Herman Hollerith (1860-1929),US computer pioneer,circa 1888. Hollerith graduated from the Colombia University School of Mines,New York,USA,in 1879 and received a PhD in 1890. From 1882,he worked on developing machine-readable punched cards,and patented the method in 1889. His census machine was employed with great success to process the 1890 census data. In 1896,Hollerith founded the Tabulating Machine Company which produced further innovations,including a machine that could be rewired to do different jobs,the forerunner of modern computer programming. The Tabulating Machine Company was one of the precursors of the International Business Machine Corporation (IBM) |