Who was invented the calculator?

Answer 1

The calculator has a long and rich history. Trying to figure out who invented the first calculator is a difficult question.

Calculating devices, such as the abacus, were used in ancient times. The abacus was invented in 3000bc by the Chinese.

Eventually, other calculating devices were invented: such as the sector and the slide rule

Mechanical calculating devices began to be developed in the 15th century. Wilhelm Stickard invented a mechanical adding machine in 1623.

Blaise Pascal worked on the calculator for three years between 1642 and 1645. This calculator, called the Pascaline, was like a mechanical calculator of the 1940s. He created it to help his father with tax collecting.

In 1673, Leibniz invented the first calculator capable of performing the 4 fundamental arithmetic operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

The "push button" calculating machine was not invented until 1902, by John Dalton. These were called "Dalton adding machines".

Bell labs became the next major player in the history of calculators, as the history of calculators begins to merge with computers.

Researchers at Bell Labs begin to investigate the potential of using binary to perform arithmetic. A rudimentary mechanical device was created for adding 1-bit numbers together as the first proof of concept. Soon, George Stibitz creates the first proof-of-concept 1-bit adder using telephone relay technology.

2 years later, the first 16-bit adder is invented, using vacuum tube technology.

2 moths later in January 1940, Stibitz completes his Complex Number Calculator (later called the Model I Relay Calculator). This was the first calculator to be controlled remotely through telephonelines.

Almost 2 years later, the Z3 was invented by Zuse in Germany. This is the first calculator capable of floating point operations. He sets the standard for how floating point numbers are represented, which is still used today.

From here on out, Calculator history becomes computer history. Further development of computers/calculators is driven by the military during World War 2, mostly for cracking encryption.