The Impact of the Personal Computer on Humanity

Currently, computers are used for everything in life. For example, from researching for a large essay project to playing video games with friends. “From the outset, computers were weighed for both military and commercial significance, and hence they straddled the very institutional boundaries that central to this study. It is also significant that computers became valuable research instruments in nearly all disciplines.” (Akera, 2). The first digital computer was constructed in 1946 by John Mauchly, a professor, and Presper Eckert, an inventor. “They met by chance in 1941 at the University of Pennsylvania’s Moore School of Engineering. They soon developed a revolutionary vision: to use electricity as a means of computing--in other words, to make electricity "think."” (McCartney, 1). They were ignored by their colleagues, but in 1943 they were becoming more well known and was funded by the U.S Army. The U.S Army was seeking for a contraption that can quickly calculate ballistic missile trajectories in wartime Europe and Africa (McCartney, 1). John Mauchly and Presper Eckert led a team that constructed the computer that occupied 1,800 square feet and weighed thirty tons. They named the large computer, ENIAC, Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer. The process of building this machine was not an effortless task, Mauchly and Presper and their team had to overcome many problems

Personal computers are now a very common item in many households. More than one million personal computers had been sold and by in the mid 1980s, it had risen to 30 million. Personal computers have been a big help in today’s society, and it also helps me with my homework, research papers, essays, and much more. The first African American ever to receive the honor as IBM fellow was, Dr. Mark Dean. In this research paper, I will highlight the importance of the personal computer and how it has an impact on society then and now.

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries Science & Technology have grown-up a radical contribution to industry, and the personal computer has become a defining symbol of our age. In 1940, it was not recognized that Science & Technology would develop into an innovative way that would intensely affect business, trade, the monetary world, administration, discipline, education, communications, entertainment, and society as a whole. Today, information technology and its applications persist to go forward progressively. Computers and communication technology will become even more precious to civilization as they are ever more able to distinguish

The 1940’s was the beginning of an era of computers ruling us. It all started with Konrad Zuse a German engineer creates and finishes the computer called Z3 built in 1941 it was built using 2,300 relays, and used a floating point binary arithmetic, and had a 22 bit word length. Although the original was destroyed in a bombing run in Berlin in late 1943. He supervised a reconstruction of his invention in the 60's which is on display at the Deutsches Museum in Munich. In February of 1946 the ENIAC was released and the public was able to view it, built by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert they improved it by 1,000 times since the first computers were released. Started in 1943 it took 3 years to complete and it used a plugboard and switch program, and the speed was about 5,000 operations per second. It took up 1,000 square feet, or the size of a small house! In 1944 the Harvard Mark-1 was completed. Thought by the Harvard professor Howard Aiken, and built by IBM, the dimensions of this beast was room sized, relay-based calculator. Also it had a

The origin of the computer resides with the military. The computer itself was created by the military during the Cold War era, when we were in a technological race with Russia. This race was the fuel for massive advancements in technology especially in the sector of computer intelligence. The first Computer’s were physically large enough to fill an entire room. They were used to manage large quantities of data in textual and numerical form. The government backed certain research facilities in the advancement of the computer and some investigated and experimented in computer technology with art and music. 1

The ENIAC was invented by John Mauchly and J.Presper Eckert, Jr.and built from 1943-1945. The ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator), often referred to as the first computer, was built to supply the need for faster calculations. It started the information age and led to the development of the first commercial computers (The ENIAC).

Computers have created a drastic impact in our lives. In fact we are so dependent on computers that life without computers will certainly be incomplete. In current times most of us own computer gadgets like Private Computer Dekstops Notebooks, Tabloids,

Ockham, Surrey County, England, the Summer of 1843. Lady Ada Lovelace frantically prepares her “Notes” to Sir Charles Babbage. This 19,136 words document will hold the first description of the term “computer” a century before this idea will come to fruition.

Computer science is, in comparison to most sciences, a relatively new field starting as early as the 1930’s for military based projects and eventually adapting in the early 1980’s to the personal computers we have today. If we were to look into a “brief history of computers starting with the 1950’s we would see huge series of cathode tubes and switches taking up entire rooms. These computers were designed for military intelligence and predominantly comprised of computing long calculations run by paper punch cards and manual switches.” (Ceruzzi pg. 28)

ENIAC stands for Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer. It was introduced on February 15, 1946 and was the very first digital and electronically run computer. It was created in the United States at the University of Pennsylvania and its original purpose was to calculate artillery firing tables during World War 2. The ENIAC weighed 30 tons and filled up an entire extremely large room with its many parts. Its complexity was prominent, containing approximately 18,000 vacuum tubes, 70,000 resistors, 10,000 capacitors, thousands of switches, and 1,500 relays. It produced calculations that, if done by hand, would have taken much longer to achieve. For example in one second, the ENIAC could solve 5,000 additions.

Charles Babbage is recognized as “The Father of Computing”. He developed the concept of a digital programmable computer. Charles contrived the concept called the Analytical Engine and it hailed as the first general-purpose computer concept. The Analytical Engine serves to be the signature of computer technology; nevertheless, this computer concept was the evolution that began the inventions of computers. Whereas the 1st generation of computers served in the early 19th century, it expanded throughout the generations; thus, evolving into computers people know today. In the 21st century not computers, but technology itself are highly known to be used everywhere. The advancement of technology within the 21st century does not just go into using computers; furthermore, it goes to using cell phones, tablets, pcs, laptops, desktops, wearable devices, such as smartwatches and activity trackers, etc. Computers are disbursed within workplaces, such as colleges, high schools, and even hospitals.

After Babbage’s calculator, the revolution of computers took off leading to the first programmable computer, the digital computer, the minicomputer, the desktop computer, the microprocessor, the portable

The first ever computer was invented in the 1820s by Charlse Babbage. However the first electronic digital computer were developed between 1940 and 1945 in the United States and in the United Kingdom. They were gigantic, originally the size of a large room, and also need to be supply a large amount of power source which is equivalent as several hundred modern personal computers. The history of computer hardware covers the developments from simple devices to aid calculation, to mechanical calculators, punched card data processing and on to modern stored program computers. The tools or mechanical tool used to help in calculation are called calculators while the machine operator that help in calculations is called computer. At first the

In our societies today, no one could really predict the actual effects of computers, but the changes that have taken place on the people’s daily lives are actually evident. The manner in which people over depend on the computers technology has rapidly increased and has brought several changes on the economic sector, political sector, and the education sector. The computers could possibly isolate from each other. They could also alter the face-to-face communication between people(Misa 52-63). This paper focuses on the discussion about the effects of computers on the world.

There are 7 individuals on the planet who hold the "key to the web." If in the occasion of a significant disaster the web is closed down these key holders will together have the capacity to reboot an essential piece of the framework. Computers are a radiant deed of engineering. They have developed from straightforward number crunchers to machines with numerous functions and abilities. Computers have gotten to be common to the point that practically every home has no less than one computer, and schools discover them a decent hotspot for data and training for their understudies. Computers have made new professions and dispensed with others and have left an enormous effect on our general public. The development of the computer has incredibly influenced expressions of the human experience, the business world, and society and history in numerous diverse zones, yet to see how extraordinary these progressions are, it is important to examine the sources of the computers. Innovation has changed the world and the future holds greater creations for every one of us. Numerous individuals have helped innovation. Three of the numerous individuals who have helped engineering are Tim Berners-Lee, Steve Ballmer, and Linus Torvalds. Without specific individuals we may have not seen a large portion of these new advances turning out so soon, but I believe the future holds more.