You are here: Home › Category Archives › computer science

computer science

Subscribe to this category
computer science
Grace Hopper and the Programming Languages

Grace Hopper and the Programming Languages

Harald Sack
On December 9, 1908, American computer scientist Grace Brewster Murray Hopper was born. Besides being credited for having invented the term “debugging”, Hopper was one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer in 1944. She invented the first compiler for a computer programming language and was one of those who popularized the idea of machine-independent programming languages which led to the development of COBOL, one of the first high-level…
Read more
computer science
Intel 4004 – The World’s First Microprocessor

Intel 4004 – The World’s First Microprocessor

Harald Sack
On November 15, 1971, Intel presented the Intel 4004 microprocessor, the world’s very first commercially available 4-bit central processing unit (CPU). It was the first complete CPU on one chip. By the time, this revolutionary microprocessor, the size of a little fingernail, delivered the same computing power as the first electronic computer built in 1946, which filled an entire room. Subsequently, the successors to the 4004 should drive the digital revolution. A New…
Read more
computer science
Fred Cohen and the first Computer Virus

Fred Cohen and the first Computer Virus

Harald Sack
On November 10, 1983, U.S. student Fred Cohen at the University of Southern California‘s School of Engineering presented to a security seminar the results of his test, a program for a parasitic application that seized control of computer operations, one of the first computer viruses, created as an experiment in computer security. John von Neumann – the “Father of Computer Virology” But, the history of computer viruses dates back even further. The…
Read more
computer games
William Higinbotham and The Birth of Video Games

William Higinbotham and The Birth of Video Games

Harald Sack
On October 25, 1910, US-american physicist William “Willy” A. Higinbotham was born. A member of the Manhattan Project, he later became a leader in the nonproliferation movement of nuclear weapons. Moreover, he is also known for his development of ‘Tennis for Two‘, the first interactive analog computer game and one of the first electronic games to use a graphical display. William Higinbotham – Biographical Background William Alfred Higinbotham was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and grew…
Read more
computer science
Tom Kilburn and the First Stored-Program Computer

Tom Kilburn and the First Stored-Program Computer

Harald Sack
On August 11, 1921, English engineer Tom Kilburn was born. Kilburn became known for having written the computer program used to test the first stored-program computer, the Small-Scale Experimental Machine, SSEM, also known as “The Baby” in 1948. “… the most exciting time was June 1948 when the first machine worked. Without question. Nothing could ever compare with that.” Tom Kilburn, Autumn 1992 Tom Kilburn was born in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, England and…
Read more
computer science
John Cocke and the RISC Architecture

John Cocke and the RISC Architecture

Harald Sack
On May 30, 1925, American computer scientist John Cocke was born. Cocke is recognized for his large contribution to computer architecture and optimizing compiler design. He is considered by many to be “the father of RISC computer architecture.” John Cocke – Background Information John Cocke was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. His father Norman was the president of Duke Power Company and a member of the Board of Trustees of Duke University.…
Read more
computer science
Robert Metcalfe and the Ethernet Technology

Robert Metcalfe and the Ethernet Technology

Harald Sack
On May 22, 1973, Robert Metcalfe, by the time PhD student in electrical engineering working at Xerox PARC, wrote a memo describing a way to transmit data from the early generation of personal computers to a new device, the laser printer. He named the new network technology Ethernet after the disproven luminiferous ether as an “omnipresent, completely-passive medium for the propagation of electromagnetic waves“. Over time, Ethernet has largely replaced competing wired…
Read more
computer science
The Antikythera Mechanism – an Ancient Analog Computer

The Antikythera Mechanism – an Ancient Analog Computer

Tabea Tietz
On May 17, 1902, Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais discovers the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient mechanical analog computer, designed to predict astronomical positions and eclipses. The Discovery of the Antikythera Mechanism The famous mechanism was discovered in a shipwreck near the Greekisland of Antikythera. In October 1900, a group of sponge divers discovered the wreck and retrieved a great number of artifacts dating back to the end of the second century BC, which…
Read more
computer science
Howard Aiken and the Harvard Mark I Computer

Howard Aiken and the Harvard Mark I Computer

Tabea Tietz
On March 9, 1900, computer pioneer Howard Hathaway Aiken was born. He was the original conceptual designer behind IBM’s Harvard Mark I computer, forerunner of the modern electronic digital computer. “The desire to economize time and mental effort in arithmetical computations, and to eliminate human liability to error is probably as old as the science of arithmetic itself.” — Howard Aiken, in Proposed Automatic Calculating Machine (1937) Early Years Howard Aiken’s parents…
Read more
computer science
Norbert Wiener and the Science of Cybernetics

Norbert Wiener and the Science of Cybernetics

Harald Sack
On November 26, 1894, American mathematician Norbert Wiener was born. Wiener established the science of cybernetics, a term he coined, which is concerned with the common factors of control and communication in living organisms, automatic machines, and organizations. He attained international renown by formulating some of the most important contributions to mathematics in the 20th century. “Scientific discovery consists in the interpretation for our own convenience of a system of existence which has…
Read more
Relation Browser
Timeline
0 Recommended Articles:
0 Recommended Articles: