Who built the first computer?

[lumberjim]

We were at the Wright Brothers Monument today....and learned a good bit about that whole thing.

So....later that night.....

In chatting with jinx and dana.....I realized that I didn't know who built the first Computer.

did you?

If you look at most history books, they'll tell you ENIAC (for Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was the first true all-purpose electronic computer. Unveiled in 1946 in a blaze of publicity, it was a monstrous 30-ton machine, as big as two semis and filled with enough vacuum tubes (19,000), switches (6,000) and blinking lights to require an army of attendants. Capable of adding 5,000 numbers in a second, a then unheard of feat, it could compute the trajectory of an artillery shell well before it landed (compared with days of labored hand calculations).

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...#ixzz0XvKT7LOi

[Perry Winkle]

The antikythera machine is thought to be an early computer built in the late BC years. Then you have quite a few computing machines from the 17th century on built by people like Leibniz, Pascal, Babbage, and IBMs first machines in the late 19th century. To name a first, you need to get a little more specific. More here.

A smart ass might say the first general purpose computer was a human.

[casimendocina]

Aren't smart arses just right? (or am I being cynical?)

[richlevy]

ENIAC was the first electronic multi-purpose computer. If I remember correctly, one of its tasks was building tables for artillery during WWII.

The difference engine, a mechanical computer, was built by Charles Babbage in the late 1800's. Like the Wright Brothers, he actually built on someone's earlier theoretical work and gained most of the credit by actually building a working prototype.

There is also the card based electro-mechanical tabulator that predated ENIAC by a few decades. This is what actually built IBM. It could sort and summarize punched cards. After ENIAC, the two technologies were merged and computers read the punched 'Hollerith' cards.

If you want to go farther afield, and consider astronomy computing instruments, you could include astrolabes and possibly even Stonehenge.

[Undertoad]

I favor Eckert and Mauchly because I went to work for Sperry, which was the ashes of Univac. But more interesting, as Rich noted, is

[ENIAC] could compute the trajectory of an artillery shell well before it landed (compared with days of labored hand calculations).

When you hear NASA defended on the basis that its discoveries wind up used in other ways, realize they are pikers compared to the military.

[Cloud]

two marginally related comments:

1) I can now pronounce "antikythera" thanks to a recent, very interesting, tv program, whose name I can't remember now or I'd link to it

2) My dad worked for a construction company estimating costs for large freeway projects. He had this HUMONGOUS calculator machine--about the size of a large typewriter, with about 300 tiny little buttons and (I think) a hand lever, to do the calculations (used in mid-60s). I should look and see if I can find a pic of that.

[xoxoxoBruce]

My Dad had one of those, Cloud, to estimate plumbing jobs for commercial buildings and schools.

Originally Posted by casimendocina

Aren't smart arses just right? (or am I being cynical?)

Their answers are right, but seldom address the question as it was meant.

[lumberjim]

i guess there is no strictly defined moment it was invented because there are too many definitions of what a computer is.....therefore no singular inventor.

[regular.joe]

LJ, there is a great article in Scientific American, last month or maybe month before last all about the current topic. Check it out.

[richlevy]

Originally Posted by Cloud

two marginally related comments:

2) My dad worked for a construction company estimating costs for large freeway projects. He had this HUMONGOUS calculator machine--about the size of a large typewriter, with about 300 tiny little buttons and (I think) a hand lever, to do the calculations (used in mid-60s). I should look and see if I can find a pic of that.

I actually found one of those, like new in the box, at a junk sale. I picked it up for something like 10 bucks. Unfortunately, I don't remember what happened to it after the move.

What was fascinating to me was that here was this brilliant meticulously built device. I think I found a date on it somewhere close to 1970. Now integrated circuits technically go back to the 1950's, but it was the LSI chips in the early 70's that were first produced in large quantities and made the early calculators feasible.

So this wonderful shiny device was technically obsolete just a few years after it came off of the assembly line.

It's pretty much the same as what happened to wristwatches. A cheap quartz watch will always be more accurate than a traditional gear driven watch, no matter how well it is constructed.

In some ways this is sad, because circuit boards will never be as pretty as the inside of a mechanical watch.

[ZenGum]

[smartass]

Who built the first computer?

Biological brains don't count since they weren't "built" by a "who".
A "computer" is something which, well, computes, that is, does calculations. The question does not mention electronic, multi-purpose, or programmable, so the award goes to [envelope tearing] .... the Antikythera Mechanism!

Notice I did not end the smartass code. I didn't really need to start it, did I?

[TheMercenary]

I am pretty sure Al Gore had a hand in it.

[ZenGum]

no, no, he just took the initiative in developing it. You naughty boy. :p

[Cicero]

I found this cool series about the internet last night....and its humble beginnings...Not exactly the first computer but..it is worth mentioning.

Those poor guys...

http://documentaryheaven.com/pt-13-n...-the-internet/

It is a three part series. The man that hacked and delivered our first @ is included. heh

NERDS!!! LOL!

I really got a kick out of it...Now I have to watch the other parts of the series.