What made computers possible?

What made computers possible?

It was the development of high-speed digital techniques using vacuum tubes that made the modern computer possible. The earliest extensive use of vacuum tubes for digital data-processing appears to have been by the engineer Thomas Flowers, working in London at the British Post Office Research Station at Dollis Hill.

What invention made personal computers possible?

The personal computer was made possible by major advances in semiconductor technology. In 1959, the silicon integrated circuit (IC) chip was developed by Robert Noyce at Fairchild Semiconductor, and the metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) transistor was developed by Mohamed Atalla and Dawon Kahng at Bell Labs.

What was the first digital invention?

In 1964, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) was granted a patent and was recognized as the first digital electronic computing device. Its inventors John Mauchly and J.

How did the inventors come up with the idea of computing?

Before the true power of computing could be realized, therefore, the naive view of calculation had to be overcome. The inventors who laboured to bring the computer into the world had to learn that the thing they were inventing was not just a number cruncher, not merely a calculator.

When did Alan Turing invent the modern computer?

The Universal Turing Machine In 1936, at Cambridge University, Turing invented the principle of the modern computer. He described an abstract digital computing machine consisting of a limitless memory and a scanner that moves back and forth through the memory, symbol by symbol, reading what it finds and writing further symbols (Turing).

Which is the best summary of the history of computing?

The Modern History of Computing 1 Babbage. 2 Analog computers. 3 The Universal Turing Machine. 4 Electromechanical versus Electronic Computation. 5 Atanasoff. 6 Colossus. 7 Turing’s Automatic Computing Engine. 8 The Manchester Machine. 9 ENIAC and EDVAC. 10 Other Notable Early Computers.

When was the first mechanical calculating device invented?

The OED2 lists the year 1897 as the first year the word was used to refer to a mechanical calculating device. By 1946 several qualifiers were introduced by the OED2 to differentiate between the different types of machine. These qualifiers included analogue, digital and electronic.