Computers: From Abacus To IBM’s New 53-Qubit Quantum Computer.

Computers have become an integral part of our lives today. Computer has taken over a large part of our lives whether it is related to our career, education, recreation or even the food that we now procure. Starting from food production to the car that we drive, or the metro train service that we avail, our trains and flight tickets that we book, even healthcare, everything happens through the computer. It has become an indispensible part of our lives

So what do you think how old are computers? Well the original definition of the word "computer" was a person who made calculations. This definition can be dated back to the 1600s. It was only midway through the 20th century that the word "computer" began to be referred to a machine. The oldest computer in use till date is the Abacus, which goes back many centuries.
In 1801 Joseph-Marie Masqua introduced the punched card which has a giant technological leap at that time. In the year 1835, Charles Babbage invented what he called an "analytical engine" which was actually a combination of the punch cards with steam engine for source of energy.
ENIAC or Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer was the very first general purpose computer invented by J.Presper Eckert and John Mauchly. This computer was primarily used to calculate artillery tables for the Army. This computer was also able to receive input from IBM punch cards and used an IBM card punch for output which was then sent to an IBM accounting machine to be printed.
In the 1880's IBM came into existence with Herman Hollerith crafting the first tabulator. The first calculators appeared in the 1930's and the analog machines slowly began to get replaced by the digital concept that of zeroes and ones. UNIVAC was the first computer made for the masses by Remington Rand in 1951 with IBM introducing its mainframe computer in the year to follow.
There were certain other very important devices that made a huge impact on how computers worked. One of the first devices was the transistor, which replaced the highly inefficient vacuum tubes. The problems of joining many transistors was solved by Jack St. Clair Kilby of Texas Instruments when He manufactured the first integrated circuit or chip which was really a collection of tiny transistors that were connected together during the manufacturing itself.
The 1970's saw an explosion of personal computers. In 1977 the Tandy Radio Shack manufactured TRS-80 a home computer. By 1984 both Apple and IBM came out with new models and since then there has been no looking back and now our lives literally revolve around a computer which has been the fastest growing technology in human history.

By: Madhuchanda Saxena
Content: https://homepage.cs.uri.edu/faculty/wolfe/book/Readings/Reading03.htm