When was the first computer invented?
There
is no easy answer to this question due to the many different classifications of
computers. The first
mechanical computer, created by Charles Babbage, doesn't really
resemble what most would consider a computer today. Therefore, this document
has been created with a listing of each of the computer firsts, starting with
the Difference Engine and leading up to the computers we use today.
Note: Early inventions which helped lead
up to the computer, such as the abacus,calculator, and tablet
machines, are not accounted for in this document.
The word "computer"
was first used
The word
"computer" was first recorded as being used in 1613 and originally was used to describe
a human who performed calculations or computations. The definition of a
computer remained the same until the end of the 19th century when people began
to realize machines never get tired and can perform calculations much faster
and more accurately than any team of human computers ever could.
First mechanical computer or
automatic computing engine concept
In 1822, Charles Babbage conceptualized and began developing
the Difference Engine, considered to be the first
automatic computing machine that was capable of computing several sets of
numbers and making hard copies of the results. Babbage received
some help with development of the Difference Engine from Ada Lovelace,
considered by many to be the first computer programmer for her work and notes
on the Difference Engine. Unfortunately, because of funding, Babbage was never
able to complete a full-scale functional version of this machine. In June of 1991, the London Science Museum completed the Difference
Engine No 2 for the bicentennial year of Babbage's birth and later completed
the printing mechanism in 2000.
In 1837, Charles Babbage proposed the first general mechanical
computer, the Analytical Engine. The Analytical Engine contained an Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU), basic flow control, and integrated memory and is the first general-purpose
computer concept. Unfortunately, because of funding issues, this computer was
also never built while Charles Babbage was alive. In 1910, Henry Babbage, Charles Babbage's youngest son, was
able to complete a portion of this machine and was able to perform basic
calculations.
First programmable computer
The Z1 was originally created by Germany's Konrad Zuse in his parents' living room in1936 to 1938 and is considered to be the
first electro-mechanical binary programmable (modern) computer and
really the first functional computer.
First concepts of what we
consider a modern computer
The Turing machine was first proposed by Alan Turing in 1936 and became the foundation for
theories about computing and computers. The machine was a device that printed
symbols on paper tape in a manner that emulated a person following a series of
logical instructions. Without these fundamentals, we wouldn't have the
computers we use today.
The first electric programmable
computer
The Colossus was the first electric programmable
computer, developed by Tommy Flowers, and first demonstrated in December1943. The Colossus was created to help the British code
breakers read encrypted German messages.
The first digital computer
Short for Atanasoff-Berry Computer, the ABC started being developed by Professor John Vincent
Atanasoff and
graduate student Cliff Berry in 1937 and continued to be developed until
1942 at the Iowa State College (now Iowa State University).
The ABC was
an electrical computer that used vacuum tubes for digital computation, including
binary math and Boolean logic and had no CPU. On October 19, 1973, the US Federal Judge Earl R. Larson signed his
decision that the ENIAC patent by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly was
invalid and named Atanasoff the inventor of the electronic digital computer.
The ENIAC was invented by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly at the University of Pennsylvania
and began construction in 1943 and was not completed until 1946. It occupied about 1,800 square feet and used about
18,000 vacuum tubes, weighing almost 50 tons. Although the Judge ruled that the
ABC computer was the first digital computer, many still consider the ENIAC to
be the first digital computer because it was fully functional.
The first stored program
computer
The early
British computer known as the EDSAC is considered to be the first stored
program electronic computer. The computer performed its first calculation on
May 6,1949 and
was the computer that ran the first graphical computer game, nicknamed
"Baby".
Around the
same time, the Manchester Mark 1 was another computer that could run
stored programs. Built at the Victoria University of Manchester, the first
version of the Mark 1 computer became operational in April 1949 and was used to run a program to
search for Mersenne primes for nine hours without error on June 16 and 17 that
same year.
The first computer company
The first
computer company was the Electronic
Controls Company and was
founded in1949 by J. Presper Eckert and John
Mauchly, the same individuals who helped create the ENIAC computer. The company
was later renamed to EMCC or Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation and released a
series of mainframe computers under the UNIVAC name.
First commercial computer
In 1942, Konrad Zuse begin working on the Z4, which later became the
first commercial computer after being sold to Eduard Stiefel, a mathematician
of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich on July 12, 1950.
IBM's first computer
The first computer with RAM
MIT
introduces the Whirlwind
machine on March 8, 1955, a revolutionary computer that was the first digital
computer with magnetic core RAM and real-time graphics.
The first transistor computer
The TX-O (Transistorized
Experimental computer) is the first transistorized computer to be demonstrated at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1956.
The first minicomputer
The first mass-market and
desktop computer
In 1968, Hewlett Packard began marketing the first
mass-marketed PC and the firstdesktop computer, the HP 9100A.
The first workstation
Although it
was never sold, the first workstation is considered to be the Xerox Alto, introduced in 1974. The computer
was revolutionary for its time and included a fully functional computer,
display, and mouse. The computer operated like many
computers today utilizing windows, menus and icons as an interface to its operating
system. Many of the computer's capabilities were first demonstrated in The Mother of All
Demos byDouglas Engelbart on December 9, 1968.
The first microprocessor
The first personal computer
In 1975, Ed Roberts coined the term "personal
computer" when he introduced the Altair8800. Although the first personal
computer is considered by many to be the KENBAK-1,
which was first introduced for $750 in 1971. The computer relied on a series of
switches for inputting data and output data by turning on and off a series of
lights.
The Micral is considered the be the first
commercial non-assembly computer. The computer used the Intel 8008 processor
and sold for $1,750 in 1973.
The first laptop or portable
computer
The IBM 5100 is the first portable computer,
which was released on September 1975. The computer weighed 55 pounds and had a five inch CRT display, tape drive, 1.9MHz PALM processor, and 64KB of
RAM. In the picture is an ad of the IBM 5100 taken from a November 1975 issue
of Scientific America.
The first
truly portable computer or laptop is considered to be the Osborne I, which was released
on April 1981 and developed by Adam Osborne. The Osborne I weighed 24.5 pounds,
had a 5-inch display, 64 KB of memory, two 5 1/4" floppy drives, ran theCP/M 2.2 operating system, included a modem, and cost US$179.
The IBM PC Division (PCD) later released the
IBM portable in 1984, it's first portable computer that weighed in at 30
pounds. Later in 1986, IBM PCD announced it's firstlaptop computer, the PC Convertible, weighing 12
pounds. Finally, in 1994, IBM introduced the IBM ThinkPad 775CD, the first
notebook with an integrated CD-ROM.
The first Apple computer
The Apple I (Apple 1) was the first Apple
computer that originally sold for $666.66. The computer kit was developed by Steve Wozniak in 1976 and contained a 6502 8-bit processor
and 4 kb of memory, which was expandable to 8
or 48 kb using expansion cards. Although the Apple I had a fully assembled
circuit board the kit still required apower supply, display, keyboard, and case to be operational. Below is a picture of an Apple I from
an advertisement by Apple.
The first IBM personal computer
IBM introduced its first personal
computer called the IBM PC in 1981.The computer was code named and still sometimes
referred to as the Acorn and had a 8088processor, 16 KB of memory, which was expandable to 256
and utilized MS-DOS.
The first PC clone
The Compaq Portable is considered to be the first PC clone and was release in March 1983 by Compaq. The Compaq Portable was 100%
compatible with IBM computers and was capable of running any software developed
for IBM computers.
- See the below other computer
companies first for other IBM compatible
computers
The first multimedia computer
In 1992, Tandy Radio Shack became one of the first
companies to release a computer based on the MPC standard with its introduction of the M2500
XL/2 and M4020 SX computers.
Other computer company firsts
Below is a
listing of some of the major computers companies first computers.
Compaq - In March 1983, Compaq released its first computer and the
first 100% IBM compatible computer the "Compaq Portable."
Dell - In 1985, Dell introduced its first computer, the "Turbo PC."
Hewlett Packard - In 1966, Hewlett Packard released its first general computer, the "HP-2115."
NEC - In 1958, NEC builds its first computer the "NEAC 1101."
Toshiba - In 1954, Toshiba introduces its first computer, the "TAC" digital computer.
Dell - In 1985, Dell introduced its first computer, the "Turbo PC."
Hewlett Packard - In 1966, Hewlett Packard released its first general computer, the "HP-2115."
NEC - In 1958, NEC builds its first computer the "NEAC 1101."
Toshiba - In 1954, Toshiba introduces its first computer, the "TAC" digital computer.
First Computer Engineering Program
The first computer engineering
degree program in the United
States was established at Case Western Reserve
University in 1972. As of October 2004, there were 170 ABET-accredited computer engineering programs in the US. In
Europe, accreditation of computer engineering schools is done by a variety of
agencies part of the EQANIE network. Due to increasing job requirements for engineers who
can concurrently design hardware, software, firmware, and manage all forms of computer systems used in
industry, some tertiary institutions around the world offer a bachelor's degree generally called computer engineering. Both computer
engineering and electronic engineering programs include analog and digital circuit design in their
curriculum. As with most engineering disciplines, having a sound knowledge of mathematics and science is necessary for computer engineers.
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