History of Computers

Created by Mrs. Gile

Based on information taken from Computers Made Friendly

1642

19 year old Frenchman named Blaise Pascal invents a machine that can add and subtract. He called the machinge the Pascaline.

1673

• A German by the name of Gottfried Leibniz invents the Leibniz Calculator. This machine could add, subtract, multiply and divide.

1823

• An Englishman; Charles Babbage designed the Difference Engine and the Analytical Engine. Because of his contributions, Babbage is known as the Father of Computers.

1890

• Herman Hollerith became the first American to contribute to the invention of comptuers. He invented the Tabulating Machine. He began a company called International Business Machines.

1940

• Vacuum Tubes controlled the flow of electricity in a computer. They got very hot and would burn out. When this happened, the computer stopped working.

1950

• Transistors replaced vacuum tubes. Transistors were much smaller, and were more reliable than vacuum tubes.

1960

• The first integrated circuit was designed. It combines all the electronic parts a computer needs to run in one small place – a chip. It is about the size of your fingernail.

1974

• A microprocessor contains not only electronic circuits but also memory storage for a computer. Today microprocessors are small enough to fit into machines that fit in the palm of your hand.