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The First Freely Programmable Computer invented by Konrad Zuse
1st computerKonrad Zuse (1910-1995) was a construction engineer for the Henschel Aircraft Company in Berlin, Germany at the beginning of WWII. Konrad Zuse earned the semiofficial title of "inventor of the modern computer" for his series of automatic calculators, which he invented to help him with his lengthy engineering calculations. -
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computer history
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ABC Computer
[2nd computer](inventors.about.com/library/blcoindex.htm)Professor John Atanasoff and graduate student Clifford Berry built the world's first electronic-digital computer at Iowa State University between 1939 and 1942. The Atanasoff-Berry Computer represented several innovations in computing, including a binary system of arithmetic, parallel processing, regenerative memory, and a separation of memory and computing functions. -
Harvard Mark I Computer
[3rd computer](inventors.about.com/library/blcoindex.htm)Howard Aiken and Grace Hopper designed the MARK series of computers at Harvard University. The MARK series of computers began with the Mark I in 1944. Imagine a giant roomful of noisy, clicking metal parts, 55 feet long and 8 feet high. The 5-ton device contained almost 760,000 separate pieces. Used by the US Navy for gunnery and ballistic calculations, the Mark I was in operation until 1959 -
First general-purpose computing device
[4th computer](inventors.about.com/library/blcoindex.htm)ENIAC (/ˈini.æk/ or /ˈɛni.æk/; Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer)[1][2] was the first electronic general-purpose computer. It was Turing-complete, digital, and capable of being reprogrammed to solve "a large class of numerical problems." [3][4] Though ENIAC was designed and primarily used to calculate artillery firing tables for the United States Army's Ballistic Research Laboratory,[5][6] its first programs included a study of the feasibility of the thermonuclear weapon.[7] -
Manchester Baby Computer & The Williams Tube
[5th computer](inventors.about.com/library/blcoindex.htm)By 1946, a winner in the data-storage game emerged that would dominate the computer field for the next several years. Sir Frederick Williams and Tom Kilburn co-invented the Williams-Kilburn Tube (or Williams Tube), a type of altered cathode-ray tube. Scientists had conducted research on cathode-ray tubes serving as computer data storage since the early 1940s. -
the UNIVAC Computer
[6th computer](inventors.about.com/library/blcoindex.htm)The Universal Automatic Computer or UNIVAC was a computer milestone achieved by Dr. Presper Eckert and Dr. John Mauchly, the team that invented the ENIAC computer. -
The IBM 701
[7th computer](inventors.about.com/library/blcoindex.htm)This chapter in the "History of Modern Computers" finally brings us to a famous name most of you will have heard of. IBM stands for International Business Machines, the largest computer company in the world today. IBM has been responsible for numerous inventions having to do with computers. -
Fortran
[8th computer](inventors.about.com/library/blcoindex.htm)FORTRAN or formula translation was the first high level programming language (software) invented by John Backus for IBM in 1954, and released commercially in 1957. Fortran is still used today for programming scientific and mathematical applications. Fortran began as a digital code interpreter for the IBM 701 and was originally named Speedcoding. John Backus wanted a programming language that was closer in appearance to human language, which is the definition of a high level language, other high -
The History of the Integrated Circuit aka Microchip
[9th computer](inventors.about.com/library/blcoindex.htm)t seems that the integrated circuit was destined to be invented. Two separate inventors, unaware of each other's activities, invented almost identical integrated circuits or ICs at nearly the same time.
Jack Kilby, an engineer with a background in ceramic-based silk screen circuit boards and transistor-based hearing aids, started working for Texas Instruments in 1958. -
microsoft
[10th computer](inventors.about.com/library/blcoindex.htm)On November 10, 1983, at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, Microsoft Corporation formally announced Microsoft Windows, a next-generation operating system that would provide a graphical user interface (GUI) and a multitasking environment for IBM computers.
