocessors -- by Joel N. Shurkin (Paperback)

A movingly beautiful book on Alan Turing is Alan Turing: the Enigma, by Andrew Hodges

An excellent, readable book on Cryptography is Simon Singh’s THE CODE BOOK. The Secret History of Codes and Code-Breaking

Tutorials on the encryption software PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) can be found at http://www.pitt.edu/~poole/PGPintro.htm

All pictures and some of the information were obtained from various sites on the World Wide Web. Complete list follows:

Abacus: http://qi-journal.com/action.lasso?-Token.SearchID=Abacus&-Response=culture.aspNapier: http://www-groups.dcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Napier.html

http://www.maxmon.com/1600ad.htmSlide Rules: http://www.hpmuseum.org/sliderul.htmPascal’s Pascaline: http://www.thocp.net/hardware/pascaline.htmLeibnitz Stepped Reckoner: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepped_ReckonerJacquard looms: http://history.acusd.edu/gen/recording/jacquard1.html

http://www.deutsches-museum.de/ausstell/meister/e_web.htm

Acknowledgements (continued)Charles Babbage: http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/Babbage.html

http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/on-line/babbage/index.aspLady Augusta Ada, Countess of Lovelace: http://www.well.com/user/adatoole/bio.htm

http://www.fourmilab.ch/babbage/sketch.htmlElectricity: http://www.mediaeng.com/historyelect.html (beautifully written pocket history of

electricity & magnetism)Herman Hollerith: http://www-groups.dcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Hollerith.htmlHoward Aiken & The Harvard Mark I: http://www-groups.dcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Aiken.htmlAlan Turing: http://www-groups.dcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Turing.htmlJohn Vincent Atanasoff: http://www.cs.iastate.edu/jva/books/mollenhoff/overview.shtmlBiographies of Atanasoff and Clifford Berry: http://www.scl.ameslab.gov/ABC/Biographies.htmlJ. Presper Eckert: http://www-groups.dcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Eckert_John.htmlJohn Mauchly: http://www-groups.dcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Mauchly.htmlThe patent controversy: http://www.library.upenn.edu/special/gallery/mauchly/jwm7.htmlARPANet: http://www.dei.isep.ipp.pt/docs/arpa.html

Thanks to the following EDTECH listserv colleagues and friends who have reviewed the presentation and provided amendments and additional material for inclusion on the slides and in the notes.

Nancy Head, online instructor, Michigan Virtual High School (MVHS), U.S.A., on the web at www.mivhs.org

Mandi Axmann, Instructional Designer, Open Universities Australia