Brief Computer History- Assignment 1

Instructions:

Answer the following questions based on the assignment: A brief History of computers and Networks.

1. Define the word “computer.”
2. The basic idea of computing develops when a Moslem cleric proposes solving problems with a series of written procedures. In what year was this?
3. Who invented the first commercial calculator, a hand powered adding machine?
4. 140 years before the development of the modern computer, ___________________________ builds a loom that weaves by reading punched holes stored on small sheets of hardwood. These plates are then inserted into the loom which reads (retrieves) the pattern and creates (prosess) the weave.
5. Ada Lovelace is generally regarded as the first _________________________.
6. Who is generally recognized as the father of computer science?
7. The 1890 census was tabulated on punch cards similar to the ones used 90 years earlier to create weaves, developed by Herman Hollerith of MIT. The Hollerith Tabulating Company is a forerunner of what present day company?
8. In 1892 a sickly ex-teller named ___________________________ introduces a commercially successful print calculator.
9. In 1943 development begins on the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer named the (ENIAC). At which college in Pennsylvania did this development occur?
10. The Harvard Mark I is introduced. Based on a series of proposals from Howard Aiken in the late 1930’s, the Mark I computes complex tables for the U.S. Navy. In what year was this?
11. The Mark I used a paper tape to store instructions and Howard Aiken hires ___________________________ as one of the three programmers working on the machine.
12. While working at Bell Labs, on September 11, 1940, _____________________________ uses a teletype machine at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire to transmit a problem to his Complex Number Calculator in New York and receives the results. It is the first example of a network.
13. Early in 1945, with the Mark I stopped for repairs, it is noticed that a moth is in one of the relays, possibly causing the problem. From this day on, fixing the system is referred to as _____________________________.
14. Scientists employed by Bell Labs complete work on the transistor. John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley receive the Nobel Prize in physics in what year?
15. In 1975 the first personal computer is marketed in kit form. Who is credited, with others, as writing a BASIC compiler for the machine?
16. Who was selected as Time magazine’s Man of the Year in 1982?