Key Developments in Computer History
1. 1642: Blaise Pascal invents the Pascaline, a mechanical calculator capable of addition and subtraction.
2. 1671: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz develops the Leibniz Wheel, the first machine capable of performing all four basic arithmetic operations.
3. 1804: Jacquard Loom is invented, the first machine to use punched cards for automated tasks.
4. 1823: Charles Babbage creates the Difference Engine, capable of solving polynomial equations.
5. 1837: Babbage conceptualizes the Analytical Engine, considered a precursor to modern computers.
6. 1890: Herman Hollerith designs the Tabulating Machine for census data, which uses punched cards and is the predecessor of modern data processing machines.