Who created the first pc. Who invented the first computer and in what year? Technology to the masses

Today it is impossible to imagine life without a personal computer, but not so long ago people lived without computers and everything suited them. Let's take a look at the history of the very first personal computer.

The role of the personal computer in our modern life cannot be overestimated. Right now, humanity has finally come close to its cherished dream - to have smart mechanical assistants in any area of ​​life. The personal computer has become simply indispensable for work, entertainment or leisure. The heirs of the first computers assembled in basements and garages now stand in chic offices, stylish offices and in our cozy apartments. It should be noted that not immediately Personal Computer made its way to the market, the fate of individuals and corporations that did a lot for the modern development of computer technology was not always successful.

How it all began

Herman Hollerith at the end of the 19th century in America invented counting and perforating machines. They used punched cards to store numerical information. G. Hollerith is the founder of a company that produces counting and perforating machines. IBM is the most popular computer corporation in the world today.
The first computer was invented in the USA in 1945. It was a universal vacuum tube machine designed by J. Mouchli and J. Eckert.

All electronic computers can be divided into generations. Generational change is mainly associated with the progress of electronic technology. So:
- The 1st generation of computers are tube machines of the 50s. Punched tapes and punched cards were used to enter programs and data.
- 2nd generation of computers - transistors became the elementary base in the 60s. Computers are now more reliable, more compact, less energy intensive.
- The 3rd generation of computers - created on integrated circuits. Magnetic disks, a new type of storage devices, appear.
- 4th generation of computers - a microprocessor was created in 1971 by Intel. By connecting the microprocessor with external memory, I / O devices, they invented a microcomputer.

Personal computers

The most popular computers today are personal computers.
The appearance of the PC is associated with the names of two American specialists: Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. In 1976, their first PC -1 appears, and in 1977 - Apple-2.

A personal computer is a microcomputer with hardware and software that is loyal to the user. Software enables a person to easily communicate with a computer and benefit from it. The PC is now the same everyday household appliances as, for example, a radio. Since 1980, the American company IB M has been the most popular on the PC market. Ten years later, Apple Corporatio machines become famous.

The appearance of the PC in terms of its significance for social development can only be compared with the emergence of book printing. It was PCs that brought computer literacy to the masses. With the development of this type of electronic machines, the concept of “information technology” arose, and without them, in principle, humanity can not do in any area of ​​its life.

The computer era began relatively recently. Even 100 years ago, people did not know what a personal computer was, although its distant predecessor, i.e. abacus, appeared in ancient Babylon 3000 BC.

Now it is hard to imagine life without a computer. Technique regularly serves the benefit of mankind. Computers manage complex technological processes, launch spacecraft, control nuclear power plants, monitor the weather.

As to when the first computer appeared, opinions differ. The debate on this topic does not stop. After all, the invention of the Pascal Wheel, created for arithmetic calculations back in 1645, can be safely called the first computer created.

The device summed up multi-digit numbers without human intervention in the mechanism. The reason for the creation of this device was the observation of young Pascal for his father, a tax collector, who made tedious calculations.

For the creation of the difference engine, Babbage was awarded the first gold medal of the Astronomical Society. However, the small difference engine was experimental because it had a small memory and was not used for large calculations.

At the end of the 19th century, Herman Hollerith in America invented punching machines. They used punched cards to store numerical information. Each such machine executed only one program, manipulating with punched cards and numbers punched on them. Counting and punching machines carried out sorting, summing, printing numerical tables. On these machines it was possible to solve typical problems of statistics and accounting.

Hollerith founded a company producing punching machines, which was then transformed into the company "IBM" - now a well-known manufacturer of computers in the world.

Relay computers were the immediate predecessors of computers. By the 30s of the 20th century, relay automation had developed, which encoded 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). The first computer - a universal machine on vacuum tubes - was built in the USA in 1945. This machine was called "ENIAC" (the abbreviation was deciphered and translated as follows: electronic digital integrator and calculator). The designers of the ENIAC were John Mouchli and John 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, i.e. the program was built by connecting individual blocks of the machine with conductors. This complex and tedious procedure for preparing the machine for work made it inconvenient to operate.

The main ideas, according to which computer technology has been developing for many years, were developed by the greatest 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 description of the device and operation of a computer is usually called the architecture of a computer. The ideas outlined in the article 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 1952. It was called "MESM" - a small electronic calculating machine. The designer of "MESM" was Sergey Alekseevich Lebedev.

The first domestic computer in the form in which it is depicted in computer science textbooks was developed at the turn of the decades, in 1959-60. The machine was intended for defense and space. Then these were two topical areas in which the state was ready to invest millions of rubles and thousands of sleepless nights of inventive minds. Already 9 years later, a Soviet dual-processor computer was presented, which became the service of the country as part of the USSR's anti-missile air defense.

First personal and supercomputer

Another event in electronics occurred in 1971, when the American company Intel announced the creation of a microprocessor. A microprocessor is a very large integrated circuit capable of performing the functions of the main unit of a computer - a processor. This is a miniature brain that works according to a program embedded in memory. By connecting the microprocessor with input-output devices and external memory, a new type of computer was obtained: a microcomputer.

The difference between a micro-computer and its predecessors is its small size (the size of a household TV) and comparative cheapness. This is the first type of computer that appeared in retail.

The most popular type of computer today are personal computers. The emergence of the phenomenon of personal computers is associated with the names of two American specialists: and. In 1976, their first production PC "Apple-1" was born, and in 1977 - "Apple-2".

The software allowed a person to easily communicate with the machine, quickly learn how to work with it, and get the benefits of a computer without resorting to programming. "Communication" between a person and a PC took the form of a game with colorful pictures on the screen, sound accompaniment. It is not surprising that machines with such properties quickly gained popularity.

Over time, the PC becomes familiar household appliances, like a radio or TV. They are produced in huge quantities, sold in stores. Since 1980, the American company IBM has become a trendsetter in the PC market. Its designers managed to create an architecture that has become an international standard. The machines of this series were called "IBM PC" (Personal Computer).

In the late 80s and early 90s, Macintosh machines from Apple Corporation gained popularity. It was the PC that made computer literacy a mass phenomenon. With the development of this type of machine, the concept of "information technology" appeared, without which it is already impossible to do in most areas of human activity.

There is another line in the development of computers. This is a supercomputer. Machines of this class have a speed of hundreds of millions and billions of operations per second. The first supercomputer of the fourth generation was the American machine "ILLIAC-4", followed by "CRAY", "CYBER", etc. Of the Russian machines, this series includes the multiprocessor computer complex "ELBRUS".

• The world's first computer virus was released in 1982 and was intended to infect Apple systems.
• In the same 1982, the Smiley symbol was registered and used to express a smile.
• It is not possible to create a folder on the computer with the name "con" because that is the designation for input and output devices.
• The computer, created in 1981, weighed 12 kilograms. The screen size of the monitor was 5 inches.
• According to statistics, the most common cause of computer failure is liquid spilled on the keyboard. The second place is occupied by problems with power outages.
• The first electronic computer "ENIAC" weighed 27 tons and occupied 167 m2.
• Douglas Engelbart invented the first computer mouse in 1964, it was made of wood.
• The first 1 GB hard drive appeared in 1980, weighed 250 kilograms and cost $40,000.
• In 1982, Time magazine named the computer its Person of the Year.

Can you imagine the modern world without computers? I - no, because every step we take is connected with computers. This story began back in the distant 40s, when the world had just begun to learn about the creation of the first "computers" (electronic computers).

The history of the creation of the world's first computer

In 1942, John Mauchley's project gave impetus to the creation of the first computer, although the project itself was initially ignored. Once one of the laboratories of the US Army became interested in him, and already in 1943 the first steps were taken to create a machine called "ENIAC". The money for the creation was given by the Pentagon (which needed to create new guns), and it took them a little less than $ 500,000.

By the way, in terms of electricity, ENIAC turned out to be very voracious when it was turned on - the lights of a nearby city dimmed each time. ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator) is truly the first computer that could be programmed.

Specifications of the first computer:

1. Weight reached 27 tons;
2. Power - 174 kW - this is how much a huge shopping center consumes on a day off;
3. It contained 18,000 vacuum tubes, because there were no transistors and processors at that time;
4. Memory - 4 kilobytes;
5. It had an impressive size - it occupied 135 sq.m.
6. Performed up to 5000 actions per second.

The most amazing thing is the kilometers of wires that the computer was wrapped around. It was programmed as a telephone communicator operated by telephone operators.

Later, it began to be used not only for the analysis of cosmic radiation, but also for the creation of a hydrogen bomb. While the computer was being created, the war ended, but research did not stop, and in 1945 the first official test was conducted, which it passed. At the same time, about 1,000,000 IBM punched cards were processed. Despite the huge size and weight, the computer worked for about 10 years.

After 5 years, the transistor was invented, which marked the beginning of a decrease in the size of computers.

Where and when was the first personal computer sold?

The concept of the personal computer changed little over the next two decades. The introduction of the microprocessor accelerated the process of building a computer. Back in 1974, IBM tried to create its first computer, but the attempt failed and sales were very low. IBM5100 - had cassettes as storage media, a fairly small weight and a serious cost of $ 10,000.

He was also able to independently execute programs written in programming languages ​​such as BASIC and APL (it was created at IBM). displayed 16 lines of 64 characters each, a memory of about 64 Kb, and these cassettes looked like stereo audio cassettes. But sales did not go, because there was no normal interface and the price was too high.

Have you ever wondered what computers will look like in 10 years?

Recently, IBM introduced its new mega-computer "Roadrunner". Its capacity is 1,000,000,000,000 (1 quadrillion) operations. It was created for the US Department of Energy, and consists of 6480 2-core processors, and 12,960 processors from IBM, which are called. It includes 278 huge cabinets, 88 kilometers of cables, weight - 226 tons, covers an area of ​​​​1100 m², power consumption of 3.9 MW, and the cost was $ 133,000,000.

Now the use of personal computers from Apple, Samsung, HP, Dell and other manufacturers seems to us something completely natural. However, less than a century ago, the average person had no idea about computer technology, and any development that is used today on every device has become a real breakthrough in the industry.

In this article, we will talk about what the very first computers in the world were like, who developed them and why, what their capabilities were, and how much they contributed to the development of technology.

Building the very first computers

The very first computers in the world occupied tens of square meters, and their weight was measured in tons. Nevertheless, it was they who allowed humanity to come to those compact and convenient devices that we use now. Unfortunately, there is no exact answer to the question of which computer was really the very first computer. However, there are several variants of this answer, which we will consider below.

Computer "Mark 1"

The Mark 1, also known as the ASCC (Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator), was designed and built in 1941. The US Navy acted as the customer of the work, and IBM as the general contractor. Five engineers were directly involved in the development of the device, led by the representative of the American army, Howard Aiken. As a basis for the implementation of the project, the developers took an analytical computer, which was created by the famous British inventor Charles Babbage.

At its core, "Mark 1" was an advanced adding machine that could be programmed and did not require human intervention directly in the process of performing calculations. The developers did not take into account all the advantages of the binary number system, which is used by most modern computers in the world, and forced the machine to operate in decimal numbers.

Information was entered into the device using punched tape. Mark 1 could not perform any conditional jumps, and therefore the code of each program was very long and cumbersome. There was also no software option for creating cycles: in order to make a loop in the code, the punched tape with the code literally had to be “closed” by connecting its beginning and end.

Physically, ASCC looked like this:

• length about 17 m;
• height over 2.5 m;
• weight about 4.5 tons;
• 765,000 parts;
• 800 km of connecting wires;
• 15-meter shaft that provides synchronization of the main computing elements;
• 4 kW electric motor.

At the insistence of IBM CEO Thomas Watson, the computer was placed in a stainless steel and glass case, while Howard Aiken insisted on a transparent case to leave the "innards" of the computer visible.

"Mark 1" was able to work with numbers, the length of which was up to 23 digits. It took only 0.3 seconds to subtract and add, 6 seconds to multiply, 15.3 seconds to divide, and more than a minute to perform trigonometric functions and calculate logarithms. At that time, this was an amazing speed, which made it possible to perform calculations in one day, which would previously have taken six months. Therefore, at the final stage of the Second World War, the device was quite successfully used by the American Navy, after which it worked for about 15 years at Harvard University.

The debate about who created the very first computer in the world, and when it happened, has not subsided so far. As it is not difficult to guess, in the USA the first “ancestor” of modern PCs is considered to be the “Mark 1”. However, in reality, he began to work about 2 years after the German engineer Konrad Zuse developed his Z3 computer, presented to the general public all in the same 1941. In addition, Zuse, in principle, used more advanced technologies (at least the binary number system), while Mark 1, according to some researchers, was outdated even before it was created.

Or is it Z3 from Zuse Konrad

Konrad Zuse is one of the most important figures in the history of all computer engineering in the world, although he worked for the benefit of the Third Reich. However, Zuse considered the bombing of Dresden and other German cities, where the predominantly civilian population remained, by Anglo-American aircraft as the main motivation in his work. Conrad began working on his computers back in the 1930s, while studying at the Berlin Polytechnic University.

His work was based on several revolutionary ideas at the time:

• The memory must be divided: one part of it must be allocated for control data, the other for calculated data.
• Numbers must be represented in the binary system.
• The machine must be able to work with floating point numbers (whereas the Mark 1 only worked with fixed point numbers). It is worth noting that the algorithm for implementing this idea, which Zuse called "semilogarithmic notation", is similar to that used on modern computers.

Data in the Z3 was entered using punched tape. All instructions that the machine could execute were divided into three groups: arithmetic operators, memory, and also input and output. There were no restrictions on the location of instructions within the punched tape, while there were two specific commands - Ld and Lu - designed to display information on the display and read from the keyboard, respectively.

Both of these instructions stopped the machine so that the operator could write down the result, or enter the required number. This computer did not support conditional transitions, and cycles, as in the case of Mark 1, had to be implemented by fastening the beginning and end of the punched tape.

The main characteristics of the machine are as follows:

• the addition operation was performed in 0.7 seconds;
• multiplication and division operations lasted 3 seconds;
• the device consisted of 2600 telephone relays;
• the clock frequency of the Z3 was approximately 5.33 Hz;
• the device consumed 4 kW of energy;
• its size was about two times smaller than the dimensions of the "Mark 1";
• its weight was 1 ton.

The machine existed until 1944 and helped the Third Reich to make complex calculations for fascist aviation. In 1944, the computer burned down along with the project documentation after one of the regular air bombardments. However, Konrad Zuse soon created the Z4, and the Z3 computer was reconstructed in 1960 by Zuse KG. But that's a completely different story.

Unbiased critics agree that the status of the first free programmable and workable computer in the world rightfully belongs to Z3, and all attempts to refute this statement are pseudo-patriotic speculation by representatives of individual countries. It is unlikely that these discussions will ever end, but one can definitely say the following: if the Mark 1 was outdated even before its release, then the Z3 implemented many of the technologies and principles that began to be applied in the computers of the future.

The first electronic computer in the USSR and continental Europe

The first computer on the territory of the USSR and continental Europe is considered to be a development called "MESM", which stands for "Small Electronic Computing Machine". The device was created in Ukraine, in the laboratory of computer technology of the Kiev Institute of Electrical Engineering. The project was implemented under the leadership of academician Sergei Lebedev.

Sergey Alekseevich, like Tsuse, began to think about the creation of a computer back in the 30s of the last century. However, he was able to start this work closely only after the war, and even then not in the best conditions: the Institute of Electrical Engineering was provided with the premises of a monastery hotel in Feofaniya (at a distance of about 10 km from Kiev), in a dilapidated house.

However, domestic engineers managed to more or less repair the building, and in just three years to create and establish MESM. At the same time, only 12 engineers worked on the project, as well as 15 installers and technicians who helped them as needed. The machine had the following characteristics:

• occupied a room of about 60 square meters;
• could perform 3000 operations per minute, which at that time was an incredible indicator;
• worked on 6,000 vacuum tubes, which consumed 25 kW;
• could perform addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, and shift, taking into account comparison in absolute value, sign, transmission of numbers from a magnetic drum, transfer of control, and addition of commands.

As you might guess, 6000 lamps provided an almost tropical climate in the room. Nevertheless, MESM was successfully used in a large number of scientific studies until 1957: in the field of space flight, thermonuclear processes, mechanics, long-distance power lines, and so on.

Other early systems

"Mark 1" and Z3 are not all participants in the dispute for the title of the very first computer in the world. Considering that in the middle of the twentieth century, the development of computer technologies began to develop exponentially, and computers acquired more and more features of modern computers, many researchers give first place in this kind of “rating” to those systems that will be discussed below.

Eniac calculators

The ENIAC electronic digital computer began to be developed in 1943, and completed in 1945. Scientists from the University of Pennsylvania John Eckert and John Mauchly worked on its creation. The order for the development of ENIAC was fulfilled by the US Army, which needed a device for the accurate calculation of firing tables. But due to the fact that the computer was assembled only towards the end of the war, its purpose had to be changed: from 1947 to 1955, it was used by the US Army Ballistic Research Laboratory, which, using ENIAC, performed various calculations in the development of thermonuclear weapons. It is noteworthy that six girls became the first programmers of this computer.

First commercial copies of UNIVAC

Conventionally, the first computer of the UNIVAC series (UNIVersal Automatic Computer I) is considered the first commercial computer in the United States, and the third in the world. It was developed by the same John Eckert and John Mauchly, commissioned by the US Air Force and the US Army in cooperation with the Census Bureau. The UNIVAC I was developed from 1947 to 1951. It was the Bureau that officially sold the first computer of this series, several dozen other copies appeared in private corporations, government agencies and three American universities. UNIVAC I used BCD arithmetic, 5200 vacuum tubes consuming 125 kW of electricity, and weighed 13 tons. In one second, he could carry out 1905 operations. To accommodate it, a room of 35.5 square meters was required.

Apple's first computer

The first computer from the eminent "apple" brand was called "Apple I" and was released in 1976. The key innovation used in the creation of this computer was the ability to enter information from the keyboard with its instant display on the display. During the presentation of the device, the oratorical and entrepreneurial talent of Steve Jobs appeared, while his shy friend Steve Wozniak was directly involved in the development of the Apple I. This computer was completely assembled on a circuit board, which consisted of about thirty chips, which is why it is sometimes called the very first full-fledged PC in the world.

The price of the very first computer

The cost of developing the first computers in the world was significantly higher than the current prices for computers in the middle price segment. So, about $500,000 was invested in the creation of Mark 1. Z3 cost the Third Reich 50,000 Reichsmarks, which at the rate of those times was about $ 20,000. For the creation of ENIAC, the developers requested 61,700 dollars. And to fulfill the first order for the Apple I, made by Paul Terrell, Jobs and Wozniak needed $ 15,000. At the same time, the first models of the "apple" computer were sold at $666.66 apiece.

Video "The first computer"

All the information provided above was taken from open sources, mainly from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia.

Human life in the twenty-first century is directly related to artificial intelligence. Knowledge of the main milestones in the creation of computers is an indicator of an educated person. The development of computers is usually divided into 5 stages - it is customary to talk about five generations.

1946-1954 - first generation computers

It is worth saying that the first generation of computers (electronic computers) was a tube. Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania (USA) developed ENIAC - the name of the world's first computer. The day when it was officially put into operation is 02/15/1946. When assembling the device, 18 thousand electron tubes were involved. A computer by today's standards was a colossal area of ​​135 square meters, and a weight of 30 tons. The demand for electricity was also high - 150 kW.

It is a well-known fact that this electronic machine was created directly to help in solving the most difficult tasks of creating an atomic bomb. The USSR was rapidly catching up with its backlog and in December 1951, under the guidance and with the direct participation of Academician S. A. Lebedev, the world's fastest computer was introduced to the world. She wore the abbreviation MESM (Small Electronic Computing Machine). This device could perform from 8 to 10 thousand operations per second.

1954 - 1964 - computers of the second generation

The next step in development was the development of computers running on transistors. Transistors are devices made from semiconductor materials that allow you to control the current flowing in the circuit. The first known stable working transistor was created in America in 1948 by a team of physicists - researchers Shockley and Bardeen.

In terms of speed, electronic computers differed significantly from their predecessors - the speed reached hundreds of thousands of operations per second. The dimensions have also decreased, and the consumption of electrical energy has become less. The scope of use has also increased significantly. This happened due to the rapid development of software. Our best computer, BESM-6, had a record speed of 1,000,000 operations per second. Developed in 1965 under the leadership of chief designer S. A. Lebedev.

1964 - 1971 - third generation computers

The main difference of this period is the beginning of the use of microcircuits with a low degree of integration. With the help of sophisticated technologies, scientists were able to place complex electronic circuits on a small semiconductor wafer, with an area of ​​\u200b\u200bless than 1 centimeter square. The invention of microcircuits was patented in 1958. Inventor: Jack Kilby. The use of this revolutionary invention made it possible to improve all parameters - the dimensions decreased to about the size of a refrigerator, the speed increased, as well as reliability.

This stage in the development of computers is characterized by the use of a new storage device - a magnetic disk. The PDP-8 minicomputer was first introduced in 1965.

In the USSR, such versions appeared much later - in 1972 and were analogues of the models presented on the American market.

1971 - present - fourth generation computers

An innovation in fourth generation computers is the application and use of microprocessors. Microprocessors are ALUs (arithmetic logic units) placed on a single chip and having a high degree of integration. This means that microcircuits begin to take up even less space. In other words, a microprocessor is a small brain that performs millions of operations per second according to the program embedded in it. Dimensions, weight and power consumption have been drastically reduced, and performance has reached record heights. And that's when Intel got into the game.

The first microprocessor was called the Intel-4004, the name of the first microprocessor assembled in 1971. It had a bit depth of 4 bits, but then it was a giant technological breakthrough. Two years later, Intel introduced the world to the Intel-8008, which has eight bits, in 1975 the Altair-8800 was born - this is the first personal computer based on the Intel-8008.

This was the beginning of a whole era of personal computers. The machine began to be used everywhere for completely different purposes. A year later, Apple entered the game. The project was a great success, and Steve Jobs became one of the most famous and richest people on Earth.

The indisputable standard of the computer is the IBM PC. It was released in 1981 with 1 megabyte RAM.

It is noteworthy that at the moment, IBM-compatible electronic computers occupy about ninety percent of the computers produced! Also, it is impossible not to mention the Pentium. The development of the first processor with an integrated coprocessor was completed successfully in 1989. Now this trademark is an indisputable authority in the development and application of microprocessors in the computer market.

If we talk about the prospects, then this, of course, is the development and implementation of the latest technologies: very large integrated circuits, magneto-optical elements, even elements of artificial intelligence.

Self-learning electronic systems are the foreseeable future, called the fifth generation in the development of computers.

A person seeks to erase the barrier in communicating with a computer. Japan worked on this for a very long time and, unfortunately, unsuccessfully, but this is a topic for a completely different article. At the moment, all projects are only in development, but with the current pace of development, this is not far away. The present is the time when history is being made!

Share.