Реферат: Development Of Computers And Technology Essay Research

contributions were very great, her interest gave Babbage encouragement; she was

able to see that his approach was workable and also published a series of notes

that led others to complete what he prognosticated.

Since 1970, the US Congress required that a census of the population be

taken every ten years. For the census for 1880, counting the census took 7?

years because all counting had to be done by hand. Also, there was considerable

apprehension in official society as to whether the counting of the next census

could be completed before the next century.

A competition was held to find some way to speed the counting process.

In the final test, involving a count of the population of St. Louis, Herman

Hollerith’s tabulating machine completed the count in only 5? hours. As a

result of his systems adoption, an unofficial count of the 1890 population was

announced only six weeks after the census was taken. Like the cards that

Jacquard used for the loom, Hollerith’s punched cards also used stiff paper with

holes punched at certain points. In his tabulating machine, roods passed

through the holes to complete a circuit, which caused a counter to advance one

unit. This capability pointed up the principal difference between the

analytical engine and the tabulating machine; Hollerith was able to use

electrical power rather than mechanical power to drive the device.

Hollerith, who had been a statistician with the Census Bureau, realized

that the punched card processing had high potential for sales. In 1896, he

started the Tabulating Machine Company, which was very successful in selling

machines to railroads and other clients. In 124, this company merged with two

other companies to form the International Business Machines Corporation, still

well known today as IBM.

IBM, Aiken & Watson

For over 30 years, from 1924 to 1956, Thomas Watson, Sr., ruled IBM with

an iron grip. Before becoming the head of IBM, Watson had worked for the

Tabulating Machine Company. While there, he had a running battle with Hollerith,