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{{history of computing}}
==Pre-computing==
==[[Prehistory]]–[[Ancient history|antiquity]]==▼
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! class="unsortable" | Event
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| c. 910 BC
| The [[south-pointing chariot]] was invented in [[History of China#Ancient China|ancient China]]. It was the first known geared mechanism to use a [[differential gear]]. The chariot was a two-wheeled vehicle, upon which is a pointing figure connected to the wheels by means of differential gearing. Through careful selection of wheel size, track and gear ratios, the figure atop the chariot always pointed in the same direction.
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==The analog computer==
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! Date
! class="unsortable" | Event
|- valign="top"
| c. 125 BC
| The [[Antikythera mechanism]]: A clockwork, [[analog computer]] believed to have been designed and built in the Corinthian colony of [[Syracuse, Sicily|Syracuse]]. The mechanism contained a [[differential gear]] and was capable of tracking the relative positions of all then-known heavenly bodies.
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<!--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Post-classical history|Medieval]]–1640--->
===[[Post-classical history|Medieval]]–1640===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! class="unsortable" | Event
|- valign="top"
| 725
| Chinese inventor [[Liang Lingzan]] built the world's first fully mechanical clock; [[water clocks]], some of them extremely accurate, had been known for centuries previous to this. This was an important technological leap forward; the earliest true computers, made a thousand years later, used technology based on that of clocks.
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| 850
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|- valign="top"
| ''c.'' 1150
| [[Islamic astronomy|Arab astronomer]], [[Jabir ibn Aflah]] (Geber), may have invented or inspired the [[Torquetum]], an observational instrument and mechanical [[analog computer]] device used to transform between [[spherical coordinate system]]s.<ref>{{Cite journal|first=R. P.|last=Lorch|title=The Astronomical Instruments of Jabir ibn Aflah and the Torquetum|journal=[[Centaurus (journal)|Centaurus]]|volume=20|issue=1|year=1976|pages=11–34|doi=10.1111/j.1600-0498.1976.tb00214.x|bibcode=1976Cent...20...11L}}</ref> It was designed to take and convert measurements made in three sets of coordinates: [[horizon]], [[equator]]ial, and [[ecliptic]].
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| 1206
| [[Inventions in the Islamic world|Arab engineer]], [[Al-Jazari]], invented numerous [[Automaton|automata]] and made numerous other technological innovations. One of these is a design for a [[Program (machine)|programmable]] [[Humanoid robot|humanoid]]-shaped [[mannequin]]: this seems to have been the first serious, scientific (as opposed to magical) plan for a [[robot]].<ref>[http://www.shef.ac.uk/marcoms/eview/articles58/robot.html A 13th Century Programmable Robot] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070629182810/http://www.shef.ac.uk/marcoms/eview/articles58/robot.html |date=2007-06-29 }}, [[University of Sheffield]]</ref> He also invented the "[[castle clock]]", an [[astronomical clock]] which is considered to be the earliest [[Computer programming|programmable]] [[analog computer]].{{
|- valign="top"
| 1235
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| 1300
| [[Ramon Llull]] invented the Lullian Circle: a notional machine for calculating answers to philosophical questions (in this case, to do with Christianity) via logical combinatorics. This idea was taken up by [[Gottfried Leibniz|Leibniz]] centuries later, and is thus one of the founding elements in computing and [[information science]].
|- valign="top"
| ''c.'' 1416
| [[Jamshīd al-Kāshī]] invented the ''Plate of Conjunctions'', an [[analog computer]] instrument used to determine the time of day at which [[planetary conjunction]]s will occur,<ref>{{Cite journal| issn = 0021-1753| volume = 38| issue = 1/2| pages = 56–59| last = Kennedy| first = E. S.| title = Al-Kāshī's "Plate of Conjunctions"| journal = Isis| date = November 1947| jstor = 225450| doi = 10.1086/348036| s2cid = 143993402}}</ref> and for performing [[linear interpolation]]. He also invented a mechanical "planetary computer" which he called the ''Plate of Zones'', which could graphically solve a number of planetary problems, including the prediction of the true positions in [[longitude]] of the Sun and Moon,<ref name="Kennedy">{{Cite journal |last=Kennedy |first=Edward S. |year=1950 |title=A Fifteenth-Century Planetary Computer: al-Kashi's "Tabaq al-Manateq" I. Motion of the Sun and Moon in Longitude |journal=[[Isis (journal)|Isis]] |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=180–183 |doi=10.1086/349146|pmid=15436217 |s2cid=43217299 }}</ref> and the [[planet]]s;<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kennedy |first=Edward S. |year=1952 |title=A Fifteenth-Century Planetary Computer: al-Kashi's "Tabaq al-Maneteq" II: Longitudes, Distances, and Equations of the Planets |journal=[[Isis (journal)|Isis]] |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=42–50 |doi=10.1086/349363|s2cid=123582209 }}</ref> the [[latitude]]s of the Sun, Moon, and planets; and the [[ecliptic]] of the Sun. The instrument also incorporated an [[alhidade]] and [[ruler]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kennedy |first=Edward S. |year=1951 |title=An Islamic Computer for Planetary Latitudes |journal=[[Journal of the American Oriental Society]] |volume=71 |issue=1 |pages=13–21 |doi=10.2307/595221 |jstor=595221}}</ref>
|- valign="top"
| 1493
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| German [[polymath]] [[Wilhelm Schickard]] drew a device that he called a ''calculating clock'' on two letters that he sent to [[Johannes Kepler]]; one in 1623 and the other in 1624. A fire later destroyed the machine as it was being built in 1624 and he decided to abandon his project.<ref>[[#MARG|Jean Marguin]], p. 47 (1994)</ref> This machine became known to the world only in 1957 when the two letters were discovered. Some replicas were built in 1961.<ref>[[#MARG|Jean Marguin]], p. 48 (1994)</ref> This machine had no impact on the development of mechanical calculators.<ref>[[#T198|René Taton]], p. 81 (1969)</ref>
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<!-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1641–1820--->
===
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| [[J. H. Müller]], an engineer in the Hessian army, first conceived of the idea of a [[difference engine]] (first written reference to the basic principles of a difference machine is dated to 1784).
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| 1801 <ref>
*{{cite web|url=https://www.computerhistory.org/storageengine/punched-cards-control-jacquard-loom/|website=computerhistory.org|title=The Jacquard Loom: A Driver of the Industrial Revolution|date=|publisher=[[ Computer History Museum]]|access-date=|url-status=|archive-url=|archive-date=|quote=In Lyon, France, Joseph Marie Jacquard (1752-1834) demonstrated in 1801 a loom that enabled unskilled workers to weave complex patterns in silk.}}
*{{cite web|author=Michael N Geselowitz|url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-jacquard-loom-a-driver-of-the-industrial-revolution|website=ieee.org|title=1801: Punched cards control Jacquard loom|date=1 Jan 2019|publisher=[[IEEE]]|access-date=|url-status=|archive-url=|archive-date=|quote=At an industrial exhibition in Paris in 1801, Jacquard demonstrated }}
*{{cite web|url=https://passerelles.essentiels.bnf.fr/fr/chronologie/article/06fe304e-561f-4b9d-bf32-24339fae5877-metier-tisser-jacquard|website=bnf.fr|title=Métier à tisser de Jacquard|date=|publisher=[[Bibliothèque nationale de France|BnF]]|access-date=|url-status=|archive-url=|archive-date=|quote=En 1801, cet ingénieur de Lyon équipe le métier à tisser d’un mécanisme en fonte qui sélectionne les fils de chaîne grâce à un programme inscrit sur une carte perforée.}}
*{{cite book|year=1888|chapter=BROCADE|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vjxKAAAAYAAJ&dq=Jacquard+attachment+1801&pg=PA746|___location=|editor1-link= Thomas Spencer Baynes |title=Supplement to Encyclopedia Britannica. (<small><small>NINTH EDITION.</small></small>) <small><small>A DICTIONARY OF ARTS SCIENCES AND GENERAL LITERATURE</small></small> |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vjxKAAAAYAAJ|volume=1|edition=9|publication-place=|publisher=[[H.G. Allen]]|publication-date= 1833 |access-date=|via=[[Google Books]]|quote=Until the invention of the Jacquard attachment to the loom in the year 1801, embroidered silk goods were called brocades.}}</ref>
| [[France]]
|| [[Joseph-Marie Jacquard]] developed the [[Jacquard loom]], an automatic loom controlled by [[punched card]]s.
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| [[France]]
|| [[Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar]] invented the '[[Arithmometer]]' which after thirty more years of development became, in 1851, the first mass-produced mechanical calculator. An operator could perform [[Multiplication algorithm|long multiplications]] and divisions quickly and effectively by using a movable accumulator for the result. This machine was based on the earlier works of Pascal and Leibniz.
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<!-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1822-1851--->
==Invention of the mechanical computer==
===1822-1851===
{| class="wikitable"
! Date
! class="unsortable" | Event
|- valign="top"
| 1822
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| 1842
| [[United Kingdom]]
|| Construction of Babbage's [[difference engine]] was cancelled as an official project.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UmNJAAAAYAAJ&q=difference+engine+1842&pg=PA387|title=A History of the Royal Society: With Memoirs of the Presidents|last=Weld|first=Charles Richard|date=1848|publisher=J. W. Parker|pages=387–390|language=en}}</ref> The cost overruns had been considerable (£17,470 was spent, which, in
|- valign="top"
| 1843
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|| British Mathematician [[George Boole]] developed binary algebra ([[Boolean algebra (logic)|Boolean algebra]])<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=paINAXYHN8kC&q=Boolean+algebra+1847&pg=PA7|title=Modern Algebra with Applications|last1=Gilbert|first1=William J.|last2=Nicholson|first2=W. Keith|date=2004-01-30|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=9780471469896|pages=7|language=en}}</ref> which has been widely used in binary computer design and operation, beginning about a century later. See 1939.
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<!-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1851–1930--->
===1851–1930===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
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| 1890
| [[United States]]
|| The [[1880 United States
|- valign="top"
| 1891
Line 330 ⟶ 312:
|| Welsh physicist [[C. E. Wynn-Williams]]<!--- (1903–1979) --->, at [[Cambridge, England]], used a ring of [[thyratron]] tubes to construct a binary digital counter that counted emitted [[alpha particle]]s.<ref>{{Citation | last1 = Rutherford | first1 = Ernest | author-link = Ernest Rutherford | last2 = Wynn-Williams | first2 = C. E. | author2-link = C. E. Wynn-Williams | last3 = Lewis | first3 = W. B. | author3-link = Bennett Lewis | title = Analysis of the α-Particles Emitted from Thorium C and Actinium C | journal =[[Proceedings of the Royal Society A]] | volume = 133 | issue = 822 | pages = 351–366 |date=October 1931 | doi = 10.1098/rspa.1931.0155 |bibcode = 1931RSPSA.133..351R| doi-access = free }}</ref>
|}
<!-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1931–1940--->
===1931–1940===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
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In 1940 Zuse presented the Z2 to an audience of the {{lang|de|Deutsche Versuchsanstalt für Luftfahrt}} ("German Laboratory for Aviation") in Berlin-Adlershof.
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<!-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1941–1949--->
==Invention of the programmable computer==
===1941–1949===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
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| 1948<br />June 21
| [[United Kingdom]]
|- valign="top"
| 1948
Line 523 ⟶ 506:
| [[United States]]
|| [[John Presper Eckert]] and [[John William Mauchly]] construct the [[BINAC]] for [[Northrop Corporation|Northrop]].
|-
| 1949<br />May 6
| [[United Kingdom]]
|- valign="top"
| 1949<br />Oct
Line 551 ⟶ 534:
*[[History of computing hardware]]
==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
==
{{Refbegin}}
*{{cite book|ref=MARG|language=fr|title=Histoire des instruments et machines à calculer, trois siècles de mécanique pensante 1642–1942|first=Jean|last=Marguin|year=1994|publisher=Hermann|isbn=978-2-7056-6166-3}}
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