History Of The Computer Industry In America

9 Pages 2267 Words

terest in computers. However, between 1850
and 1900 there were great advances! in mathematics and physics that began
to rekindle the interest (Osborne, 45).

Many of these new advances involved complex calculations and
formulas that were very time consuming for human calculation. The first
major use for a computer in the U.S. was during the 1890 census. Two men,
Herman Hollerith and James Powers, developed a new punched-card system
that could automatically read information on cards without human
intervention (Gulliver, 82). Since the population of the U.S. was
increasing so fast, the computer was an essential tool in tabulating the
totals.These advantages were noted by commercial industries and soon led
to the development of improved punch-card business-machine systems by
International Business Machines (IBM), Remington-Rand, Burroughs, and
other corporations. By modern standards the punched-card machines were
slow, typically processing from 50 to 250 cards per minute, with each card
holding up to 80 digits. At the time, however, punched cards were an
enormous step forward; they provided a means of input, output, and memory
storage on a massive scale. For more than 50 years following their first
use, punched-card machines did the bulk of the world's business computing
and a good portion of the computing work in science (Chposky, 73).

By the late 1930s punched-card machine techniques had become so
well established and reliable that Howard Hathaway Aiken, in collaboration
with engineers at IBM, undertook construction of a large automatic digital
computer based on standard IBM electromechanical parts. Aiken's machine,
called the Harvard Mark I, handled 23-digit numbers and could perform all
four arithmetic operations. Also, it had special built-in programs to
handled logarithms and trigonometric functions. The Mark I was controlled
from prepunched paper tape. Output was by card punch and electric
typewriter...