1937 AD |
|
| In 1927, the American scientist, engineer, and politician Vannevar Bush designed an analog computer that could solve simple equations. Bush's work was extremely significant, because (quite apart from anything else) it focused attention on analog computing techniques, and therefore detracted from the investigation and development of digital solutions for quite some time. | But not everyone was enamored by analog computing. In 1937, George Robert Stibitz, a scientist at Bell Laboratories built a digital machine based on relays, flashlight bulbs, and metal strips cut from tin-cans. |
|
| a | ||
| Stibitz's machine, which he called the "Model K" (because most of it was constructed on his kitchen table), worked on the principle that if two relays were activated they caused a third relay to become active, where this third relay represented the sum of the operation. For example, if the two relays representing the numbers 3 and 6 were activated, this would activate another relay representing the number 9. (A replica of the Model K is on display at the Smithsonian). | ||
| a | ||
| Stibitz later went on to create a machine called the Complex
Number Calculator. Although this device was not sophisticated by today's standards, it was an important step along the way. |
In 1940, Stibitz performed a spectacular demonstration at a meeting in New Hampshire. Leaving his computer in New York City, he took a teleprinter to the meeting and proceeded to connect it to his computer via telephone. In the first example of remote computing, Stibitz astounded the attendees by allowing them to pose problems which were entered on the teleprinter; within a short time the teleprinter presented the answers generated by the computer. |
| a | |
|
|
| These notes are abstracted from the book Bebop BYTES Back (An Unconventional Guide to Computers) Copyright Information |
|
