PHS CyberSchool

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In the text boxes fill in the surnames of the inventors, scientists and mathematicians important in the history of computers. SOME of the following names MAY be of assistance: Augusta Ada Byron, Charles Babbage, George Boole, Joseph-Marie Jacquard, Blaise Pascal, Gottfried Wilhelm Von Leibniz, Thomas John Watson, Jr.

The history of computing began with an analog machine. In 1623 German scientist 1. invented a machine that used 11 complete and 6 incomplete sprocketed wheels that could add and, with the aid of logarithm tables, multiply and divide.

French philosopher, mathematician, and physicist 2. invented a machine in 1642 that added and subtracted, automatically carrying and borrowing digits from column to column. 2. built 50 copies of his machine, but most served as curiosities in parlors of the wealthy. Seventeenth-century German mathematician 3. designed a special gearing system to enable multiplication on 2.'s machine.

In the early 19th century French inventor 4. devised a specialized type of computer: a loom. 4.'s loom used punched cards to program patterns that were output as woven fabrics by the loom. Though 4.was rewarded and admired by French emperor Napoleon I for his work, he fled for his life from the city of Lyon pursued by weavers who feared their jobs were in jeopardy due to 4.'s invention. The loom prevailed, however: When 4.passed away, more than 30,000 of his looms existed in Lyon. The looms are still used today, especially in the manufacture of fine furniture fabrics.

Another early mechanical computer was the Difference Engine, designed in the early 1820s by British mathematician and scientist 5.. Although never completed by 5., the Difference Engine was intended to be a machine with a 20-decimal capacity that could solve mathematical problems. 5. also made plans for another machine, the Analytical Engine, considered to be the mechanical precursor of the modern computer. The Analytical Engine was designed to perform all arithmetic operations efficiently; however, 5.'s lack of political skills kept him from obtaining the approval and funds to build it. 6. was a personal friend and student of 5. She was the daughter of the famous poet Lord Byron and one of only a few woman mathematicians of her time. She prepared extensive notes concerning 5.'s ideas and the Analytical Engine. 6.'s conceptual programs for the Engine led to the naming of a programming language (6.) in her honor. Although the Analytical Engine was never built, its key concepts, such as the capacity to store instructions, the use of punched cards as a primitive memory, and the ability to print, can be found in many modern computers.

7., an American inventor, used an idea similar to 5.'s loom when he combined the use of punched cards with devices that created and electronically read the cards. 7.'s tabulator was used for the 1890 U.S. census, and it made the computational time three to four times shorter than the time previously needed for hand counts. 7.'s Tabulating Machine Company eventually merged with other companies in 1924 to become IBM.