Lesson 4: People in Computer History

Charles Babbage

"Father of Computing"

Charles Babbage was an English mathematician who designed a computing machine in the 1820s called the Difference Engine. This machine was used to calculate and print simple math tables. He designed a second computing machine called the Analytical Engine. This machine followed a set of instructions to calculate complicated problems. Neither of these machines were ever finished because the technology at the time was not advanced enough. The computing machines made in the 1900s and even those today are based on  the design of the Difference Engine and the Analytical Engine. This is why Charles Babbage is known as the Father of Computers.

Difference Engine

Other Inventions Charles Babbage is credited with:

The cowcatcher, dynamometer, standard railroad gauge, uniform postal rates, occulting lights for lighthouses, Greenwich time signals, and heliograph opthalmoscope. 

Assignments:

1.Use the search engine ixquick.com to check out three of the other inventions Charles Babbage is credited with. 
Using Appleworks 6: Word Processor write a description of each, find a graphic of each. 
Save your work in your student work folder.
Title your work: YourLastName_answers_babbage

Herman Hollerith
Herman Hollerith invented a punch-card tabulation machine system for statistical computation. The first practical use of punched cards for data processing is credited to the American inventor Herman Hollerith, who decided to use Jacquard's punched cards to represent the data gathered for the American census of 1890, and to read and collate this data using an automatic machine.

Herman Hollerith wanted to speed up the work involved in taking government census. In 1890, 50 years after Charles Babbage's death, Hollerith invented a machine called the Tabulating Machine. He used notes left by Babbage. 

The United States Government takes a census of everyone who lives in the United States every 10 years. Before the invention of the Tabulating Machine it took up to eight years to add up all the information about where people lived, their ages, and what their jobs were. 

The Tabulating Machine used punched cards to record and sort data or information. About 65 cards could be passed through this computer in a minute, and in 1890 it took only 2.5 years to complete the U.S. Census.

Hollerith's punch cards and tabulating machines were a step toward automated computation. His device could automatically read information which had been punched onto card.

punch card

Hollerith invented other things too. He began a company called Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company. He changed the company name to International Business Machines (IBM) which is the largest computer company in the world.

Assignments:

Check out this web site: What in the World will the Future Bring? 

On this web site are predictions made in 1900, 101 years ago.

My Grandma was born on May 26, 1900 and she is  101 years old. She has seen all these predictions come true. 
Read the predictions. 
Using Appleworks 6: Word Processor discuss  what the predictions were being describe and which ones have come true.
What predictions would you make about what the future will bring?  List your ideas, also. 
Save your work in your student work folder. Title your work: YourLastName_answers_future

-George Orwell

Web Sites