History of Computers - Electronic Tabulating Machine
The 1890 Census posed a problem to the US government. A recent population explosion in the US drove the estimated time required to tabulate the census to 13 years- problematic because the constitution required a census to be completed every 10 years.[1] From this problem arose the first electronic computation device, the Electronic Tabulating Machine.
Overview
The Electronic Tabulating Machine was invented by Herman Hollerith for the purpose of tabulating the 1890 US census. The machine allowed for the census to be completed in one year, against estimations of up to 13 years if the census was done by hand. With the invention of the Electronic Tabulating Machine came the simultaneous invention of the punch card for entering data, a method of data entry that lasted into the 1980's in computing, and into the 21st century for voting.[1]
Cite error: <ref> tags exist, but no <references/> tag was found
