Who Built the First Computer

Today, our lives have become dependent on the computers. This computing machine have infiltrated almost every sector of human activity where routine and repetitious tasks can be handed over to the machines. Today, computers are so advanced that they are taking over delicate tasks from the humans such as surgery. For some people, it is important to know who built the first computer, the wonder machine of the 20th century. However, this task is not easy, because it is a matter under dispute over date of creation of first computer, name of its designer and inventor. Lets see who designed the first computer, who realized it for the first time and who was credited with the inventionof the first computer.

Who Created the First Computer

Some people give credit to Charles Babbage, an English mathematician and inventor, for coming with the design of the first mechanicalcomputer. In 1837, he introduced the idea of analytical machine which was successfully produced and tested in 1991.

Shifting through the information regarding the evolution of computers, you will find interesting as well as contradicting information about the topic at hand. In 1930, several groups were working to produce a machine that can perform automatic calculations and is programmable. The start of the second World War gave boost to these efforts. During this time, inventors such as, Alan Turing, at Bletchley Park, built many vacuum-tube based computing machines of Colossus series which were used to do calculations to break Hitler's communication codes. IBM's Mark I series which represents electromechanical computers also did wartime calculations at Harvard.

Konrad Zuse's, of Germany, came up with the series Z electromechanical computers. In 1941, Zuse built Z3 which used binary arithmetic and was controlled by programs. In 1998, Z3 was tested and found to be Turing complete i.e. a fully operational computer which used electromagnets.

Out of these efforts to harness machines to calculate the trajectories of the cannon shells, in 1946, came ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) which was hailed as the first true all-purpose electronic computer. Its principle inventors John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert, were regarded, for a long time, as the inventors who made the first computer. ENIAC was a very big machine and it weighed almost 30-tons. It was complex machine and employed 19,000 vacuum tubes and 6,000 switches to do the calculations. By 1946 standards, its speed at addition of 5,000 numbers in a second, was unheard of and unmatched for. However, the initial model of ENIAC needed to be rewired to change its programming because of its inflexible architecture.

Who Built the First Computer

However, in 1971, during a court trial it was revealed that Dr. Atanasoff, a physics professor was the inventor who built the first computer in the world. Dr. Atanasoff built his electronic digital computer, in 1937, while he was working at Iowa State College in Ames, Iowa in order to solve problems in quantum mechanics. Dr. Atanasoff’s computer could perform additions and subtractions. It incorporated hardware that supported two words (12-bit long) and used a logic unit based on seven triode tubes to communicate with the regenerative memory. The judge presiding the trial gave priority of invention to Dr. Atanasoff. One can depend on this verdict to answer questions such as who invented the first computerand when was the first computer invented.

More on Early Computers

In 1945, John von Neumann and others come up with a concept of stored-program computer. The concept aimed at creating a computer with an architecture that will allow for changing the program being executed in the computer without altering the wiring. It also explored the possibility of coming with programs that could manipulate its own instructions. In short, the John von Neumann and company aimed at imparting the flexibility to the computers and shaping its science to its present form and state.

In 1948, British came up with first working prototype, which confirmed with the Neumann design, in the form of Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine (SSEM) which was also known as "Baby". However, the first computer to implement concept of stored program, i.e. Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC), was built at Cambridge University, in 1949. EDSAC was followed by EDVAC which truly replicated the computing machine described by John von Neumann's paper. The contribution made by the Neumann is tremendous as today's computers, however technologically advanced, use some form of stored-program architecture proposed by him.

Even though we know that the computers made their entry in this world in 1930s, it appears from the research that the man has chased the concept and tried to realize it for the last few thousand years. The results of his labors can be seen through the abacus, the slide rule and Astrolabe. Greeks, around 80 BC, used Antikythera mechanism which was a sort of an astronomical computer. Al-Jazari, in 1206, invented an astronomical clock which was known as the Castle clock and was used for the purpose of navigation. In the computer history, the Castle clock is considered to be the earliest programmable analog computer. 

Depending on which of the technologies you are supporting, the answer to who built the first computer varies. It also depends up on which type of computer you focus up on: mechanical, electromechanical or electronic. I am sure, after going through the information presented this article, you can easily answer who built the first computer and when.
Source: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/who-built-the-first-computer.html