Who developed the first computer in the world. The first computers - the beginning of the era of high technology. How the computer got its name

Acquaintance with the computer took place not so long ago, but its appearance was preceded by a long history of creation.

A bit of history

Blaise Pascal and Wilhelm Leibniz' adding machine are considered the ancestors of the modern personal computer. The term "computer" was first mentioned in the 18th century. Then this term was applied to any mechanical computing device that could perform the simplest operations - addition and subtraction.

In the Oxford Dictionary, the word "computer" was interpreted as "computer".

Later, at the beginning of the 19th century, a more “intelligent” machine was invented that could solve even simple equations. Even later, they were able to create the first analytical multifunctional machine that works with punched cards. Given the close attention of scientists to these devices, their modernization took place at an accelerated pace. In a short time they were equipped with electrical relays and vacuum tubes.

A long way from the first computer to the modern computer

In 1946, the first computer was presented to the world. True, that machine was many times larger than a modern computer and absorbed a fairly large amount of electricity. The weight of the first computer was approximately 30 tons. Only large, wealthy companies and enterprises allowed themselves to use such computers.

In the early 60s, thanks to the invention of transistors, manufacturers were able to release the first mini-computer PDP-8. The computer was equipped with RAM for storing information, information was learned to be stored on magnetic disks. The leading position in the production of computers at that time was taken by IBM, which to this day remains the largest computer manufacturer in the world.

A significant event in the development of personal computers is the creation by Bill Gates of the Altair Basic language interpreter, which made it possible to create various programs for computers.

Since the creation of Altair, the production of computers began to be massive. Many manufacturers of PCs and software for them began to appear.

From that moment on, the main emphasis was placed on improving the quality and versatility of this technology, which allowed a person to use a multifunctional and compact "super device" - a modern computer.

2 First computer....................................................................................................................4

3 Generations of computers....................................................................................................................6

3.1 The first generation of computers....................................................................................................6

3.2 The second generation of computers....................................................................................................7

3.3 The third generation of computers....................................................................................................8

3.3.1 Minicomputer...............................................................................................................9

3.4 The fourth generation of computers....................................................................................................10

3.4.1 Supercomputer...............................................................................................................12

3.5 Fifth generation of computers...............................................................................................13

The history of the invention of computers

1 How it all began

At the end of the 19th century, Herman Hollerith in America invented perforating machines. They used punched cards to store numerical information.

Each such machine could execute only one specific program, manipulating with punched cards and numbers punched on them.

Counting and perforating machines perforated, sorted, summed up, printed numerical tables. On these machines it was possible to solve many typical tasks of statistical processing, accounting and others.

G. Hollerith founded a company producing punching machines, which was then transformed into IBM, now the world's most famous computer manufacturer.

Relay computers were the immediate predecessors of computers.

By the 30s of the 20th century, relay automation was greatly developed, which made it possible to encode information in binary form.

During the operation of a relay machine, thousands of relays switch from one state to another.

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.

Electronic lamps became the technical basis for the first electronic computers (computers).

2 First computer

The first computer - a universal machine on vacuum tubes - was built in the USA in 1945.

This machine was called ENIAC (stands for Electronic Digital Integrator and Computer). The designers of ENIAC were J. Mouchli and J. Eckert.

The counting speed of this machine exceeded the speed of relay machines of that time by a thousand times.

The first electronic computer ENIAC was programmed using the plug-and-switch method, that is, the program was built by connecting the individual blocks of the machine on a switching board with conductors.

This complex and tedious procedure for preparing the machine for work made it inconvenient to operate.

The main ideas, according to which computing technology has been developing for many years, were developed by the largest American mathematician John von Neumann.

In 1946, the journal "Nature" published an article by J. von Neumann, G. Goldstein and A. Burks "Preliminary consideration of the logical design of an electronic computing device."

This article outlined the principles of the design and operation of computers. Chief among them is the principle of the stored program in memory, according to which the data and the program are placed in the general memory of the machine.

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 were called "computer architecture by J. von Neumann."

In 1949, the first computer with the Neumann architecture was built - the English machine EDSAC.

A year later, the American computer EDVAC appeared. The named machines existed in single copies. Serial production of computers began in the developed countries of the world in the 50s.

In our country, the first computer was created in 1951. It was called MESM - a small electronic calculating machine. The MESM designer was Sergey Alekseevich Lebedev.

Under the leadership of S.A. Lebedev in the 50s, serial tube computers BESM-1 (large electronic calculating machine), BESM-2, M-20 were built.

At that time, these machines were among the best in the world.

In the 60s, S.A. Lebedev led the development of semiconductor computers BESM-ZM, BESM-4, M-220, M-222.

The outstanding achievement of that period was the BESM-6 machine. This is the first domestic and one of the first computers in the world with a speed of 1 million operations per second. Subsequent ideas and developments by S.A. Lebedev contributed to the creation of more advanced machines of the next generations.

Our time of computerization obliges every educated person to know a lot of things directly related to computer technology. And you can start by studying when the first computer appeared. Agree, few people think about the origin of the computer.

The history of the creation of the first computer

The computer as we see it now was not always like this. The "life path" of the computer can be easily traced. It began with the invention by Blaise Pascal in 1642 of a device capable of adding and subtracting decimal numbers - the Pascaline. It was difficult to call the first computer in the world a computer, because it was something more like a calculator. This computer performed only two operations - addition and subtraction. Then, in 1653, multiplication and division were added to these functions. Further, the development of the functionality froze somewhat, they began to focus on the appearance, that is, they tried to clothe all the same options in a more compact and less cumbersome shell. It wasn't until 1822 that a machine was invented that could solve simple equations. It was a turning point in the history of computer technology. After that, automated computing devices evolved at a tremendous speed. Already in 1946, a new computer appeared to the world. Of course, comparing the first computer and a modern PC, one can smile skeptically, because it is not clear how a machine weighing 30 tons could turn into something that even a woman can easily lift.

Who is the developer of the first computer

Of course, the one who invented the first computer in the world, did a great job in the development of technology. So who is this person who introduced the first computer to the world? It was a scientist of German origin Konrad Zuse. The very first computer in the world, according to Wikipedia, is precisely the computer invented in the forties of the 20th century, since it contained all the basic functions of a modern computer. But the size of this technique was still incredibly large, sometimes taking up an entire room alone. And only with the invention of the microprocessor, for which thanks to Tedd Hoff, the computer began to approach in size to the PC familiar to us.

By the way, the PC gained wide popularity after the start of competition between two companies - Apple and Microsoft. In the battle for customers, these companies improved and improved their products, delighting us with compactness and functionality. Since the first PC was invented, relatively little time has passed, but the differences between that device and the current one are huge. We can only guess what improvements await the computer in the future.