Computers

     Computers are so named, because they were first designed to deal with numbers – that is to compute. But modern computers are also process words, draw, reproduce sound and perform many other functions.

     The early history of the computer can be traced to Charles Babbage, an English inventor who designed and “analytical machine” that was designed to calculate the tide tables and theoretically could do some things a modern computer does. However it was never built. Had it been, it would have covered an area equal to football field and required the power of five steam engines. In the late 80s a small part of the engine was constructed to prove the idea and was successful in demonstrating the unit would have worked.

     A more practical plan came from the American inventor Herman Hollerith, who patented a calculating machine in 1889. In 1924 Hollerith’s Tabulating Machine Company adopted the name International Business Machines Corporation (IBM).
    Later the British developed a computer using vacuum tubes, used to decode the German enigma signals during the 2^nd World War. Shortly after the 2^nd World war, the Americans build the ENIAC, which was called the most sophisticated computer of its time. It occupied 450 square meters and contained 17468 vacuum tubes. Its capacity though impressive at the time, was less than that of a modern notebook computer.

     A crucial step forward in computing came in 1947 with the invention at Bell Laboratories in the USA of a transistor, which was much faster, smaller and cheaper than the vacuum tube. The microchip was invented a few years later along with the microprocessor, allowing information to be stored and manipulated in a small area.

     In 1974 an American company Micro Instrumentation Telemetry Systems (MITS) released the Altair 8800, a personal computer. Its capacity was 1% of the 1991 Hewlett-Packard personal computer. But Altair was a revolution in a computer electronics that continues today.

During 1980’s, computers became progressively smaller, better and cheaper. As the hardware became more powerful, software became more sophisticated. It pushed the limits of the hardware, encouraging the building of new hardware with bigger drives, faster processors and larger memories.

     In 1992 the computer industry was the fastest growing industry in the world. Today the worldwide revenues of the computer industry are the second only to agricultural revenues.

     Computers guide airplanes, control traffic, process words, and numbers and keep track of appointments. Computers became the heart of modern business, science, medical research, industry and agriculture.