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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]].{{cncitation needed|date=March 2024}} It displayed the [[zodiac]], the [[Heliocentric orbit|solar]] and [[lunar orbit]]s, a [[Lunar phase|crescent moon]]-shaped [[pointer (computer programming)|pointer]] travelling across a gateway causing automatic doors to open every hour,<ref>Howard R. Turner (1997), ''Science in Medieval Islam: An Illustrated Introduction'', p. 184, [[University of Texas Press]], {{ISBN|0-292-78149-0}}</ref><ref name=Hill2>[[Donald Routledge Hill]], "Mechanical Engineering in the Medieval Near East", ''Scientific American'', May 1991, pp. 64–9 ([[cf.]] [[Donald Routledge Hill]], [http://home.swipnet.se/islam/articles/HistoryofSciences.htm Mechanical Engineering] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225091836/http://home.swipnet.se/islam/articles/HistoryofSciences.htm |date=2007-12-25 }})</ref> and five [[robot]]ic musicians who play music when struck by levers operated by a [[camshaft]] attached to a [[water wheel]]. The length of day and night could be re-programmed every day in order to account for the changing lengths of day and night throughout the year.<ref name="Ancient Discoveries">{{Cite journal|title=Ancient Discoveries, Episode 11: Ancient Robots|publisher=[[History (U.S. TV channel)|History Channel]]|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxjbaQl0ad8|url-status=dead|access-date=2008-09-06|archive-date=2014-03-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301151115/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxjbaQl0ad8}}</ref>
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| 1235
| 1890
| [[United States]]
|| The [[1880 United States Censuscensus|1880 US census]] had taken 7 years to complete since all processing had been done by hand from journal sheets. The increasing population suggested that by the [[1890 United States Censuscensus|1890 census]], data processing would take longer than the 10 years before the next census—so a competition was held to find a better method. It was won by a Census Department employee, [[Herman Hollerith]], who went on to found the [[Tabulating Machine Company]], later to become [[International Business Machines|IBM]]. He invented the recording of data on a medium that could then be read by a machine. Prior uses of machine readable media had been for control ([[Automaton]]s, [[Piano roll]]s, [[Jacquard loom|looms]], ...), not data. "After some initial trials with paper tape, he settled on [[punched card]]s..."<ref>[http://www.columbia.edu/acis/history/hollerith.html Columbia University Computing History - Herman Hollerith]</ref> His machines used mechanical [[relay]]s to increment mechanical counters. This method was used in the 1890 census. The net effect of the many changes from the 1880 census: the larger population, the data items to be collected, the Census Bureau headcount, the scheduled publications, and the use of Hollerith's electromechanical tabulators, was to reduce the time required to process the census from eight years for the [[U.S. Census, 1880|1880 census]] to six years for the 1890 census.<ref>Report of the Commissioner of Labor In Charge of The Eleventh Census to the Secretary of the Interior for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1895 Washington, D.C., July 29 1895 Page 9: "You may confidently look for the rapid reduction of the force of this office after the 1st of October, and the entire cessation of clerical work during the present calendar year. ... The condition of the work of the Census Division and the condition of the final reports show clearly that the work of the Eleventh Census will be completed at least two years earlier than was the work of the Tenth Census." Carroll D. Wright Commissioner of Labor in Charge.</ref> The inspiration for this invention was Hollerith's observation of railroad conductors during a trip in the [[Western United States]]; they encoded a crude description of the passenger (tall, bald, male) in the way they punched the ticket.
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| 1891
|
