In this article, TechGoNo spotlights the History Of Computers. When Was The First Computer Invented?
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When Was The First Computer Invented?
There is no simple response to this inquiry because of the wide range of characterizations of PCs. The first mechanical PC, made by Charles Babbage in 1822, doesn’t look like what most would think about a PC today. Thusly, this page gives a posting of every one of the PC firsts, beginning with the Difference Engine and paving the way to the PCs we use today.
When was the “Computer” first utilized?
“Computer” was first utilized in 1613 in the book The Yong Mans Gleanings by Richard Braithwaite and initially portrayed a human who performed estimations or calculations. The meaning of a PC continued as before until the finish of the nineteenth century when the modern upset brought about mechanical machines whose main role was ascertaining.
First mechanical computer or automatic computing engine concept
In 1822, Charles Babbage conceptualized and began developing the Difference Engine, considered the first automatic computing engine capable of computing several sets of numbers and making hard copies of the results. Unfortunately, because of funding, he could never complete a full-scale functional version of this machine. In June of 1991, the London Science Museum completed the Difference Engine No 2 for the bicentennial year of Babbage’s birth and later completed the printing mechanism in 2000.
Later, in 1837 Charles Babbage proposed the first general mechanical computer, the Analytical Engine. The Analytical Engine contained an Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU), basic flow control, and integrated memory and is the first general-purpose computer concept. Unfortunately, because of funding issues, this computer was also never built while Charles Babbage was alive. In 1910, Henry Babbage, Charles Babbage’s youngest son, was able to complete a portion of this machine and was able to perform basic calculations.
First programmable computer
The Z1, originally created by Germany’s Konrad Zuse in his parent’s living room in 1936 to 1938 and is considered to be the first electro-mechanical binary programmable (modern) computer and really the first functional computer.
First concepts of what we consider a modern computer
The Turing machine was first proposed by Alan Turing in 1936 and became the foundation for theories about computing and computers. The machine was a device that printed symbols on paper tape in a manner that emulated a person following a series of logical instructions. Without these fundamentals, we wouldn’t have the computers we use today.
The first electric programmable computer
The Colossus was the first electric programmable computer and was developed by Tommy Flowers and first demonstrated in December 1943. The Colossus was created to help the British code breakers read encrypted German messages.
The first digital computer
Short for Atanasoff-Berry Computer, the ABC was developed by Professor John Vincent Atanasoff and graduate student Cliff Berry in 1937 and continued to be developed until 1942 at Iowa State College (now Iowa State University). The ABC was an electrical computer that used vacuum tubes for digital computation, including binary math and Boolean logic, and had no CPU. On October 19, 1973, US Federal Judge Earl R. Larson signed his decision that the ENIAC patent by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly was invalid and named Atanasoff the inventor of the electronic digital computer.
The ENIAC was invented by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly at the University of Pennsylvania and began construction in 1943 and was not completed until 1946. It occupied about 1,800 square feet and used about 18,000 vacuum tubes weighing almost 50 tons. Although the Judge ruled that the ABC computer was the first digital computer, many still consider the ENIAC the first digital one because it was fully functional.
The first stored-program computer
The early British computer known as the EDSAC is considered to be the first stored-program electronic computer. The computer performed its first calculation on May 6, 1949, and was the computer that ran the first graphical computer game, nicknamed “Baby.”
The first computer company
The first computer company was the Electronic Controls Company which was founded in 1949 by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, the \ same individuals who helped create the ENIAC computer. The company was later renamed to EMCC or Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation and released a series of mainframe computers under the UNIVAC name.
First stored program computer
First delivered to the United States Government in 1950, the UNIVAC 1101 or ERA 1101 is considered the first computer capable of storing and running a program from memory.
First commercial computer
In 1942, Konrad Zuse began working on the Z4, which later became the first commercial
computer after being sold to Eduard Stiefel, a mathematician at the Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology Zurich on July 12, 1950.
The first PC (IBM compatible) computer
On April 7, 1953, IBM publicly introduced the 701, its first electric computer and the first mass-produced computer. Later IBM introduced its first personal computer called the IBM PC in 1981. The computer was code-named and sometimes referred to as the Acorn and had an 8088 processor, and 16 KB of memory, which was expandable to 256, and utilized MS-DOS.
The first computer with RAM
MIT introduced the Whirlwind machine on March 8, 1955, a revolutionary computer that was the first digital computer with magnetic core RAM and real-time graphics.
The first transistor computer
The TX-O (Transistorized Experimental computer) was the first transistorized computer to be demonstrated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1956.
The first minicomputer
In 1960, Digital Equipment Corporation released its first of many PDP computers, the PDP-1.
The first mass-market desktop computer
In 1968, Hewlett Packard began marketing the first mass-marketed PC and the first desktop computer, the HP 9100A.
The first workstation
Although it was never sold, the first workstation is considered to be the Xerox Alto, introduced in 1974. The computer was revolutionary for its time and included a fully functional computer, display, and mouse. The computer operates like many computers today, utilizing windows, menus, and icons as an interface to its operating system.
The first microprocessor
Intel introduced the first microprocessor, the Intel 4004, on November 15, 1971.
The first personal computer
In 1975, Ed Roberts coined the term “personal computer” when he introduced the Altair 8800. However, the first personal computer is considered by many to be the KENBAK-1, which was first introduced for $750 in 1971. The computer relied on a series of switches for inputting and outputting data by turning on and off a series of lights.
The Micral is considered the be the first commercial non-assembly computer. The computer used the Intel 8008 processor and sold for $1,750 in 1973.
The first laptop or portable computer
The IBM 5100 is the first portable computer released in September 1975. The computer weighed 55 pounds and had a five-inch CRT display, tape drive, 1.9MHz PALM processor, and 64KB of RAM. In the picture is an ad for the IBM 5100 taken from a November 1975 issue of Scientific America.
The first truly portable computer or laptop is considered to be the Osborne I, which was released on April 1981 and developed by Adam Osborne. The Osborne I weighed 24.5 pounds, had a 5-inch display, 64 KB of memory, two 5 1/4″ floppy drives, ran the CP/M 2.2 operating system, included a modem and cost US$179.
The IBM PC Division (PCD) later released the IBM portable in 1984, its first portable computer that weighed in 30 pounds. Later in 1986, IBM PCD announced its a first laptop computer, the PC Convertible, weighing 12 pounds. Finally, in 1994, IBM introduced the IBM ThinkPad 775CD, the first notebook with an integrated CD-ROM.
The first Apple computer
Steve Wozniak designed the first Apple, known as the Apple I, in 1976.
The first PC clone
The Compaq Portable is considered to be the first PC clone and was released in March 1983 by Compaq. The Compaq Portable was 100% compatible with IBM computers and could run any software developed for IBM computers.
See the below other major computer companies first for other IBM compatible computers
The first multimedia computer
In 1992, Tandy Radio Shack becomes one of the first companies to release a computer-based
on the MPC standard with its introduction of the M2500 XL/2 and M4020 SX computers.
Other major computer companies firsts
Below is a listing of some of the major computers companies’ first computers.
- Compaq – In March 1983, Compaq released its first computer and the first 100% IBM-compatible computer, the “Compaq Portable.”
- Dell – In 1985, Dell introduced its first computer, the “Turbo PC.”
- Hewlett Packard – In 1966, Hewlett Packard released its first general computer, the “HP-2115.”
- NEC – In 1958, NEC built its first computer, the “NEAC 1101.”
- Toshiba – In 1954, Toshiba introduced its first computer, the “TAC” digital computer.