1886 One of first computers
History: It is often said that necessity is the mother of invention, and this was certainly true in the case of the American census. Following the population trends established by previous surveys, it was estimated that the census of 1890 would be required to handle data from more than 62 million Americans.
Herman Hollerith, a man with a learning disability, designed a system that processed information so that human beings would not have to. He used punched cards to develop the first computer to process information. This device was constructed to allow the 1890 census to be tabulated. This construction meant a great improvement as hand tabulation was projected to take more than a decade. Twenty-eight years after Hollerith [1896] founded the Tabulating Machine Company it becomes known as International Business Machines (IBM).
1886 One of first computers
History: It is often said that necessity is the mother of invention, and this was certainly true in the case of the American census. Following the population trends established by previous surveys, it was estimated that the census of 1890 would be required to handle data from more than 62 million Americans.
Herman Hollerith, a man with a learning disability, designed a system that processed information so that human beings would not have to. He used punched cards to develop the first computer to process information. This device was constructed to allow the 1890 census to be tabulated. This construction meant a great improvement as hand tabulation was projected to take more than a decade. Twenty-eight years after Hollerith [1896] founded the Tabulating Machine Company it becomes known as International Business Machines (IBM).