Herman Hollerith

Herman Hollerith was born on February 29, 1860 in Buffalo, New York. He was a prodigy, receiving his EM degree at the young age of 19. He was an American inventor of a American inventor of an electric tabulating machine that was an important precursor of the electronic computer, though he is best known as the inventor of the original IBM PC and the Hollerith Machine. Hollerith is widely regarded as the father of modern automatic computation. He chose the punched card as the basis for storing and processing information and he built the first punched-card tabulating and sorting machines as well as the first key punch that could process 80 cards, and he founded the company that was to become IBM. Hollerith's designs dominated the computing landscape for almost 100 years. His impact caused the first steps towards programming to take place. And by 1891, Hollerith's machines were being used to gather census information in Canada, Austria, and Norway. Using electrical connections for his computer, his machine was able to read data using punch cards and could process up to 80 punch cards. Between 1890 and 1900, he expanded the commercial uses of his machines to include railroad freight statistics and agricultural data. Although genius, Holerith suffered from emotional exhaustion and would have fits, when better he moved onto commercial work. He passed away on Novemeber 17, 1929 in Washington D.C. Hollerith recieved his EM degree at 19. He created both the original IBM PC and the Hollerith Machine. He used electrical connections.