Technology Invention Timeline

  • 2500 BCE

    Abucus

    Abucus
    Known as the earliest device for computing, it was used as a way to store large numbers. It was invented in Mesopotamia around 2500 BCE, though the exact inventor is unknown. The device could calculate large numbers and store them, kind of like a log-in. This was useful as society had grown far beyond the amount a person could measure in their head.
  • Step Reckoner

    Step Reckoner
    Built by Gottfried Leibniz in 1694, this device was astonishing for its time. It not only adds and subtracts but also multiplies and divides numbers. He built this devise as he thought the simplicity of calculating these numbers was above man.
  • Census Tabulator

    Census Tabulator
    American inventor Herman Hollerth created the Census Tabulator in the 1890's. This is known as the first working electromechanical machine. This device reads data from a punch card up to 65 at a time. This saved not only a lot of time but also human resources as you can put the data onto punch cards to be read by this machine.
  • Z3

    Z3
    Konrad Zuse was the inventor of the world's first programmable computer. His invention, The Z3, could read punched tape using boolean logic and binary code. This machine acted as the first data storage and memory device.
  • The ABC

    The ABC
    This machine was named "The First Digital Computer" as, unlike the previous inventions, it was fully digital. It solved 29 problems simultaneously using vacuum tubes, binary math, and boolean logic. This was thanks to the inventors John Atanasoff and his graduate student Clifford Berry in 1937-1942.