What was the very first computer in the world? When did the first computer appear - an invention that changed history

Portable computing devices were viewed with great skepticism when they first appeared. The most was created after the Second World War, on February 14, 1946, by American developers. It was extremely massive and consisted of many components, and in terms of its software and technical properties it was not far from a calculator.

Creation of the very first ENIAC computer

ENIAC has been working long and hard to create portable device. Of course, their research activities were multifaceted. But even before them there were attempts to create a computer. For example, even before the creation of the multi-ton ENIAC, similar prototypes were tested, but due to technical shortcomings they could not be created.

Scientists all over the world were preoccupied with creating the very first computer. The year the development was completed was 1946. Already on February 14, the ENIAC computer was presented to the public in the democratic United States. In size, it was similar to a small house, larger than it. Its weight was about 30 tons, and the number of electronic lamps could illuminate a small city - there were 18 thousand of them.

A little about the first computer

With such huge dimensions, the computing power was 5000 operations per second. ENIAC worked for a little over 9 years and was sent for recycling. This hulk was created by a group of five engineers. Like Internet technology, the creation of the very first computer was ordered by the military. After its development and preliminary testing, the finished product was transferred to the American Air Force.

The computer stretched seventeen meters in length, and its head consisted of 765 thousand parts of various kinds. The development cost was about half a million dollars. The height of the car was at around 2.5 meters. The device was located at Harvard. However, the date of creation of the first computer formally fell on 1944, when it was first tested.

American-style device parameters

As noted earlier, the computer of 1946 did not reach the level of today's portable computers. Here are its parameters and main characteristics:

1. The computer weighed more than 4.5 tons.
2. The total length of the wires in the housing was 800 kilometers.
3. The shaft synchronizing the calculation modules was 15 meters long.
4. The simplest (addition and subtraction) mathematical operations took the computer 0.33 seconds.
5. Division took 15.3 seconds, and he multiplied a little faster, in just 6 seconds.

Enormous resources were spent on creating the very first computer. The year of this event is 1946.

The very first attempts to create primitive electronic computing devices

Scientist from Russian Empire A. Krylov in 1912 was able to develop the first machine for calculating complex differential equations. Just 15 years later, in 1927, developers from America tested the first

Even the Nazis were developing computers. A year before the outbreak of World War II, in 1938, the German scientist Konrad Zuse created a digital model of a computer with a programming component, it was named Z1. And in 1941, “Z first” underwent a number of upgrades and received the final name Z3. This model was much more reminiscent of a modern laptop computer.

Finalization of the ABC prototype

Developer John Atanasov from the USA in 1942 led the development of the ABC model computer. But he was drafted into the army, and the creation of the computer was suspended for some time. His model began to be tested for study by another group of developers led by John Mauchly. As a result, he began his own work to create the ENIAC computer.

He was the first to give birth to the binary number system, which is still used in our PCs to this day. The original purpose of the computer was to help the military solve certain problems. They contributed to the automation of bombing calculations for artillery and air forces.

Creation of the first computer in the USSR

Keep up with global trends and Soviet Union. In the laboratory of S.A. Lebedev developed the first computer model throughout Eurasia. The first success of the Soviet electronic computing structure was followed by others, less loud, but extremely useful for science.

Soviet scientists developed and tested a small electronic adding machine, or MESM for short. It was a model of a larger computing apparatus.

Charles Babbage, while designing the Analytical Engine in the 1940s (1840s), developed the basic ideas for creating a machine that could work according to a predetermined program, without human intervention.

100 years have passed. The first computers (electronic computers) appeared.

3.
4.
5.

Mark-1 on electromechanical relays

In 1943, the American Howard Aiken, using 20th century technology - electromechanical relays - at one of the IBM enterprises was able to build such a machine called “Mark-1”.

“If Babbage had lived 75 years later,” Aiken later said, “I would have been unemployed.”

Even earlier, Babbage's ideas were rediscovered by the German engineer Konrad Zuse, who built a similar machine in 1941. But this has nothing to do with the famous American one, so it is not such a common fact.

Eniak on vacuum tubes

In the first half of the 20th century, radio technology developed rapidly. The main element of radio receivers and radio transmitters at that time were electron vacuum tubes.

Beginning in 1943, a group of specialists led by John Mauchly and Presper Eckert in the USA began to construct a machine similar to the Mark 1, based on vacuum tubes rather than relays.

Their car was called ENIAC(abbreviated from Electronical Numerical Integrator and Calculator - Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator).

The counting speed of this machine exceeded the speed of the Mark-1 by a thousand times. When ENIAC (pronounced ENIAC) was demonstrated in 1946, the American press immediately dubbed it the “Giant Brain.”

The mass of the system was 27 tons. ENIAC was used, in particular, for calculations related to the creation of the hydrogen bomb.

However, to enter the program according to which ENIAC was supposed to perform calculations, it took several hours or even several days to connect it in the right way. There was no keyboard yet, and there was no monitor either.

Von Neumann architecture

To simplify the process of setting programs, Mauchly and Eckert began to design new car, which could store the program in your memory.

In 1945, the famous mathematician John von Neumann was brought in to work together with other scientists.

The journal Nature in 1946 published an article by John von Neumann, co-authored with other lesser-known scientists, “A Preliminary Consideration of the Logical Design of an Electronic Computing Device.” This article clearly and simply stated general principles devices and operation of computers. The main one is the principle of storing a program in memory, according to which the data and the program are placed in a common one.

Basic description The design and operation of a computer is usually called computer architecture. The ideas presented in the above-mentioned article are called “ John von Neumann principles" or " von Neumann architecture».

Advak machine

The joint development of Mauchly, Eckert and von Neumann can be considered the next model after ENIAC - this is the EDVAC machine (EDVAC, abbreviated from Electronic Discrete Automatic Variable Computer - electronic discrete variable computer). Its larger internal memory contained not only data, but also the program. Unlike ENIAC it is a computer based on , not decimal.

Like ENIAC, EDVAC was developed at the US Army Ballistic Research Laboratory and is the first computer built on the principles of John von Neumann.

The named machines existed in single copies. And the factory one mass production Computers began in developed countries in the 50s of the 20th century.

MESM in the USSR

In our country (USSR), the first computer was created in 1951. It was called MESM - small electronic calculating machine. The designer of the MESM was Sergei Alekseevich Lebedev. Under his leadership, serial tube computers BESM-2 and M-20 were built in the 50s.

A number of subsequent machines and developments by S.A. Lebedev contributed to the creation of more advanced machines.

When computers were big

HDD(a whole cabinet), which in the early 1960s could fit just one photograph taken with a modern digital camera

In conclusion, I would like to bring to your attention a short video report from the Informatics Museum in Paris. You will see with your own eyes

• vacuum lamp,
• punch cards,
• CPU,
• microprocessor,
• modem,
• Learn about the binary number system, the principles of the first Internet:

Technical and technological progress has already finally settled into the everyday life of people, one of the most striking phenomena of which is computers, which have become a sign of today. But it was not always so.

How did people manage without computers?

There was a time (by the way, not so long ago!) when even inventors and scientists made do in their work only with what was always “at hand”: their own knowledge, skills, reference literature and with skillful hands. Even the most complex calculations of ballistic trajectories were performed manually. It is clear that the probability of errors was enormous, and the calculations themselves took a lot of time. It is not surprising that smart people invented the first mechanical calculating devices - adding machines. They could only perform the simplest actions and were controlled manually, but the computing process itself was greatly accelerated.

Today, adding machines can only be found in museums and private collections. And once upon a time they were an indispensable part of any accounting department. Today I can’t even believe that without a computer, talented engineers were able to create many wonderful things - aircrafts, cars, electronic devices, built outstanding architectural monuments, expressways and much more. However, history only confirms that the main thing in progress is the skills, knowledge and enormous enthusiasm with which talented people approached their work. And its result was the creation of complex instruments, research of the atomic nucleus and many other achievements.

Even now, a computer is unlikely to replace a human head. This is just a smart and reliable assistant, without which completing many tasks is almost impossible, difficult or takes a lot of time.

Who invented the first computer?

According to many researchers, the very first computer in the world was invented by Charles Babbage. This man was passionate about the idea of ​​creating mechanical machine, capable of performing complex calculations. In 1822, a small difference machine was designed and built, consisting of a huge number of levers and gears. Even then she could operate with 18-bit numbers. The accuracy of the calculations reached the eighth decimal place.

In the same year, the scientist began work on a larger and more advanced machine, but the technology of that time did not allow this to be done. Only in 1854, the Swiss Scheutz was able to build several such devices according to Charles’s drawings, and it weighed 14 tons.

So, is Babbage's machine the very first computer? Not at all - it was just a prototype, although the idea of ​​the world's first programmable computer also belonged to Babbage. He called his brainchild the Analytical Engine. According to the inventor's plan, the machine was programmable, which means that Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine could be considered the very first computer in the world - if it had been built. By the way, Ada Lovelace, Babbage’s colleague and close friend, is considered to be the very first programmer in the world.

Charles Babbage's ideas haunted inventors and scientists around the world. The very first computer, already more or less close to the modern one, was developed and built by Howard Aickson at the request of IBM, with the assistance of four of its engineers. The computer was named "Mark 1", and its official launch at Harvard University (after extensive testing) was carried out on August 7, 1944. The device weighing 4 and a half tons consisted of 765 thousand electromechanical switches, relays and other parts. "Mark 1" was designed exclusively on the ideas of the Analytical Engine, but was an improved adding machine.

The truly first programmable electronic computer was the ENIAC. This computer appeared in 1946 and was intended to calculate ballistic trajectories, that is, for use for military and scientific purposes. The full name of this device, which required a huge area (85 sq.m.), weighed 28 tons and consumed 150 kW of electricity, was Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer (electronic digital integrator and computer). It is this fabulous beast, 30 meters long, containing 18,000 vacuum tubes, that is considered the first true programmable electronic computer in the world, which became the true ancestor of all computer technology.

True, he could only add and subtract numbers (in 3 seconds), multiply in 6 seconds and divide in 15 seconds, but that was just the beginning. But now Computer Engineering capable of performing a huge number of diverse tasks, greatly reduced in size, while fitting in your pocket. Today there is a personal computer in every home. And they use it not for military needs, but also simply for entertainment, communication and work for purely peaceful purposes.

Here's the story.

4.7 (93.53%) 337 votes

I was sitting at the computer one day, working quietly, and then suddenly the thought struck me, where did it all start and what was the very first computer in the world? Of course, I decided to find the answer to this question, it really hooked me. And the answer was found! Naturally, it became the topic of the next blog post about all the most interesting things in the world that do not leave you indifferent. As always, determining the championship was not easy, but you can already get used to it...

The very first computer in the world was created and built in the USA by Harvard University mathematician Howard Aixn back in 1941. Together with four specialists from IBM, which ordered it for him, they created a computer based on the ideas of Charles Babbage. After all the tests, it was launched on August 7, 1944. It received the name “Mark 1” from its creators, and it was put to work at Harvard.

At that time, this computer cost five hundred thousand dollars, a fabulous sum at that time. It was assembled in a special case, which was made of glass and steel that is resistant to corrosion. The body itself was at least seventeen meters long, the height was more than 2.5 m. Its mass was about 5 tons and it occupied a space of several tens of cubic meters.
"Mark 1" consisted of many switches and other mechanisms, the total number of which was 765 thousand.
Its wires had a total length of about eight hundred kilometers!

The capabilities of the very first computer in the world now seem ridiculous to us, but at that time there was no more powerful computing device on the planet.

The machine could:

• operate with seventy-two numbers, which in turn consisted of twenty-three decimal places
• the computer could subtract and add, and each operation took three seconds.
• In addition, he also multiplied and divided, spending six and fifteen seconds on these operations.

To enter information into this device, which was essentially just a faster adding machine, a special perforated paper tape was used. It was the first computer that did not require human intervention for its computing processes.

Back in 1942, the development of John Mauchly served as the impetus for the creation of the first computer, but at that moment few people paid attention to it. After military engineers of the American Army took a closer look at it in 1943, attempts were made to create a device that then received the name “ENIAC.” The military was in charge of the finances and allocated about five hundred thousand dollars for this project, as they wanted to design new types of weapons.
"ENIAC" consumed so much energy that during its operation, the nearby city constantly experienced a shortage of electricity and people sat without electricity, sometimes for several hours.

Eniac technical specifications

Look at some very interesting characteristics of the very first computer in the world, according to the second version. Impressive isn't it?

• It weighed 27 tons.
• It contained 18,000 lamps and other parts.
• The memory was 4 KB.
• Occupied an area of ​​135 square meters. m. and was all entangled in many wires.

It was programmed by hand, and the operators just changed hundreds of switches, and they had to turn it off and on every time because it didn't have a hard drive. There was no keyboard and no monitor either. There were a number of dozens of cabinets with lamps, the machine often broke down as it often overheated. Then it was also used to design hydrogen atomic weapons. This machine worked for more than ten years, and in 1950, when the transistor was created, computers became smaller in size.

Where and when was the very first PC sold?

In two decades, little has changed in the concept of computers. Thanks to the introduction of the microprocessor, the creation of the computer itself proceeded at a faster pace. Back in 1974, IBM wanted to launch the first computer on the market, but there were almost no sales. The IBM5100 used cassettes where information was stored, and at that time it was very expensive - ten thousand dollars. Therefore, few people could afford to buy such a device then.
He could himself execute programs that were written in the BASIC and APL languages, created in the depths of IBM. The monitor could display sixteen lines of sixty-four characters each, and its memory was sixty-four KB. The cassettes themselves were very similar to regular audio cassettes. There were almost no sales due to the high price and poorly thought out interface. But still, there were people who purchased it and who began a new era in the history of world markets - computer trading

Have you thought what they will be like in ten years?

Not long ago, IBM showed the press the Roadrunner supercomputer with 1 quadrillion operations. It was collected for the US Department of Energy. It includes 6,480 dual-core processors, and 12,960 Cell 8i processors. It consists of 278 cabinets, 88 kilometers of cable. Weighs 226 tons. Located on an area of ​​1100 m², this one costs $133,000,000.

As you can see, supercomputer cabinets are still in fashion, it’s all about the design...

Watch about the very first computer in the world in video format:

This is how computer history turned out. Was it interesting or not - write in the comments!

The computer has become an integral part of the lives of many people. But once upon a time, a PC was exotic or a device completely inaccessible due to the high cost or secrecy of technology. However, over time, initiators were found to transform the personal computer into a mass device. Thanks to whom did the PC become accessible to a wide range of digital technology lovers, as well as to ordinary citizens, those who, it would seem, can do without it? What computers are considered to be the first among such solutions?

First place criteria

Active discussions regarding who exactly released the first mass Personal Computer, have not subsided to this day. Arguments in favor of this or that brand, which manufactured a product that has become a widely replicated PC, are very different.

Experts consider the key criterion that can clarify the issue to be historical facts that reflect the specific time of the introduction of a particular product to the mass market. That is, whichever computer began to be sold earlier than others (later becoming mass-produced) should, according to this methodology, be considered the first. Therefore, our main task is to examine the relevant historical data.

First PCs

When did the first PCs actually appear - it doesn’t matter whether they were mass-produced or individual? Regarding this issue, discussions are almost more heated than in the case of defining those computers that have acquired the unconditional status of being widely replicated. Versions vary, reflecting who released the first PC, and even the state in which it appeared. Thus, there is information that in 1968, an engineer from Omsk, Arseny Anatolyevich Gorokhov, patented a computing device, the structure of which is very similar to modern PCs. It contained a monitor, a system unit with a storage medium, and electronic components, according to functions corresponding motherboard, random access memory and video card. However, the invention did not go into production.

Apple's first PC

There is a widespread point of view according to which the first full-fledged PC was invented in the USA, namely through the efforts of Steve Jobs and who offered the world the innovative concept of a PC under the Apple brand in 1976.

Apple required significant hardware additions - a case, a monitor, a keyboard. But after being equipped with them, they could function quite well. However, already in 1977, the Apple II computer was introduced to the market, fully equipped. These devices, according to many IT specialists and computer history enthusiasts, were fully consistent with their mass status. What does it mean? The fact that the Apple PC of 1976 is perhaps the first mass-produced personal computer. It was soon followed by the Apple II computer, which became available to a wide range of users.

First PC from IBM

But in relation to the point of view under consideration, a wide variety of counterarguments are actively presented. Among them, we can highlight those that are aimed at challenging the status of Apple's primacy in the aspect of bringing a fully equipped PC to the market as such. Thus, it is known that in 1975, before devices from Apple appeared, IBM managed to release the computer model 5100. It was characterized by the presence of a separate monitor, data storage medium, and keyboard, and therefore was fully consistent, as computer history enthusiasts believe, with the status of personal. However, its price - more than 20 thousand dollars apiece - several dozen American salaries, probably did not contribute to the fact that it was the first mass-produced personal computer.

IBM PC and criteria for “mass availability”

In 1981, IBM launched a device that was disproportionately more affordable than the 5100 model, but at the same time functional, and most importantly, with a completely competitive concept, called the IBM PC. The incredible success of the device allowed many experts and electronics enthusiasts to describe it as the first mass-produced personal computer. What kind of arguments do proponents of such an assessment give?

First of all, they call for rethinking the “mass” criterion as such. Of course, Apple's device has historically been ahead of many competitive solutions in terms of the concept of an affordable PC offered to the market. However, they began to spread especially actively due to openness: a user, having bought a PC, could modify it in terms of replacing a variety of components - processor, memory, hard drives. The supplier of monitors and additional devices could be any brand. Apple computers, in turn, were a closed platform. The situation was similar in the program aspect. The operating system of a personal computer in the IBM PC concept could be anything. In turn, in general, a proprietary OS had to be installed on Apple devices.

Two concepts

Thus, the criterion of “mass” in relation to the computer equipment market can be understood different ways. Computers from Apple correspond to it due to the fact that with the release of the first devices from the brand, PCs became affordable to a wide range of users. Speaking about the US market - any resident with average salary. IBM offered the American and subsequently the world market devices that, in addition to affordability, could be freely modified and copied at the concept level. Software for a personal computer corresponding to the IBM architecture could also be created by any willing and able person.

Well, to answer main question We can write articles in two ways. If we talk about when and by whom the first mass-produced personal computer was developed in principle, then we can well call the Apple company and the 1976 device of the same name the pioneers of the market. But we know that there are other criteria for mass availability, such as openness to any developer of hardware components or software. These, in turn, correspond to the IBM product. Thus, answering the question of when and by whom the first mass-produced personal computer was developed, we will say that the main role here was played by IBM and its product IBM PC in 1981.

Interpretation of the term “personal computer”

There are differences in the interpretation of the term “personal computer” and the accompanying difference in versions, reflecting the primacy of one or another brand in terms of bringing PCs to the market. What are the experts' opinions on this matter?

Some experts point out that the term “personal computer” itself existed long before the devices in question from Apple and IBM appeared. According to some reports, it was first used in relation to the Programma 101 device, released by the Italian company Olivetti - again, to the question of the country of origin of the first PCs. Based on this fact, it is incorrect to give primacy to any of the American brands - Apple or IBM.

However, there are discussions regarding the factors that influenced the widespread use of the term “personal computer”. Here the versions diverge virtually synchronously with the distribution of opinions regarding the primacy of IBM and Apple in terms of bringing to the market devices accessible to a wide range of users. It will probably also not be correct to compare their legality.

The first mass-produced computers from Apple: characteristics

However, let's return to the history of the PC. We have determined that, according to one interpretation of the term “mass”, Apple can be considered the supplier of the first PCs. It is interesting to study the characteristics of the devices that the American corporation brought to the market in 1976 and 1977. The Apple was equipped with a MOS 6502 processor that ran at 1 MHz. The PC had 4 KB of RAM installed, which could be increased to 48 KB using additional cards. The Apple II had almost the same characteristics.

Apple's first PCs: possibilities

What could you do on the first Apple PCs? It may seem that personal computer processors of the corresponding type have a very modest frequency indicator.

However, the noted performance was sufficient for the development of programs, as well as for games - in fact, the first commercial applications of the corresponding type were, as some historians and experts note, written specifically for the Apple II. Computer games, thanks to Apple PCs, have thus become available to a wide range of users.

IBM PC: characteristics

The characteristics of the IBM PC released in 1981 are as follows. The PC was equipped with an Intel 8088 processor running at 4.77 MHz. The computer could have up to 640 KB of RAM. PC controlled operating system IBM BASIC or PC-DOS.

It can be noted that the IBM PC used mainly floppy disks with a diameter of 5.25 inches as a data storage resource. Later, PCs with cassettes appeared on sale. However, IBM PC soon resolved the issue of connecting a hard drive to the computer by releasing a separate module for it, through which power could be supplied. So users were able to connect disks with a capacity of about 10 MB to their PC.

The IBM PC model turned out to be so successful that the concept proposed by the American company began to be actively copied by both amateurs and large businesses. The corresponding solutions were called "IBM PC Compatible", that is, compatible with the original platform. This term has remained relevant to this day.

Based on the IBM concept, the most different classes personal computers - “desktops”, monoblocks, laptops. Many experts believe that the architecture of mobile devices, in general, corresponds to this platform, since they contain processors, memory, video processing and data storage modules.

Of course, both brands - Apple and IBM - have made major contributions to the development of the computer industry. At least in the global PC market, no competing concepts have shown themselves noticeably. The fundamental nature of both platforms predetermined their influence, which can still be traced today - in almost all major segments of computer equipment and digital devices.

Continuity of concepts

Both concepts - open and closed, proposed by IBM and Apple, thus remain relevant to this day. At the same time, according to experts, the platform from IBM is characterized by greater mass popularity - due to the openness noted above.

In the modern computer market there is the term “IBM PC-compatible computer”. This does not mean that it is necessarily produced by IBM. However, it is quite consistent with the concept that she proposed in 1981. Of course, a wide variety of types of personal computers have appeared on the market, but from the point of view of their platform membership, they can one way or another be classified as corresponding concepts from the IBM PC.

Apple's platform remains closed. The situation is similar with others on which the brand is present - in particular, in the field of mobile gadgets. Smartphones and tablets from Apple - iPhone, iPad - are characterized by a closed platform.

It can be noted that their main competitor is considered to be an open concept based on Google. Thus, the confrontation between open and closed platforms has actually moved from the PC market to the mobile electronics segment.