Herman Hollerith

Herman Hollerith (February 29, 1860 – November 17, 1929) was an American statistician who developed the Jacquard's punched card idea to represent the census data, and to then read and collate this data using an automatic machine.

Related Topics:
February 29 - 1860 - November 17 - 1929 - American - Statistician - Jacquard - Punched card

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He was born in Buffalo, New York to German parents and graduated from Columbia University, New York, where he received a bachelor's degree in 1879 and a Ph.D. in 1890.

Related Topics:
Buffalo, New York - German - Columbia University - New York - Bachelor's degree - 1879 - Ph.D. - 1890

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hollerith did, while he spent a year (1882) on the Mechanical Engineering faculty at MIT, develop a prototype, partly inspired by the system used by railroad conductors in which holes punched in various places on a passenger's ticket identified the holder's gender, age group, etc. and partly inspired by the father of a personal friend (Dr. Billings) and then furtherly developed a mechanism for reading the presence or absence of holes in the cards by using spring-mounted nails that passed through the holes to make electrical connections, which made possible for the US Census Bureau to have the data from the 1890 census processed well before the next one would take place a decade later in 1900 which would otherwise be impossible by existing system.

Related Topics:
1882 - MIT - Railroad - US Census Bureau - 1890 - 1900

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He described his idea in Patent No. 395,782 of January 8, 1889 as follows: "The herein described method of compiling statistics which consists in recording separate statistical items pertaining to the individual by holes or combinations of holed punched in sheets of electrically non-conducting material, and bearing a specific relation to each other and to a standard, and then counting or tallying such statistical items separately or in combination by means of mechanical counters operated by electro-magnets the circuits through which are controlled by the perforated sheets, substantially as and for the purpose set forth."

Related Topics:
January 8 - 1889

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He started his own business in 1896 when he founded Tabulating Machine Company. He also invented the first automatic card-feed mechanism, the first key punch (i.e. punch that was operated from a keyboard) allowing a skilled operator to punch 200-300 cards per hour, and a wiring panel in his 1906 Type I Tabulator allowing it to do different jobs without having to be rebuilt (the first step towards programming). The 1890 Tabulator was hardwired to operate only on 1890 Census cards. These inventions were the foundation of the modern information processing industry.

Related Topics:
1896 - Tabulating Machine Company - Keyboard - 1906 - 1890 - Hardwired

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The "80-column" system that stored data in 80 columns was developed in 1928 and became widely used in all large organizations across the world for recording, storing and processing data. The majority of typewriters, early professional text user interface computers, terminals and wordprocessor systems (including printers) used 80 columns as the de facto standard for printouts and screen display (until graphical user interfaces displaced text interfaces).

Related Topics:
1928 - Typewriter - Text user interface - Terminal - Wordprocessor - De facto - Graphical user interface

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1911 his firm merged with two others to form the Computing Tabulating Recording (CTR) Corporation, which later renamed itself IBM in 1924. The Hollerith system was used for the 1911 UK census. The contract was awarded to the British Tabulating Machine Company.

Related Topics:
1911 - IBM - 1924 - UK - Census - British Tabulating Machine Company

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~