The invention of the first computer is the realization of man's desire to develop a universal computer, an idea born in Great Britain in the 20th century thanks to Charles Babbage and further perfected by Alan Mathison Turing in 1936. It was the improvement of many techniques, particularly in the field of electronics, which in 1946 led to the design of the real first modern computer, the ENIAC .
Who invented the first computer?
Between 1834 and 1837, an English mathematician named Charles Babbage imagines the concepts of the first programmable calculating machine . A visionary inventor, he relies on the work of Blaise Pascal and lays the foundations for what would later become the first computers , with the principle of programming by punched cards which one already finds for the automated production of music for example (Orgue de Barbarie). Unfortunately, he did not manage to put his idea into practice, the technologies of the time being still very limited, and his "differential machine" never saw the light of day.
It was then almost a century before another English mathematician named Alan Turing opens a decisive path in the history of computer science. He published in 1936 his article "On Computable Numbers with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem" which will allow the construction of "Turing machines " which federate the concepts of computer, programming language and computer program.
Programmable computers
The era of modern computers owes much to the major advances made during World War II . Thus, the invention of electronic circuits , vacuum tubes, capacitors and relays replaced the generation of mechanical components and digital calculation replaced analog calculation. The computers designed and produced at this time form what is called the first generation of computers.
From 1937 to 1944 there were many devices:
- the " model k " (designed in a kitchen!)
- the "Z-series "
- the ABC (Atanasoff Berry Computer)
- the "Complex Number Computer " (or Model I)
- and finally the Harvard Mark I
Computers in the service of war:the "Bomb" against "Enigma"
During World War II, the United Kingdom made great efforts at Bletchley Park to crack German military communications codes. The main German encryption system, Enigma was attacked with the help of machines called bombs , created by the Polish secret service and improved by the British.
Alan Mathison Turing paves the way for the creation of the computer programmable as early as 1936, when he published his article "On Computable Numbers with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem". He describes his own so-called "Turing" machine, the first programmable universal calculator , and along the way invents the concepts of programming and program .
These machines were used to find encryption keys. The Germans also created another series of encryption systems (called FISH by the British) very different from Enigma. In order to break these systems, Professor Max Newman made the Colossus or the "Turing bomb" which was dismantled and hidden because of its strategic importance.
From ENIAC to the modern computer
We had to wait until 1946 and ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) designed by Presper Eckert and John William Mauchly to see the first all-electronic computer built to be Turing-complete. Then came from 1948 the architecture machines of von Neumann :Unlike all previous machines, programs were stored in the same memory as data and could thus be manipulated like data. The first machine using this architecture was the Small-Scale Experimental Machine (SSEM ) built at the University of Manchester in 1948.
After that, IBM launches its model 701 in 1952 then a whole series of evolutions which will lead to computers called second generation (1956), third generation (1963) and finally fourth generation (1971) which saw the invention of the microprocessor and the endless race towards miniaturization and the increase in computing power. Desktop computers, laptops, and multiple high-tech versions (graphics cards, smartphones, touch tablets, etc.), are now part of everyday life thanks to this invention, of which artificial intelligence is the latest avatar.
To go further on the first computer
- Prehistory and history of computers:From the origins of calculation to the first electronic calculators, by Robert Ligonniere. Robert laffont, 1987.
- The Computer:A History of Computing, by Mark Frauenfelder. Gründ, 2006.