Technology at Its Roots
Everyday we continue to invent new things to help technology march forward and evolve into something better. Computers need to be quicker, phones need more features, pictures need more clarity, and calls need to be clearer. No matter what the subject, if technology is involved, someone always desires to reinvent it and make it better. This idea is true when it comes to all forms of technology. We constantly want to improve our devices so they may fulfill our needs with more efficiency. However, where did it all start? What caused our rapid explosion of technology and our constant need to improve on the latest model? Simple, it all started with the computer.
The first computer was very primitive when compared to today's modern machines. This machine was called the Z1 and was invented by Konrad Zuse, a German civil engineer, in 1935. This computer was designed for the sole purpose of solving complex engineering calculations quickly (Karwatka 30). The Z1 computer was about the size of a four-foot cube and was entirely mechanical. It was made in Zuse's parents' kitchen using only pieces from Erector sets. Due to the low quality toy parts, the machine would jam frequently after only a few minutes of work (Karwatka 30). After the Z1, Zuse rebuilt the machine with better parts three times, but the desired function and mechanics of the device always remained the same.
Even though it was cheaply made, the Z1 computer was highly evolved in terms of how it operated. It read calculations from punched 35mm film that was fed through a program reader. After the data entered the device, it used a series of rods display the output based on the calculations (Karwatka 30). This series of rods, was actually the first us...
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...ture and that computers would be at the front of that charge. And so, countless people reinvented this primitive machine to what we know today, making every aspect of the computer simpler, faster, and smaller so that it can fit into today our everyday use.
Works Cited
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Karwatka, Dennis. "Konrad Zuse--Computer Pioneer." Tech Directions57.5 (1997): pg. 30. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 23 Nov. 2011.
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Konrad Zuse was born June 22, 1910 in Berlin-Wilmersdorf Germany. In 1927, he studied civil engineering at Technische Hochschule of Berlin and became interested in building a mechanical device for calculations. While studying construction he realized how time consuming solving linear equations was and wanted to build a computer that would solve the problems for him ("First Relay Computer," n.d.). After graduation, Zuse worked for the Henschel Aircraft Company, as a structural engineer, working daily with calculations (O’Connor & Robertson, 1999). Zuse’s concept was to build a computer that was intended for tiresome engineering calculations. He would later become known as the “father of the computer” (Rojas, 2000, p. 64). In 1934, Zuse quit his job and started working alone to build his first mechanical device in his parent’s living room and named it the Z1. The Z1 was slow and unreliable and the size of ...
Mark I. It was actually a electromechanical calculation. It is said that this was the first potentially computers. In 1951 Remington Rand’s came out with the UNIVAC it began
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The computer came from unpretentious beginnings in 1936 when a German Scientist named Konrad Zuse made a mechanical calculator and he called it the Z1. Also, the Z1 was the world’s first binary computer (The First Freely Programmable Computer Invented by Konrad Zuse 1). Zuse used it to discover nume...
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helped greatly in proving that computers were no longer just toys and they had a
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The fist computer, known as the abacus, was made of wood and parallel wires on which beads were strung. Arithmetic operations were performed when the beads were moved along the wire according to “programming” rules that had to be memorized by the user (Soma, 14). The second earliest computer, invented by Blaise Pascal in 1694, was a “digital calculating machine.” Pascal designed this first known digital computer to help his father, who was a tax collector. Pascal’s computer could only add numbers, and they had to be entered by turning dials (Soma, 32). It required a manual process like its ancestor, the abacus. Automation was introduced in the early 1800’s by a mathematics professor named Charles Babbage. He created an automatic calculation machine that was steam powered and stored up to 1000 50-digit numbers. Unlike its two earliest ancestors, Babbage’s invention was able to perform various operations. It relied on cards with holes punched in them, which are called “punch cards.” These cards carried out the programming and storing operations for the machine. Unluckily, Babbage’s creation flopped due to the lack of mechanical precision and the lack of demand for the product (Soma, 46). The machine could not operate efficiently because technology was t adequate to make the machine operate efficiently Computer interest dwindled for many years, and it wasn’t until the mid-1800’s that people became interested in them once again.
The first generation of computers dated during the Second World War. Rich governments sought to develop missiles and cannons using computers to exploit their strategic needs. This increased the funding for computer development projects. In Germany, Konrad Zuse developed a computer named Z3, to design airplanes and missiles. Not to mention, in 1943, the Briti...