How the Computer Changed History

How the Computer Changed History — page 1 — CHAPTER 1 THE INTERCONNECTIONS PROBLEM Computers Computers are everywhere today But these modern machines have existed for only a few decades The first electronic digital computers were created in the 1940s for military purposes and they were costly room filling machines The military needed computers for activities such as breaking enemy code and performing calculations to improve the accuracy of artillery fire By the 1950s computers were being mass produced for business government and scientific use but they were still very large and very expensive One key technology that helped reduce the size and cost of computers was the transistor invented in 1947 and used in the wildly popular transistor radio in the mid 1950s

How the Computer Changed History — page 2 — Sac LeoCO poo See Rabadell The military used early computers such as the RCA Typhoon to guide missiles ships planes and submarines KAAM

How the Computer Changed History — page 3 — At that point in time engineers could imagine and design electronics that could outperform anything previously designed However it was impossible to actually build them because the circuits which are the basic building blocks of computer processors would be too large and complex A circuit with 100 000 parts needed 1 million soldered connections to link them together The only way to make those connections was by hand so the labor and cost were unaffordable This was called the interconnections problem or the tyranny of numbers Unless someone found a solution to the problem further technological advancement seemed impossible Finding a Solution Countries such as the United Kingdom France the Soviet Union and Germany worked hard to come up with a solution to the interconnections problems In the United States the military and private companies poured money into solving the problem but none of the ideas worked JACK KILBY Jack Kilby was born in 1923 and became an electrical engineer In addition to developing the integrated circuit he coinvented the first electronic handheld calculator and held patents for 60 other inventions In 2000 he received the Nobel Prize for his work on the integrated circuit He died in 2005

How the Computer Changed History — page 4 — 14 LLLLLLLL Computers were changing in the 1950s but inventors were struggling to design a smaller and more affordable option Then one summer day in 1958 engineer and inventor Jack Kilby was working alone in his office at Texas Instruments in Dallas Texas He had only recently started his job and everyone else was on vacation so the office was empty Being alone in the office gave him plenty of time to think In fact Kilby was supposed to be working on a

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