MattB

=Howard Aiken= ~ Howard Aiken ~ Hoboken, NJ ~March 8, 1900-March 15, 1973

Before being the man who invented the computer, Howard worked nights as a switchboard attendant for a local power company, following the 8th grade. He also got a job at Madison Gas and electric company. This helped him pay for college. He invented a machine that could solve any math problem. He also constructed the first computer. It was huge, 51 ft. long, and 8 ft high. 530 miles of wire! This contained more than 1,200 ball bearings, 175,000 electric connections, and 750,000 parts altogether. He built a machine (calculator) that would stop time consuming problems, and be able to solve any math problem no matter how hard. He also constructed the world's first computer. He had several generations of the computer.

<First Computers

Howard Aiken was a "driven" man. When he found something he wanted to get done, he set out and did it. He called his computer a giant math machine, because it was huge, and had a calculator in it. He was a major influence on other people/countries. He never shared his ideas. Howard spent most of his career at IBM, a small company that had made a number of innovations in punch card operated businesses. He also worked at a number of colleges. Mostly Harvard, where he worked with IBM. Howard Aiken did some pretty crazy and unbelievable things! He wrote out plans, and IBM would see if they had the parts that could make any machine he constructed work. The computer term "Debugging" is known because when Howard Aiken built his first computer, a moth got stuck inside his computer, and jammed it. Howard Aiken wanted his first computer to be a huge calculator.





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