HERMAN HOLLERITH
Herman Hollerith
Birth: February 29, 1860 in Buffalo, New York
Death: November 17, 1929
Nationality: American
Herman Hollerith, American inventor, born in Buffalo, New York, and educated at
Columbia University, who devised a system of encoding data on cards through a
series of punched holes. This system proved useful in statistical work and was
important in the development of the digital computer. Hollerith's machine, used
in the 1890 U.S. census, "read" the cards by passing them through electrical
contacts. Closed circuits, which indicated hole positions, could then be
selected and counted. His Tabulating Machine Company (1896) was a predecessor to
the International Business Machines Corporation.
The machine was used in the 1890 census,
and he started the Tabulating Machine Company in 1896 to work on new and improved versions of the machine,
which he eventually sold to other countries for use in their census tabulations.
He merged the company with others to become the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (1911),
and changed the name to International Business Machines Company in 1924.
Herman Hollerith
Birth: February 29, 1860 in Buffalo, New York
Death: November 17, 1929
Nationality: American
Herman Hollerith, American inventor, born in Buffalo, New York, and educated at
Columbia University, who devised a system of encoding data on cards through a
series of punched holes. This system proved useful in statistical work and was
important in the development of the digital computer. Hollerith's machine, used
in the 1890 U.S. census, "read" the cards by passing them through electrical
contacts. Closed circuits, which indicated hole positions, could then be
selected and counted. His Tabulating Machine Company (1896) was a predecessor to
the International Business Machines Corporation.
The machine was used in the 1890 census,
and he started the Tabulating Machine Company in 1896 to work on new and improved versions of the machine,
which he eventually sold to other countries for use in their census tabulations.
He merged the company with others to become the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (1911),
and changed the name to International Business Machines Company in 1924.