Who invented the first modern computer. When did the world's first computer appear?

If you are asking the above question, be prepared to hear different answers. Since many different types of computers (or calculating machines) have been created since the 1800s, it is simply impossible to answer this question unambiguously. And now let's look at everything in detail.

The first programmable "computer"

P The first "computing machine" was created by Charles Babbage in 1822. His idea was not to create a prototype of a modern computer, he just wanted to build a machine that would calculate mathematical problems. Babbage was tired of human error in solving mathematical problems, so he sought to create an error-free machine. But, nevertheless, his creation served as the basis for the modern computer.

That is why Charles Babbage is considered the inventor of the first computer. His "Babbage Machine" was the first programmable analytical machine and, moreover, fully automatic. Essentially, today computers do the same thing: they read programs and execute them.

Charles Babbage was born in England, where he spent his life and career. After private school, Charles began studying at the academy in Enfield, where he began to show interest in mathematics. Then Babbage entered Trinity College, Cambridge University and completed his studies at St. Peter's College. His self-study of the basics of mathematics also meant a lot.

Babbage's education played a major role in his future inventions. England is very proud of their son and some of his works are now in one of the museums in London.

invention of the computer

The uniqueness of Babbage's computer is that it could be programmed. After all, calculator developments were then available, but they worked only according to fixed rules. Isn't it amazing that the invention that Babbage sought to create became insanely useful to mankind centuries later?

The scientist used his student knowledge to develop a machine that calculates mathematical problems. Unfortunately, he never completed his dream project due to lack of money. Although his machine was left unfinished, a little later his idea evolved into the version of the computer we know today, and Babbage is rightfully considered the "father of computers."

How did the computer get its name?

Have you ever wondered where the word "computer" came from? We should be grateful to Babbage for the name of the computer, as well as for its design.

Everything is quite simple. Babbage was trying to create a machine that would calculate mathematical problems in the same way as a person. And the very name of the computer came from the English “computer”, where “compute” is translated as “compute”. And it was Babbage's idea that became the basis for all future computers.

Alan Turing and his accomplishments

The development of electronic computers, which are very similar to modern ones, was carried out by Alan Matheson Turing, an English scientist.

Alan Turing was born on June 23, 1912 in London, England. He was very interested in science and mathematics during his school days. However, he later entered Sherborne College, where the emphasis was on the liberal arts rather than the exact ones. But this did not stop him from studying higher mathematics. For example, while studying elementary calculus, he simultaneously considered Einstein's complex conclusions regarding Newton's Laws. Alan spent a lot of time in the library and was engaged in self-study.

Alan Turing began exploring the possibilities of computing while he was studying at King's College Cambridge for a bachelor's degree in mathematics. There he wrote scientific articles and successfully defended his doctoral dissertation. He also reformulated Kurt Gödel's theorem, replacing the universal formal language with simple hypothetical devices that later became known as Turing machines.

The Turing machine was the first device that could use algorithms to solve arithmetic problems. For many experts, this was the first theoretical concept of a modern computer. Interestingly, the basic concept of a Turing machine is still being studied in the field of computer science around the world.

ACE

Based on the machine he had invented, Turing worked on the ACE (the Automatic Computing Engine) between 1945 and 1947. He also presented a paper on how computers can store programs in memory (which is what modern computers do). Alan Turing developed other theories and concepts, for example, speech cipher, Turing-Welshman "Bombe", "Colossus", "Hut 8", "the Naval Enigma", etc.

Alan Turing died on June 7, 1954 in England. The cause of his death was cyanide poisoning, and as the examination showed, he committed suicide. Prior to that, he was accused of homosexuality, which was considered a crime at the time.

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Charles Babbage, while designing the Analytical Engine in the 1840s (1840s), developed the basic ideas of building a machine that could work according to a predetermined program without human intervention.

100 years have passed. The first computers (electronic computers) appeared.

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Mark-1 on electromechanical relays

In 1943, the American Howard Aiken, using electromechanical relays based on 20th century technology, was able to build such a machine called the Mark-1 at one of the IBM enterprises.

“If Babbage had lived 75 years later,” Aiken later stated, “I would have been left without a job.”

Even earlier, Babbage's ideas were rediscovered by the German engineer Konrad Zuse, who in 1941 built a similar machine. But this has nothing to do with the famous American, therefore it is not such a common fact.

Eniac on vacuum tubes

Radio technology developed rapidly in the first half of the 20th century. The main element of radio receivers and radio transmitters at that time were vacuum tubes.

Starting in 1943, a group of specialists led by John Mauchly and Presper Eckert in the United States began to design a machine similar to the Mark 1, already on the basis of vacuum tubes, and not relays.

Their car was called ENIAC(abbreviated from Electronical Numerical Integrator and Calculator - Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator).

The counting speed of this machine exceeded the speed of the Mark-1 by a thousand times. When ENIAC (pronounced ENIAC) was demonstrated in 1946, the American press immediately dubbed it the "Giant Brain".

The mass of the system was 27 tons. ENIAC was used, in particular, for calculations related to the creation of the hydrogen bomb.

However, to enter the program, according to which ENIAC was supposed to make calculations, it was necessary to connect in the right way for several hours or even several days. There was no keyboard yet, there was no monitor either.

Von Neumann architecture

To simplify the process of programming, Mauchly and Eckert began to design a new machine that could store the program in your memory.

In 1945, the famous mathematician John von Neumann, together with other scientists, was involved in the work.

The journal "Nature" in 1946 published an article by John von Neumann, in collaboration with other lesser-known scientists, "A Preliminary Consideration of the Logical Design of an Electronic Computing Device." This article clearly and simply outlined the general principles of the design and operation of computers. The main one is the principle of storing the program in memory, according to which the data and the program are placed in a common .

The fundamental description of the device and operation of a computer is commonly called the architecture of a computer. The ideas outlined in the article mentioned above are called " principles of John von Neumann" or " von Neumann architecture».

Advac machine

The joint development of Mauchly, Eckert and von Neumann can be considered the next model after ENIAC - this is the Edvak machine (EDVAC, short for Electronic Discrete Automatic Variable Computer - electronic discrete variable computer). Its more capacious internal memory contained not only data, but also a program. Unlike ENIAC, this is a computer based on , not decimal.

Like the ENIAC, the EDVAC was developed at the US Army Ballistic Research Laboratory and is the first computer built on the principles of John von Neumann.

The named machines existed in single copies. And the factory, serial production of computers began in the developed countries of the world in the 50s of the 20th century.

MESM in the USSR

In our country (USSR), the first computer was created in 1951. It was called MESM - a small electronic calculating machine. The MESM designer was Sergey Alekseevich Lebedev. Under his leadership, in the 1950s, serial tube computers BESM-2, M-20 were built.

A number of subsequent machines and developments by S.A. Lebedev contributed to the creation of more advanced machines.

When computers were big

A hard drive (an entire cabinet) that in the early 1960s could only fit one picture taken with a modern digital camera

In conclusion, I would like to bring to your attention a short video report from the Museum of Informatics in Paris. You will see with your own eyes

vacuum lamp,
punch cards,
CPU,
microprocessor,
modem,
learn about the binary number system, the principles of the first Internet:

Can you imagine the modern world without computers? I - no, because every step we take is connected with computers. This story began back in the distant 40s, when the world had just begun to learn about the creation of the first "computers" (electronic computers).

The history of the creation of the world's first computer

In 1942, John Mauchley's project gave impetus to the creation of the first computer, although the project itself was initially ignored. Once one of the laboratories of the US Army became interested in him, and already in 1943 the first steps were taken to create a machine called "ENIAC". The money for the creation was given by the Pentagon (which needed to create new guns), and it took them a little less than $ 500,000.

By the way, in terms of electricity, ENIAC turned out to be very voracious when it was turned on - the lights of a nearby city dimmed each time. ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator) is truly the first computer that could be programmed.

Specifications of the first computer:

Weight reached 27 tons;
Power - 174 kW - this is how much a huge shopping center consumes on a day off;
It contained 18,000 vacuum tubes, because there were no transistors and processors at that time;
Memory - 4 kilobytes;
It had an impressive size - it occupied 135 sq.m.
Performed up to 5000 actions per second.

The most amazing thing is the kilometers of wires that the computer was wrapped around. It was programmed as a telephone communicator operated by telephone operators.

Later, it began to be used not only for the analysis of cosmic radiation, but also for the creation of a hydrogen bomb. While the computer was being created, the war ended, but research did not stop, and in 1945 the first official test was conducted, which it passed. At the same time, about 1,000,000 IBM punched cards were processed. Despite the huge size and weight, the computer worked for about 10 years.

After 5 years, the transistor was invented, which marked the beginning of a decrease in the size of computers.

Where and when was the first personal computer sold?

The concept of the personal computer changed little over the next two decades. The introduction of the microprocessor accelerated the process of building a computer. Back in 1974, IBM tried to create its first computer, but the attempt failed and sales were very low. IBM5100 - had cassettes as storage media, a fairly small weight and a serious cost of $ 10,000.

He was also able to independently execute programs written in programming languages such as BASIC and APL (it was created at IBM). displayed 16 lines of 64 characters each, a memory of about 64 Kb, and these cassettes looked like stereo audio cassettes. But sales did not go, because there was no normal interface and the price was too high.

Have you ever wondered what computers will look like in 10 years?

Recently, IBM introduced its new mega-computer "Roadrunner". Its capacity is 1,000,000,000,000 (1 quadrillion) operations. It was created for the US Department of Energy, and consists of 6480 2-core processors, and 12,960 processors from IBM, which are called. It includes 278 huge cabinets, 88 kilometers of cables, weight - 226 tons, covers an area of 1100 m², power consumption of 3.9 MW, and the cost was $ 133,000,000.

Today, the computer has become an integral part of every person's life. This device is available in every home, and often not even one. Any workplace is equipped with a computer in one format or another. The PC has long become commonplace and an obvious item of work and household use. And, of course, for a long time no one remembers what the very first computer in the world was like, but the process of evolution to miniature, but powerful devices did not take much time.

However, the device has undergone tremendous changes. So, let's take a short digression into history and remember how and when the first computer appeared.

Before moving on to the question of when the first computers appeared, it is worth talking about those inventions of mankind that were made earlier and made a significant contribution to the main achievement.

The very first attempt to create a device simplifying the account was made 3 thousand years BC. Ancient abacus (abacus) are considered the most distant predecessors of the first computers.
In 1642, Pascal created a digital computer. This is the first device presented to the general public and received great fame. The development of the scientist added and subtracted five-digit numbers first, and after completion, eight-digit numbers. At that time, this invention was considered unique and it was it that marked the beginning of a series of developments that led to the appearance of the first computer in the world.
The first tangible invention was made in 1938. The German engineer Konrad Zue created a mechanical, but already programmable Z1 machine.
Development did not stand still, and already in 1941, the same scientist introduced the Z3 to the world. The computing machine already possessed the basic characteristics inherent in a full-fledged computer. But it is too early to say that this is the first computer.

Unfortunately, Z3 was destroyed in May 1945 when Russian troops entered Germany. But today in one of the museums in Munich you can see its recreated copy. The mechanism is striking in its size and it is already very difficult to compare this colossus with modern miniature gadgets.

ENIAC - the world's first computer

What is ENIAC? Literally, it is an electronic numerical integrator and calculator. This machine was the first proof that it was indeed possible to build a computer. That an electronic machine is capable of performing complex calculations. And that this is only the beginning of the greatest discoveries and developments.

History of the ENIAC project

The development of the very first computer in the world began in 1943. At the height of the Second World War, the United States needed large amounts of calculations of firing tables, without which artillery could not hit the target exactly. At that time, this duty was assigned to women, calculations were performed manually on arithmometers. In terms of time, such calculations took up to 16 days for one calculation. For the complete calculation of one table, a large number of calculators were involved and a lot of time was required.

In 1942, the University of Pennsylvania, USA, was proposed the project of the first electronic computer based on vacuum tubes, and a proposal to build it. The management of the institute did not evaluate the project and sent it to the archive. Later, the Ballistic Laboratory became interested in computers. Such a solution would greatly speed up the calculation of firing tables from several days or even months to several hours.

In 1943, the project, recreated from memory by the developer, was presented to the scientific department of the Ballistic Laboratory. So that the innovation would not cause rejection among the military, the car was called an electronic differentiated analyzer. The representatives of the commission were familiar with the mechanical analyzer and got the impression that the engineers just wanted to make it electronic. According to the assurances of the developers, the future machine will be able to calculate the firing trajectory in 5 minutes.

The idea was approved and funds in the amount of almost 62 thousand US dollars were allocated to create the world's first computer. In the first development document, the machine was called "Electronic Numerical Integrator", the additional word "Computer" joined it a little later, after which the well-known and most famous abbreviation in the history of PC creation was formed.

In February 1944, all the drawings and diagrams of the future machine were formed. And a group of engineers led by the main developers was ready for the final collection and implementation of the project. In the summer of the same year, two test modules were assembled into one device, which were used to add numbers. They multiplied two numbers and gave the correct answer, the results of the experiment were presented to the leadership of the institute and laboratory and confirmed that the engineers' project was quite feasible.

ENIAC was finally assembled in 1945 at the end of the war and was no longer useful for military purposes. In this regard, the American military department decided to use the capabilities of the machine in the calculations for the development of thermonuclear weapons. ENIAC was presented to the public only a year later. He successfully performed his job for 10 years and was permanently cut off from power in October 1955.

How the computer was used

Ten years of continuous service is a very impressive period for the first computer. What did ENIAC manage to do during this period?

As mentioned above, after the creation and successful testing, the computer was disassembled and transported to the Ballistic Laboratory for calculations related to the creation of thermonuclear weapons. The latter required large capacities, and although ENIAC simplified the process, it was not fully suitable for full-fledged modeling. As a result of approximate and highly simplified calculations of the first computer, the possibility of creating a hydrogen bomb was proved.
Then, ENIAC performed calculations using the Monte Carlo method.
Then the British physicist solved on the first computer the aerodynamic problem of the flow of air masses around the wing of an aircraft at supersonic speed. The computer gave fairly accurate results.
Von Neumann calculated the values of pi and e on a computer with very high accuracy.
Also, this computer was used for the first time to calculate the numerical weather forecast. This calculation took place within 5 weeks, after which the analysis of the obtained results was carried out.

Despite the duration, the very first computer in the world produced a very impressive result.

Design characteristics

In total, the creation of ENIAC cost almost 500 thousand US dollars and 200 thousand man-hours. The design consisted of 17.5 thousand lamps of 16 types, 7.2 thousand silicon diodes, 1.5 thousand relays, 70 thousand resistors and 10 thousand capacitors. The machine absorbed so much electricity that during the calculations the nearest city was left without electricity for many hours.

ENIAC had the following parameters and characteristics:

the weight of the structure is 27 tons;
memory - 20 number-words;
required power - 174 kW;
computing power - 257 multiplication operations or 5 thousand additions per second;
clock frequency - 100 kHz;
data input and output was performed by an IBM punched card tabulator.

To calculate the multiplication, the machine used multiple addition, so the power in this direction of calculation is reduced. All calculations were performed in decimal, with binary being familiar to the developers, but they preferred the former. (the photo below is not him - just a picture for the atmosphere)

To solve each specific problem, ENIAC was subjected to re-commutation until 1947, that is, programmers re-formed the program to calculate a new problem by rearranging blocks and switches. Then each task of calculation began to be used as a subroutine, which greatly simplified the programming of the machine.

Development team

So after all, who is the developer of the first computer? The authorship of the main project belongs to John Presper Eckert and John William Mockley. A whole group of highly qualified specialists worked directly on the creation of the machine.

Robert F. Shaw - functional tables;
Thomas K. Sharpless - lead programmer;
Jeffrey Chuan Chu - square root and division modulus;
Arthur Burks - multiplication module;
Jack Devi - batteries;
Harry Husky - module for reading data for output;
John Von Neumann - participated in the project as a scientific consultant.

In addition to these specialists, a team of programmers, consisting of six girls, worked on the computer:

Marilyn Meltzer;
Kathleen Rita McNulty;
Frances Elizabeth Snyder;
Ruth Lichterman;
Betty Jean Jennings;
Francis Bylas.

Thus, it is difficult to determine who is the creator of the ENIAC computer in the singular. Many specialists worked both on the design and on the creation of computers.

Further development and creation of the first personal computers

In 1945, the first report was submitted from the EDVAC, Von Neumann's improved version of the first computer. He performed calculations not only at the expense of punched cards, but also using his own memory, this reduced the number of lamps and accelerated the calculation process.

The first PCs for sale appeared after the creation of microprocessors. IBM tried to organize the first sales as early as 1974. But the devices were not in demand at all. These devices used cassettes as memory, and the cost of the machines was no more, no less - 10 thousand US dollars. Hence the lack of demand.

The answer to the question of who created the first computer available for home use is obvious from the name of the machine - IBM 5100. This machine had 64 KB of memory and could run some programs. Despite the cost and not entirely clear purpose of use, the first sales still took place.

Domestic developments

Engineers in the Soviet Union also did not sit still and developed their own product. Who created the computer in the USSR? The project was led by S. A. Lebedev. Work began in 1948. The car was built only by the end of 1950. And already in 1952, serious calculations of scientific and technical problems were made at the Soviet MESMs.

It is worth noting that when creating the very first computer in the USSR, Lebedev, independently of Von Neumann, came to the decision to use a program stored in memory to perform calculations.

Despite the fact that the Small Electronic Computing Machine had a low speed and a small amount of memory, it had quite advanced algorithms. It also had a memory device for long-term storage of commands and constant constants.

History of computer games

I wonder what was the very first game in the world? It was created in 1962 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Of course, the development of this product was carried out by engineers after hours.

The first game was called Spacewar. The plot is based on the battle of two space liners that attack each other with special missiles. The game was launched on the basis of a separate processor, with a speed of 100 thousand operations per second and a memory of 9 KB.

A map of the starry sky with liners was displayed on the display. The gun was controlled and fired using joysticks and a keyboard. The number of missiles for each enemy was limited, which added excitement to the simplest shooter. Each player had to not only hit the enemy, but also get away from his attacks. It was possible to maneuver between the stars or make hyperjumps in space.

The game was released on a commercial basis, and it was planned to make a good profit from the product. But the toy never received great popularity, although it glorified the creators in narrow circles. Nevertheless, subsequent developments in this direction were already in demand.

The creation of ENIAC, the very first computer in the world, served as a start to the beginning of developments in the direction of electronics and computer technology. To date, humanity has achieved quite a lot of success, but progress does not stand still and it is sometimes difficult to even imagine what awaits us ahead.

It is very difficult to imagine modern society without computers. These "smart machines" once entered our lives and became a truly integral part of it. However, there were times when humanity was just taking the first steps towards creating such devices. Who is the creator of the first and what did the first personal computer look like?

When did the first computer appear?

So when did the very first computer appear? If we talk about the first predecessor of modern computers - abacus (abacus), then they were still in ancient Babylon. Since that time, mankind has been able to invent devices that allow simple calculations. Progress could be observed from the end of the nineteenth century, and the peak was in the first half of the twentieth century. In 1938, the first mechanical programmable machine Z1 was created, and on its basis, three years later, the first Z3 computer was created, which has the properties of a modern computer.

Who created the first computer?

It is believed that the first computer was created by the French scientist Blaise Pascal. He owned the idea in 1642 to create the first digital computer. With this discovery, in fact, it all began. Although automatic calculations had many advantages, the use of such a device for financial settlements in France was problematic, as it complicated the initially difficult process of calculations. In ten years, Pascal managed to build fifty and sell about a dozen variants of the machine that many now call the very first computer in the world.

Another prominent scientist in this field is Konrad Zuse, a German engineer and pioneer in computer engineering. Many have heard that laziness is the engine of progress. Zuse did not like complex mathematical calculations so much that he decided to create a computing machine using the binary system. His first computer demanded full dedication, so Konrad Zuse took all his time to create it. As a result, six years later, the world saw his creation.

What did the first computer look like?

Interest is caused not only by the date of creation of the first computer and its creator, but also by how the machine looked. It is important to note that the first mass personal computer and even the devices of the early 90s were much weaker than modern ones. An example is the fact that the amount of modern memory can be compared with the entire disk memory of more than one thousand personal computers of the early nineties. Also for other indicators. The first programmable computer appeared in the United States in 1946. Its weight was about thirty tons. The computer contained 18,000 vacuum tubes.

The device of the first computer

The machine of the French scientist Blaise Pascal was a mechanical device in the form of a box with numerous interconnected gears. With the help of a special rotation of the typesetting wheels, the added numbers were entered into the machine. Divisions 0-9 were applied to each of the wheels. When a number was entered, the wheels scrolled to the required number. The first generation of computers had five gears. Over time, their number increased to 6 or eight, which made it possible to work with large numbers.

First use of computers

The earliest computers were built for computing only. Even very primitive machines outnumbered humans. The second use of computers was databases. The government and banks needed them. For these purposes, more complex machines with advanced input and output systems and information storage were required. For this reason, the Kobal language was then developed.

The first home computers

The first personal computers appeared in the 1970s. At that time, some people at home began to assemble computers, and only with a research interest. At that time, the use of such personal computers at home was not. And already in 1975, the first personal computer Altair 8800 appeared. It was called the first commercially successful PC. Its creator is the American engineer Henry Edward Roberts.

The first computer - interesting facts

There are many informative facts about the first computers:

The first computer in the world was impressive. Its weight was about thirty tons. For one such machine, a large room filled with cabinets with electronic equipment was needed. In those days, computers could run on expensive large vacuum tubes.
The very first computer in the world had to serve a whole staff of engineers. Then it was necessary to specially connect a lot of wires, which took a lot of time.
The first microprocessors processed only four bits of information. Marchian Edward Hoff became their inventor in 1970.
The first personal computer, the Altair-8800, had neither a screen nor a keyboard. However, he was still in demand. So, in the first month alone, more than a thousand sets were sold.
Until now, personal computers are manufactured according to the same standards. The IBM PC model can be considered the standard for all modern personal computers.
The first PCs from the manufacturer IBM were sold at a price of three thousand dollars with a black and white display, and with a color one - six thousand dollars. Moreover, when the company released the first computer, it could not have imagined that it would be possible to sell so many copies.