The Origin of Computers

Today it is very hard to imagine a family that does not own their own Personal Computer. However, it was not always like that. Looking back just 15 years, most families that owned a computer did so only for business reasons. Now, almost every aspect of media can be accessed right in the home by a personal computer. Personal Home Computers have grown exponentially since their introduction last century and will continue to be a vital part to everyone's lives.

Computers are not necessarily a new invention. Although early computers do not resemble what most people would think of when they hear the word "computer," they can be traced back to the 1940's. The first major advancement in computer technology was when three scientists tested their new invention, the point contact transistor amplifier. Their new invention would later evolve to become modern day circuit boards. The first time the world ever saw a functional computer was in 1950 with the introduction of Simon. Simon was a computer that was developed by Berkeley Enterprises to do simple calculations. It only cost 300 dollars, a very low price compared to the prices seen in more recent decades. The GENIAC was the second mainstream computer ever made. To input data, the GENIAC used electric rotary switches. These switches that were used were the first user friendly input devices. They were the forerunners to today's mice and keyboards.

After the technology to make computers became more and more common, more companies and universities were developing their own computers. They had only one problem; once information was entered into the computer via punch cards or switches, how can the data be saved for later use? This question was answered in 1956 with the worlds first Hard Disk Drive. The drive was developed for the new IBM RAMAC. It had 50 double sided platters that were 24 inches in diameter with a capacity of about five megabytes at a transfer rate of 8800 characters per second. Today would be only enough space to hold one song in MP3 format. On September 12, 1958, Jack Kilby, from Texas Instruments demonstrated the first integrated circuit board. The circuit allowed devices to be connected and share data all over a small silicon board. Although computers that took advantage of the new integrated circuit board technology were no long the size of a small house, they would not see a dramatic size decrease for another couple years. However, when computer systems did start to utilize the new integrated technology, the field of computers changed forever. Check out my next article which follows this revolution of computer hardware.