People sometimes say the abacus was the first.
ENIAC, short for Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer,[1] was the first large-scale, electronic, digital computer capable of being reprogrammed to solve a full range of computing problems,[2] although earlier computers had been built with some of these properties.
ENIAC was conceived and designed by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert of the University of Pennsylvania.
2007-06-10 00:53:43
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answer #1
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answered by Chris Z 5
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Many say the first computer is the "difference engine." The first of these devices was conceived in 1786 by J. H. Mueller. It was never built.
Difference engines were forgotten and then rediscovered in 1822 by Charles Babbage. This machine used the decimal numbers system and was powered by cranking a handle. The British government first financed the project but then later cut off support. Babbage went on to design his much more general analytical engine but later returned and produced an improved design (his "Difference Engine No. 2") between 1847 and 1849.
Others point out that this is the first ELECTRONIC computer. The earliest computer known is the Antikythera Machine, a mechanical device that computed the positions of the astrological signs on any given date, past or future. It was discovered in an ancient shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea and dates to approximately 250 BC. The designer/builder is not known, but because of its similarity to other mechanical devices known to have been designed by Archimedes, it is probably his work.
Still others will say the abacus is the first computer. They were invented by the Chinese between 2400 BC and 300 BC is considered as the first computer ever. Abacus was used by the merchants and Clerks in China.
Here is still more input:
* If you mean Electronic Computer, It was a man called Alan Turing from Cambridge UK, Who was draughted in to Bletchley park secret base where they worked at cracking the WW2 enigma codes that the Germans used every day. The Germans changed their Enigma machines to a four digit code maker. However, Because what went on at Bletchley Park the computer made from thousands of valves was kept top secret up untill recently. The computer, named Colossus was smashed to peices at the end of the war. The buildings have now been restored as a tourist centre.
* The first computer, or "modern computer" was invented in World War II by a German engineer, Konrad Zuse in 1941 called the Z3. More Info: "I can add some authenticity to this answer. My grandfather was a rocket scientist on Werner Von Braun's team during WWII. He was the technician who actually built the computer described above. It was an analog computer designed to simulate the guidance system for the rockets. It was built in secret because the higher-ups had not given their permission for this project."
* After doing some reseach to answser a question for a scholarship I was applying for I found that Babbage failed to build a complete machine. The most widely accepted reason for this failure is that Victorian mechanical engineering were not sufficiently developed to produce parts with sufficient precision.
* It was Konrad Zuse. He invented the z1, z2, z3, z4 and other ones. The z3 was the first fully functional program-controlled electromaechanical digital computer in the world-completed in 1941. Charles Babbage just made a mechanical computing machine.
* "Who invented the computer?" is not a question with a simple answer. The real answer is that many inventors contributed to the history of computers and that a computer is a complex piece of machinery made up of many parts, each of which can be considered a separate invention.
* The first electronic computer was invented by John Vincent Ansoff. He named it the Anatasoff Berry Computer, or the ABC.
* Now, if we're talking technical knowledge and actual precursors to the PC - IBM may have accidentally spread it around when they allowed cloning of the PC architecture. But they were not the first.
* These are all pre-IBM machines: MITS ALTAIR 8800, Apple II, TRS80, Attari 800 and the Commodore 64.
* Purists who claim that the ALTAIR was not the first, will say it was 'Simon' by Berkley Enterprises, 1950, costing $300.
* The first completely electronic computer was developed in England in 1943. It was known as Colossus. It took up 1,000 Sq. ft. weighed 30 tons/60,000 pounds. And took 150 kilowatts which is enough power to light up a small town.
* The first computer was developed by Charles Babbage. It was called the Differencial and Analytical Engine. The programmer for this computer was Ada Lovelace (first programmer).
2007-06-10 00:56:41
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answer #2
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answered by Wolf Man 2
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"Who invented the computer?" is not a question with a simple answer. The real answer is that many inventors contributed to the history of computers and that a computer is a complex piece of machinery made up of many parts, each of which can be considered a separate invention.
go to this site it may help: http://inventors.about.com/library/blcoindex.htm
2007-06-10 00:58:29
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answer #3
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answered by Anonymous
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The first PC was invented by IBM. the first personal computer was the Altair by I think MIT.
2007-06-10 07:07:36
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answer #4
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answered by real_computer_mac 1
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There's no one single answer
But here's an informative site
http://www.turing.org.uk/turing/scrapbook/computer.html
2007-06-10 00:56:54
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answer #5
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answered by Anonymous
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