The Evolution of Computing

2,400 B.C

The Abacus

The abacus dates all the way back to Mesepotamia civilization. It is hard to say a original creator of the Abacus but one of the first creators of the Abacus was Tim Cranmer in the 1960 for visually impared people. This device is still used to this day for visually impared people and to score non electronic games like foosball.

2,400 B.C

225 BCE

The Astrolabe

The Astrolabe was primaraly invented by the ancient Greeks around 225 BCE by Apollonius based off of the theories and based off of the findings of Hipparchus. The Astrolabes main purposes was to tell time during the day and/or night, to identify the time of sunrise and sunset, the length of the day, and to locate celestial objects in the sky. From the invention of the Astrolabe came new methods of mathematics, along with the early development of astronomy.

225 BCE

1642-1644

The Pascaline

The Pascaline was designed and built by a French mathematician-philosopher named Blaise Pascal between 1642 and 1644. The Pascaline could only do addition and subtraction with numbers being entered by manipulating its dials. The main reason Blaise Pascal invented the Pascaline was for his father who was a a tax collector, in order to reduce some of his hard work. The Pascaline impacted computing today by inspiring other inventors and contributed to other mechanical and computing devices.

1642-

1644

1820's

The Difference Engine

The Difference Enginewas designed in the 1820s, and was first created by Charles Babbage. The difference engine was first used as an automatic mechanical calculator designed to tabulate polynomial functions. Because of his invention it lead to Charles Babbage's next engine, and ultimately to modern computer programming.

1820's

1936

The Z1 (Computer)

The Z1 was a motor-driven mechanical computer created by Konrad Zuse from 1936 to 1937, that he built in his parents' home from 1936 to 1938. This calculator was not just a mechanical calculator it also had with limited programmability and reading instructions from punched celluloid,a transparent flammable plastic made in sheets from camphor and nitrocellulose, film. This computer changed the world because it was the first freely programmable computer in the world that used Boolean logic and binary floating-point numbers

1936

1945

The ENIAC

The ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was the first programmable, electronic, general-purpose digital computer, completed in 1945. What made the ENIAC different was that there were other computers that had combinations of these features, but the ENIAC had all of them in one computer. The ENIAC was designed by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert to calculate artillery firing tables for the United States Army's Ballistic Research Laboratory. The ENIAC had a huge impact on computing because it laid the foundations for the modern electronic computing industry.

1945

1973

The Micral

The Micral is a series of microcomputers that was produced by the French company called Réalisation d'Études Électroniques (R2E) in 1973. The Micral N was the first commercially available microprocessor-based computer. Even though many versions weren’t the fastest-selling products the company had hoped for, the Micral did make a lasting impact on the personal computer market and changed the way data storage works.

1973

1974

The Altair 8800

The Altair 8800 is a microcomputer designed in 1974 by MITS and based on the Intel 8080 CPU. The Altair 8800 was aimed at hobbyists but it became the first commercially successful personal computer because it hit the sweet spot of performance and price. MITS co-founder Ed Roberts invented the Altair 8800 which sold for $297, or $395 and it coined the term “personal computer”. The Altair 8800 changed the world of computing the Altair 8800 initiated the personal computer age.

1974

1955-Present

Self Driving Cars

Experiments have been conducted on self-driving cars since 1939. Promising trials took place in the 1950s and work has proceeded since then. The first self-sufficient and truly independent cars appeared in the 1980s, with Carnegie Mellon University's Navlab and ALV projects in 1984 and Mercedes-Benz and Bundeswehr University Munich's Eureka Prometheus Project in 1987. Self driving cars changed the world because the promised saftey to the driver and passengers.

Ai Era

1955- Present

Smart Homes

Smart home technology, as we know it today, began in 1975 accompanying the invention of X10. X10 is a communication protocol that uses a home's AC wiring to enable communication between devices and control modules equipped in the home. A smart home is a residence that uses internet-connected devices to enable the remote monitoring and management of appliances and systems, such as lighting and heating. Smart homes changed the world by being a convienient and easy place to live

Ai Era

Work Cited

Das, Rajnish. “Who Invented the Abacus: A Brief History .” EnthuZiastic, 25 Nov. 2022, enthu.com/blog/abacus/who-invented-the-abacus/#:~:text=As%20the%20abacus%20has%20its,visually%20impaired%20people%20in%201960.

https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/6170/Zuse-Z1-built-by-Konrad-Zuse/

https://kb.osu.edu/bitstream/handle/1811/78206/OJSM_65_Spring2012_58.pdf

https://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/library/library_exhibitions/schoolresources/astrolabe/what

http://ds-wordpress.haverford.edu/bitbybit/bit-by-bit-contents/chapter-one/1-7-pascal-and-the-pascaline/

https://www.computerhistory.org/babbage/engines/

https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/6170/Zuse-Z1-built-by-Konrad-Zuse/

https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/birth-of-the-computer/4/78

https://dbpedia.org/page/Micral

https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_334396

https://www.acko.com/car-guide/how-driverless-cars-will-change-the-world-around-us/

Work Cited