Who Invented the First Computer?

The answer to this question depends of your definition of a computer.

The first known counting devices or tools were Tally Sticks from about 35,000 BC. The Abacus was then invented by the Babylonians in 2400 BC.

In 1837, Charles Babbage, a British professor of mathematics described his idea for the Analytical Engine, the first stored-program mechanical computer. The Analytical Engine was designed to be powered by a steam engine and was to use Punched Cards, which was used to program mechanical looms at the time.

What made the Analytical Engine unique was that it was designed to be programmed. It was because of this and the fact that it would be more than 100 years that any similar devices would be constructed, Charles Babbage, would be considered by many as the “father of computing”. Because of legal, financial, and political obstacles, the Analytical Machine would never be completed. Charles Babbage was also difficult to work with and alienated the supporters of his work.

In 1939, John V. Atanasoff and Clifford Berry developed the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) at Iowa State University, which was regarded as the first electronic digital computer. The ABC was built by hand and the design used over 300 Vacuum Tubes and had capacitors fixed in a mechanically rotating drum for memory.

The First ComputerThe ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), constructed in the US in 1943, is widely regarded as the first functionally useful electronic general-purpose computer. Influenced by the ABC, it was a turning point in the history of computing and was used to perform ballistics trajectory calculations and used 160 kW of power. World War II is known to be the driving force of computing hardware development and one of such use of computers was in communications encryption and decryption.

The UNIVAC I (Universal Automatic Computer) was the first commercially available, “mass produced” electronic computer manufactured by Remington Rand in the USA and was delivered to the US Census Bureau in June 1951. It used 5,200 vacuum tubes and consumed 125 kW of power. 46 machines were sold at more than $1 million each.

The microprocessor eventually led to the development of the microcomputer, small, low-cost computers that individuals and small businesses could afford. By the 1990s, the microcomputer or Personal Computer (PC) became a common household appliance, and became even more widespread with the advent of the Internet.

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144 Comments

  1. Anonymous
    Posted 2009/11/12 at 8:29 pm | Permalink

    okay Mr. Copy and Paste noooooooo one went to this page to see you arguing about the 1st computer. And this isnt about electronics its first computer system…. SYSTEM!

  2. Anonymous
    Posted 2009/11/12 at 8:32 pm | Permalink

    Bill gates didnt invent the computer go look at a computer timeline Bill gates invented microsoft… Dummy.

  3. Anonymous
    Posted 2009/11/12 at 8:34 pm | Permalink

    Really? Because you can’t even type right.

  4. Anonymous
    Posted 2009/11/12 at 8:35 pm | Permalink

    occured

  5. Anonymous
    Posted 2009/11/12 at 8:39 pm | Permalink

    wow your only saying that because he copied and pasted some short essay… btw thats incorrect.

  6. Anonymous
    Posted 2009/11/12 at 8:44 pm | Permalink

    bill gates was the inventor of MICROSOFT!!!!! get your facts straight there is NO TRUE INVENTOR! People have been taking diff. machines and systems while slowly evolving them into what we have today. Can we at least all agree on that?!

    • SECRET
      Posted 2010/01/01 at 9:33 pm | Permalink

      HI WELL LET ME TELL YOU JUST WHAT! ?????BEQUITE!pagpage

  7. Anonymous
    Posted 2009/11/15 at 7:25 pm | Permalink

    WHO THE *%@$ IS GLENDA!?
    AND SHE IS NOT F#CKING HOT!

    • jordan
      Posted 2010/01/14 at 5:11 pm | Permalink

      what the @#$#@#$@! who is she

  8. Anonymous
    Posted 2009/11/16 at 8:27 am | Permalink

    She is a nice guy.

    • Jacked OFf
      Posted 2010/02/08 at 1:23 am | Permalink

      HAHAHA shes a nice guy WTF!!

  9. Anonymous
    Posted 2009/11/16 at 11:24 pm | Permalink

    eloe…..

  10. Anonymous
    Posted 2009/11/19 at 8:21 pm | Permalink

    and sexy

    • clifton
      Posted 2010/02/03 at 8:34 pm | Permalink

      hi i luv ur sexy

  11. Anonymous
    Posted 2009/11/25 at 3:16 am | Permalink

    look it up in the wikipedia DUDES. :|

  12. Anonymous
    Posted 2009/12/03 at 12:34 pm | Permalink

    If there is computer before Jesus Christ was born that means there is another life before Jesus was born. If that is the case then i we say its not Jesus that created heaven and earth that means the Heaven and the Earth has been in existence before Jesus

  13. Anonymous
    Posted 2009/12/04 at 7:26 pm | Permalink

    God invented the heaven and earth not Jesus. So BC time was between the time God invented earth and sent his son Jesus to earth thus meaning Before Christ,, BC

  14. Anonymous
    Posted 2009/12/06 at 11:22 am | Permalink

    who the @#$$ is glenda never heared of him/her in my life..sounds like a alien..nd do yu wanna know who i am….i am AAAANNNIKIIIDXKJABSN

  15. Anonymous
    Posted 2009/12/06 at 5:40 pm | Permalink

    irstfay hingtay iay avehay otay aysay siay oday ouyay eallyray hinktay hetay orldway siay wotay-housandtay earsyay ldoay. fiay ouyay oday ouyay ustmay ebay eallyray tupidsay

    pig latin for those war hogs

  16. Anonymous
    Posted 2009/12/09 at 9:26 pm | Permalink

    according to the Bible, on the sixth day of creation God created man in His own likeness. He said in the Genesis 1:26, if i’m not mistaken, Let us make man in our own image….the pronoun that is being used in this verse means plural, basically, God was not alone… Jesus was with Him during the creation. therefore, Jesus first before anybody else…God bless

  17. Anonymous
    Posted 2009/12/09 at 9:33 pm | Permalink

    wikipedia is not that reliable source… Bible is the Best…God bless

  18. Anonymous
    Posted 2009/12/09 at 9:38 pm | Permalink

    really? can you please give me your reference.. because im doing a research bout computer….thanx

  19. Anonymous
    Posted 2009/12/11 at 9:16 am | Permalink

    come on get a life you all need a thing to do in your life

  20. Anonymous
    Posted 2009/12/14 at 5:49 pm | Permalink

    Don’t get ahead of yourself and saying “WAIT A SECOND! IF THEY SAY THIS THEN THAT MEANS THIS IS WRONG AND….AND…..AND…” You get what I’m saying? This information might not even be correct (SOME of it might). And Jesus didn’t come to earth RIGHT AWAY… He came later on…

  21. Anonymous
    Posted 2009/12/14 at 5:50 pm | Permalink

    Thanks for clearing all this up…i made the comment replying to “Am confused”

  22. Anonymous
    Posted 2009/12/23 at 8:17 pm | Permalink

    THERE WERE TALLY STICKS TO COUNT THE FLOCKS NOT COMPUTERS AND YES THERE WAS PEOPLE BEFORE JESUS, ADAM AND EVE WERE THE FIRST HUMANS READ GENSIS 1:1 THE OLD TESTIMENTS. I HOPE THIS HELP YOU OUT

  23. Anonymous
    Posted 2009/12/23 at 8:21 pm | Permalink

    TYPE IN WHO INVENTED THE FIRST COMPUTER IT WILL COME UP FOR YOU THERES NOT ALOT OF INFO BUT IT WILL HELP OUT

  24. Anonymous
    Posted 2009/12/23 at 8:22 pm | Permalink

    LOL THATS SOFA KING WEE TARDED

  25. Anonymous
    Posted 2009/11/02 at 5:19 pm | Permalink

    I love computers.

  26. chanzell francis m.
    Posted 2009/12/28 at 5:52 pm | Permalink

    qwertyuioplkjhfdsazxcvbnmmnbvcxzasdffgghhjjkkllpppoooouiuuuyyttrreewwq

  27. secret
    Posted 2010/01/12 at 12:00 am | Permalink

    ang gandaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ayos

  28. Diya
    Posted 2010/01/29 at 7:06 am | Permalink

    Who invented the first computer.his name and country…

  29. tuba
    Posted 2010/01/29 at 8:28 am | Permalink

    who invented the computer

  30. Monique Carter
    Posted 2010/02/03 at 11:24 am | Permalink

    Cool..!
    =]

  31. Kristal Terry
    Posted 2010/02/03 at 11:27 am | Permalink

    Interesting..!

  32. Kristal Terry
    Posted 2010/02/03 at 11:28 am | Permalink

    Really Nice..!

  33. Brianna Mellerson
    Posted 2010/02/03 at 11:30 am | Permalink

    Sounds Really Cool..!
    IWould Like Too Learn More..!
    :) ..!

  34. sashimiee
    Posted 2010/02/05 at 3:37 am | Permalink

    who was invented cOmputer?!

  35. Woser lama
    Posted 2010/02/07 at 9:15 am | Permalink

    Who is the first Computer maker? Charles Babbage or Konrad Zuse?

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