7 computers That are older than you

If you are anything like me you might think computers were created in the late '80s. That is wrong. Yes, the computer that you have in front of you is probably younger than you but the idea and creation of them can be dated back to 2400 BCE with the invention of the first calculator, the Abacus. I'm here to tell you that there are seven computers that are older than you. Granted these are not the computers you think of, with new Random Access Memory or CPU Processing speeds but all of these inspired that computer you have right now.

7. ancient greeks used a Computer in the OLYMPICS

We knew that the Greeks were a noble and innovative culture. Giving us such things as mathematics, science, and politics. In fact, they gave us the first recorded version of a computer that they used to signal the Olympic games.

Found in 1901, it is believed to be created and designed by Greek Scientists. Called the Antikythera mechanism, this used 82 gears to tell the time, predict solar eclipses, and calculate the timing of the Olympic games. Dating back to roughly around 150 - 100 BCE, this device was created to predict the motion of the moon. While this is not the version of the first computing device created by Charles Babbage (the father of computers), this gear was revolutionary for the Greeks.

6. U.S. Census uses A tabulation device to count

Following the 1880 U.S. census, the population of the country grew exponentially. The government could not count by hand anymore. How could they keep up the growth of the country?

A competition was held and one man took on the challenge to create what the nation need at that time. Herman Hollerith was a former census worker who created a machine that used punch cards, a card reader, and dials to capture and fabricate the data the fastest. His machine could capture the data in 72 and a half hours. It could tabulate the data in only 5 and a half hours. His machine won the competition and the admiration of the Census Bureau. It would inspire a new way of computing not only census data but how to compute data for everyday use.

5. father of the Year?

Way before the video game store Babbage's, Charles Babbage (the father of computers) made a name for himself by being a mathematician. His grand idea was for a machine that could solve complex equations simply. Within a few years, his dream was a reality.

in 1830, thanks to the British government for funding this project, Charles Babbage spent over 17,000 pounds on the development and creation of his brilliant machine. It was used to create mathematical tables. Before this machine, the production of these tables would have been time-consuming and very expensive. Most mathematical formulas that were used by scientists, engineers, and others could be inputted. Now with a single crank and a few switches, this would cheaply produce these tables and they would be error-free. The next time you use a calculator, thank Babbage.

4. What does ENIAC Stand for?

This room-sized computer was hot, loud, and consistently breaking down. With all that happening, if this machine did not exist you could not read this list on your computer. After all, ENIAC started the digital age.

The Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer or ENIAC was a gigantic tabulation machine like Hollerith's Census Machine but through reprogramming, it came alive. It has a speed of 10 to the 3rd power and could compute artillery firing tables for the U.S. Army. With this, they were able to calculate a trajectory of an object in 30 seconds, rather than a human taking 20 hours. J. Presper Eckert Jr. was the one to create the modern-day computer. Being revealed in 1946, the Army described it as a “mathematical robot”.

3. Computer Science becomes real

Named the "Father of computer science", Alan Turing took his ideas for a general-purpose computer from an idea to a reality. Using his skills as a mathematician, biologist, and logician he took on the world and created the Turing Machine. This revolutionized the world and ended a war.

Invented in 1936, this small computer changes the symbols on a strip of paper due to a certain set of rules. Alan Turing called it an "a-machine". Turing also created the idea of the machine having some type of memory to recall simple information. By using the strip of paper as a form of memory, this read what it says and answers it. These ideas that were built into the Turing machine helped the Allies decipher codes sent in World War II.

2. The Computer that helped win the War

The year is 1944, World War II rages on. Both sides are using ways to send encoded messages to the battlefront. The Allies are frantically trying to break the German code. Then it was turned on...

The Colossus computer was born. Contributing to the design of this computer, Alan Turing also gave it an edge in cryptographic knowledge to decipher the German war codes. This computer is regarded as the world's first programmable and digital computer. From the years of 1943 - 1945, ten Colossus were used for code-breaking. All of these computers during the war were located in Bletchley Park in the United Kingdom.

The Light side of the Loom

When you think of knitting, the first thing that comes to your mind is your great-grandma knitting you a sweater. While that is nice, you might not know that the modern process of knitting large patterns started in 1804. This machine revolutionized the textile industry and the computer you are reading this from.

Created in 1804, the Jacquard Loom set a standard in the textile industry due to the punch card method of planning the pattern. These cards simplify the manufacturing process by creating complex patterns. Why was this important in computing? This machine used these cards to control the sequence of operations. This ability to change the cards helps develop computer programming and data.

Keywords used in this listicle:

Punch Cards, Cryptographic Knowledge, Tabulation Machine, Mathematical Tables, Random Access Memory, CPU Processing speeds, Computer Science, Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer

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