Charles babbage
The Father of the Computer
Analytical engine
Invented Analytical engine in 1822
However, he couldn’t actually build the analytical engine, but
was only able to present it theoretically
His unfinished work was completed by scientist in 1930
His concept of analytical engine was quite similar to the
concepts of modern-day computers that include subroutines and
input devices.
Alan turing
The turing Machine
Although, he did not design any computer, Alan Turing, an English
mathematician and computer scientist has been one of the most
influential personalities in the field of computer science.
He provided a platform of formulating the basic concept of algorithm
and destined the Turing machine, that was able to test the intelligence
of machine.
In fact, he pioneered in the field of artificial intelligence. Today’s
CAPTCHA code test on Internet and computers has evolved from
Turing’s ideas
Konrad Zeus
Z Series Computer
The German engineer, Konrad Zuse, in 1936, invented the first electrical
binary programmable computer – the Z1, Z2, and Z3 were also introduced
by Zuse in 1939 and 1941 respectively
Unfortunately, Zuse’s efforts were destroyed during second world war.
John Vincent Atanasoff & Clifford Berry
Atanasoff Berry Computer (ABC)
Atansaoff Berry
The Atanasoff – Berry Computer
Developed in the war phase of 1942, Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) was
world’s first electronic digital computer
o Its inventors, John Vincent Atanasoff & Clifford Berry shared the
relationship of a professor and a student.
o John was an America electronics engineer while Clifford his student
John Presper Eckert & John William mauchly
The US Army: ENIAC
Financed by the US army and developed by scientists John Presper Eckert &
John William Mauchly, in 1946, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and
Computer (ENIAC) is considered to be the first mainstream digital computer
ever made.
In fact ABC and ENIAC fought a legal battle until 1973, when ABC was finally
declared to be the 1st digital computer. ENIAC was mainly built for US army
research laboratory.
GORDON BELL & KEN OLSEN
Program Data Processor
They invented the PDP in the year 1960s, Gordon Bell designed the i/o
system of PDP-1.
With time, there have been several versions of this machine, i,e., PDP-4 PDP-
5, PDP-6, and PDP-11
As a part of the Dec (Digital Equipment Corporation), Gordon Bell later
designed the VAX, which is DEC’s best computer.
Willam Bradfford, Shockley John Bardeen, Walter
Houser Brattain
Transistors
What followed in years after 1950 is an amazing history of computer
development. Further developments in computer field led to the invention of
transistor (by John Bardeen, Walter Brattain & William Shockley in 1956),
Their invention the transistor, has been called “the most important invention of
the 20th Century.”
Bill Gates
Microsoft Basic
MITS Altair 8800Computer with 8 inch floppy disk
After reading the January 1975 issue of Popular electronics that demonstrate
8800, Gates contacted Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS),
the creators of the new microcomputer, to inform them that he and others
were working on a BASIC interpreter for the platform
Steve jobs
Macintosh & Mouse
Macintosh: A great leap in the career of Steve Jobs was the introduction of
the original Macintosh (1984), the first consumer computer with a graphical
user interface. In other words, it had an operating system with windows and
icons, and a mouse to move between them. This idea did not originate with
Steve Jobs. It’s well known how he was inspired during a visit to the Xerox
research centre, where all these ideas had already been developed. But Jobs
managed to pack them all into a revolutionary computer, adding a few
touches of his own.
Mouse: Steve Jobs was not the inventor of the mouse, but during his career
at the head of Apple, one of his obsessions was to perfect this device for
communicating with computers, though the results were rather disparate. He
first got it right with the simple one-button mouse for the original Macintosh,
much simpler than the mice that he had discovered on his visit to Xerox
PARC.
