A look at the development and implementation of computer technology from the early computing concepts of the 1800s to the impressive machines of today.
Abstract This paper follows the advancement of the computer from Babbage's mass-produced calculator in 1820, through the ground-breaking inventions of the 1950s and 1960s. During these two decades alone, programming was transformed by the concept of compiling, the outcome of a presidential election was predicted for the first time by a computer, and IBM launched its first commercially successful computer, the 701. It looks at how this period also produced the mechanical encoder, Enigma; electronic computers ENIAC-Mark I and UNIVAC; and the operating system, UNIX.
From the Paper "The Enigma, a complex mechanical encoder, was used by the Germans who believed the codes to be completely unbreakable. Several people involved brainstormed to come up with de-coding machines to handle the problem, but none were technically feasible enough to build.
First in Poland, and later in Great Britain and the United States, the Enigma code was broken. Information gained by this shortened World War II. To break the code, the British built the Colossus Mark I. The existence of this machine was a closely guarded secret of the British Government until 1970. The United States Navy, aided to some extent by the British, built a machine capable of breaking not only the German code but the Japanese code as well."
Abstract The First Industrial Revolution (1760-1850) had an immense impact on the professionalization of science in Britain, France and Germany. This paper traces the history of the process of changing science from a field that belonged to "some enlightened entrepreneurs and a handful of aristocratic patrons" to a field in the which the state sponsored new initiatives and created a professional and well-defined discipline. The paper compares the process of institutionalization and the creation of modern universities between Britain and the rest of Europe.
From the Paper "Much of the system of technical training--on a state-supported basis--was continued even after the Revolution as the general notion of centralized education and training remained a favored plan with nearly all successive rulers of France. Indeed, although the sluggishness of the Ancien R?gime and the upheavals that followed the Revolution contributed to France's failure to industrialize in the eighteenth century, the Revolution proved to be the salvation of French science and "helped decisively shift the centre of scientific excellence back from England to the continent" (Rose & Rose, 1969, p. 19). The liberalizing impetus behind the Revolution was opposed to science as an attribute of aristocratic culture and many revolutionaries considered technological advance to be merely a means of impoverishing artisans and the emergent working class. But there was also a firm conviction that, in the hands of the people, science would be a powerful force for the nation's good."
Abstract This biographical study examines the critical contributions to computer science by Ada Augusta Byron King, Countess of Lovelace (1815-1852). In addition to describing and analyzing Bryon's technical achievements, the study examines various personality traits and important facts from her life that demonstrate both the technical and human side of this fascinating individual, and that led to her unique contributions to the development of computers. The study also discusses the historical context in which Byron worked to show how the prevailing technological, social, and political environments negatively affected her abilities, as a woman during the Victorian era, to advance her scientific work. The study demonstrates that Augusta Ada Byron was both one of the most acute minds and most picturesque characters in computer history.
From the Paper "A major turning point in Augusta Ada Byron's intellectual development occurred in 1833, when at the age of 18 years she met the famous scientist Charles Babbage at a social gathering (Freeman, 1996; Tee, 1979). Babbage was already widely known at the time as the inventor of the so-called "Difference Engine," a machine that applied the method of finite differences to perform mathematical computations (Freeman, 1996). The machine had to capacity to store numbers and perform additions, thereby enabling tables generated by polynomials to be computed by a uniform process (Freeman, 1996). Impressed with the young Ada, Babbage invited her to visit the studio where he kept his engine and was delighted when she showed up two weeks later, along with her domineering and meddlesome mother (Freeman, 1996; Tee, 1979). Ada was captivated by the Difference Engine and began regular correspondence with Babbage in an effort to learn all that she could about the invention and about Babbage's other ideas (Freeman, 1996)."
This welll-researched paper explores the history of computers, from the simple counting mechanism made of beads invented in 3000 B.C. to today's incredibly competent home PCs.
Abstract This in-depth paper details the rich history of computers while focusing on 1940 which saw the first color TV broadcast, opening a new realm of visual development in the evolution of computers as well as Bell Laboratories who developed the first terminal. This paper contains a plethora of details and facts regarding the ongoing advancement in computers and technology. The writer of this paper delves into the differences between the machines of the past and the ones we use today. This paper also discusses one of the greatest promises of the next generation, the ability to develop artificial intelligence, also called AI.
From the Paper "The early 1900s saw a virtual boom in the development of computers. Many of these inventions were less the intellectual ancestors of the modern computer and more directly similar to our machines today. Of course the modern computer was dependent on many inventions that occurred outside of the literal realm of number processing. In 1926, the first semiconductor transistor patent was made. In 1936, John Dvorak developed the first keyboard - a user-friendly component which placed the most frequently-used keys on the inside and less frequently-used keys on the outside of the natural hand's reach."
