All the fathers of the modern computer science brought together here

Have you ever thought who invented computer? We deal with these machines every day and hardly ever wonder who was the first to invent such a device, how long it took to develop it into what we have now, and so on. Let’s take a look at the history of computers and find out who the father of computer was. Be ready to meet great minds who work tirelessly to the world one of the very best gifts science could offer!

The beginning of the computer era

The computer era began not so long ago. Some 100 years ago, people didn’t even know what it is to have a machine that calculates instead of you, nothing to say about searching for information. However, the first device for calculation was invented about 3,000 BC in ancient Babylon.

ancient Roman abacus

There are several points of view on the question about the first computer and the father of computer name.

Some researchers claim that the very first computer was invented by Blaise Pascal. This was his famous “wheel” constructed to do arithmetic calculations in 1645. The device summed big numbers without the interference of humans.
In 1883, a British mathematician Charles Babbage invented a project of the digital calculation machine, a forerunner of the electronic computer. He was forced to think about the invention after studying complicated logarithmic tables that contained multiple mistakes made by human composers of these tables. He started thinking about a machine that’s able to do complicated calculations of different types without the participation of humans.

For the invention of this machine, Charles Babbage is often named the father of computer. The machine was mechanical and consisted of wheels and levers. It provided complicated calculations within a relatively short time. It was such a unique device for the time that Babbage was given a gold medal of the Astronomic Society.

Late in the 19th century, Herman Hollerith in America invented calculating machines that used perforated cards. The company that produced these machines was later transformed into IBM, world-known producers of computers.
The first electronic computer was built in the USA in 1945. It worked on electronic vacuum lamps and was called ENIAC (electronic numeric integrator and calculator). It was constructed by John Mauchly and John Eckert. This is why the question “Who is the father of computer and what did he invent?” can be answered like this: “John Mauchly and John Eckert were the fathers of the very first electronic computer because they invented the ENIAC”.

Who is the father of computer for personal usage?

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak

Another breakthrough in the electronics took place in 1971 when the famous now American company “Intel” declared the invention of a microprocessor. It was a super-sized integrated circuit that was able to work as the main block of a computer. It was like a small brain able to work in accordance with a program written in its memory. By connecting the microprocessor with an input-output unit and outer memory, they received a new device, an electronic microcomputer.

This new computer had the size of a usual TV set and was even relatively cheap. So, these machines were sold in retail. Today, personal computers are the most popular variation of an electronic computer. This phenomenal machine and its invention are connected to the names of two Americans, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. In 1976, they issued their first serial computer Apple-1, and in 1977, Apple-2 saw the world. now, it’s possible to say that these two names are the answer to a question like “Who is father of modern computer?”

The father of computer and his story

Steve Jobs

Now, when you know who is father of computer and why it’s time to take a look at his life. Steve Jobs was born in the USA to a Syrian father and a German mother. As soon as his mother’s parents were objecting her having a baby, she gave the baby Steve for adoption. He was adopted by American parents who had no children of their own and first met his biological mother only 31 years later.

Steve was talented in sciences. As many people know, he abandoned college after spending six months there. However, he was allowed to attend creative classes for a year more. After this, he started working for a young company Atari that developed video games. This was the time he reunited with his childhood friend Steve Wozniak. Together, they came up with multiple interesting inventions.

Who is known as father of computer science?

Alan Turing

Well, inventing the computer is great. Still, a computer is nothing without some computer science, programming, and other tricky things. Who is the one who’s invented the computer science? It was Alan Turing who was born in 1912 in a London hotel. Even today, there is a memorial note on the wall, saying that this is the birthplace of the cybernetic pioneer and code breaker.

Brought up in a private boarding school, the boy felt a lot of passion for sciences, mostly, chemistry, physics, and mathematics. In 1935, being a student, Alan Turing started working on the creation of a “thinking machine”, a theoretic prototype of the modern computer.

In 1939, a British military office gave Turing a task: to decipher the secret of “Enigma”, a special device that was used to code radiograms in the German navy. The British intelligence found this device but could not decipher the caught radiograms sent by Germans. Within 6 months Turing created a device that could decode all German radiograms. In a year, a more complicated version of Enigma was made.

After WWII, Turing was a member of a scientific group that was working on the creation of the first British electronic computer. When one of the first computers in the world was launched, Turing worked on the development of software for it. He was also the author of the very first chess programs for electronic computers.

The hall of fame

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates

As you can see, there’s no single answer to the question about the very first inventor of the computer. The point is that there’s no precise definition of what can be named a primitive computer. There have always been great minds who invented machines to help humans calculate, get information, perform different tasks. Even now, computers are still being re-developed to perform more functions. Even today, there are new fathers of new devices that are completely different from the old machines.

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak and all the creators of Apple and Macintosh, Bill Gates and the developers of Microsoft, Norbert Wiener, Alan Turing and hundreds of other developers and inventors of software, codes, programs, scripts and algorithms – each of them is a father of something new in the universe of electronics, in the universe of computers!

Source: Naija.ng