Timeline of computing hardware before 1950: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 13:44, 1 April 2025

Revision as of 19:13, 9 June 2025

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{{history of computing}}

==Pre-computing==

===[[Prehistory]]–[[Ancient history|antiquity]]===

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<!--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Post-classical history|Medieval]]–1640--->

===[[Post-classical history|Medieval]]–1640===

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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--->

=== 1641–18501641–1820 ===

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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===

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| 1822

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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===

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|| 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>

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<!-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1931–1940--->

===1931–1940===

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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===

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