Mechanical and Pre-Electronic Computing Pioneers

In 1642, Blaise Pascal invented the first operational mechanical calculator with better tens-carry.

During World War II, he designed plans for a mechanical pocket calculator (the Curta).

invented an early calculating machine

Comrie was eventually the first director (1920-1922) of the Computing Section of the British Astronomical Association.

She was a leader of the Mathematical Tables Project in New York from its beginning.

which described many aspects of computer architecture and is considered the first modern example of programming

He started the design of a new machine in 1905 and was able to finalize its design with the help of Jay R. Monroe

known for his work on improved punched card machines

In 1907, Powers was hired by the US Census Bureau as a mechanical expert to modify unit record equipment invented two decades earlier by Herman Hollerith.

He also invented the Napier's bones calculating device

He is credited with inventing the slide rule in about 1622

he invented the first successful analogue device which he developed to calculate logarithmic tangents.

In 1642, he started some pioneering work on calculating machines (called Pascal's calculators and later Pascalines), establishing him as one of the first two inventors of the mechanical calculator.

a non-decimal adding machine (working with English pounds, shillings, pence, and farthings)

Adriaan Vlacq (1600-1667) was a Dutch book publisher and author of mathematical tables.

was an English engineer and teacher of mathematics, known for being the inventor of the slide rule

Poleni was the first to build a calculator that used a pinwheel design.

Vaucanson was trying to automate the French textile industry with punch cards

Some consider these devices to be the oldest examples of the computer.

In 1774 he designed one of the earliest mechanical calculators

who conceived the difference engine in 1786

and two calculating machines (first in 1775)

In 1840 Fowler produced a mechanical calculating machine which operated using balanced ternary arithmetic.

best known for designing, patenting, and manufacturing the first commercially successful mechanical calculator, known as the Arithmometer

the best known of these is the Scheutzian calculation engine, invented in 1837 and finalized in 1843

In 1791, Prony embarked on the task of producing logarithmic and trigonometric tables for the French Cadastre (geographic survey).

chiefly remembered as the maker of Charles Babbage's first difference engine, between 1824 and 1833

He is also credited with building a calculating machine, which he donated to Grand Duke Ferdinando II, that borrows from both a Blaise Pascal machine and Napier's rods.

Ezechiel de Decker (c. 1603-c. 1647) was a Dutch surveyor and teacher of mathematics.

Some authors consider Bürgi as one of the inventors of logarithms.

notable for changing the original logarithms invented by John Napier into common (base 10) logarithms

he was inspired by Blaise Pascal's work with calculating machines to combine the Pascaline with Napier's bones

Wright translated John Napier's pioneering 1614 work which introduced the idea of logarithms from Latin into English.

Pitiscus is often credited with inventing the decimal point, the symbol separating integers from decimal fractions.

It is believed that this automaton has the largest cam-based memory of any automaton of the era.

Vega published a series of books containing logarithmic tables.

The latter became known as Barlow's Tables and gives squares, cubes, square roots, cube roots, and reciprocals of all integer numbers from 1 to 10,000.

After his Tables of the Products and Powers of Numbers, 1781, and his Mathematical Tables of 1785

He is known for his mechanical calculators.

built clockwork mechanisms which could, in a simple way, play musical instruments, write short phrases, or conduct other individual, specialized tasks

Merlin is noted for the manufacture of ingenious automata, in particular the Silver Swan that he developed with London jeweller and entrepreneur James Cox.