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The History of the Computer's Invention

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  1. Charles Babbage's conception of the Analytical Engine

    The 19th-century British mathematician Charles Babbage designed the "Analytical Engine," a concept for a mechanical computer capable of program input and computation. Due to the technical and financial limitations of the time, it was never actually completed, but it is credited with anticipating the core concepts of the modern computer.

  2. Alan Turing and the World War II codebreaking machine

    British mathematician Alan Turing played a key role in developing the "Bombe," a machine used to decrypt Germany's Enigma code during World War II, and this later became a foundation for the development of computer science and the theory of computation.

  3. The emergence of early electronic computers such as ENIAC

    ENIAC, completed around 1945, was one of the earliest electronic general-purpose computers, using thousands of vacuum tubes, and it could perform complex calculations far faster than previous mechanical calculators.

  4. The miniaturization brought about by the transistor and integrated circuit

    The transistor, invented in 1947, and the integrated circuit (IC) that emerged afterward replaced vacuum tubes, dramatically reducing computer size while also significantly lowering power consumption and failure rates.

  5. The dawn of the personal computer (PC) era

    Starting in the late 1970s, companies such as Apple and IBM released personal computers one after another, ushering in the PC era in which computers, once usable only by large research institutions or corporations, moved onto desks in homes and offices.

  6. Moore's Law and the development of semiconductors

    Intel co-founder Gordon Moore observed and published, in 1965, the trend that the number of transistors on a semiconductor integrated circuit doubles roughly every fixed period; this "Moore's Law" became widely used over the following decades as a benchmark explaining the dramatic improvement in computer performance.

From a calculating machine to a machine that helps us think

What was merely a design on paper in the 19th century for a calculating machine went, over the course of the 20th century, through three great leaps β€” vacuum tubes, transistors, and integrated circuits β€” to develop into today's computers, small enough to fit in the palm of your hand as a smartphone.

Also check out the history of the printing press's invention

If the computer transformed how information is stored and processed, the printing press was, before it, a revolution that transformed how information was mass-copied and disseminated. Take a look at our guide to the history of the printing press's invention as well.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did Babbage's Analytical Engine actually work?

It was never completed in its time. This was due to a lack of the technology and funding needed to manufacture precise parts, but later researchers attempted to reconstruct it based on Babbage's designs and confirmed that it was conceptually workable.

Is ENIAC the world's first computer?

ENIAC is considered one of the first electronic general-purpose computers, but the title of "world's first computer" is contested among several candidates, including Britain's Colossus and other early machines, and the answer varies depending on the definition used.