Herman Hollerith
- Born:
- February 29, 1860, Buffalo, New York, USA
- Died:
- November 17, 1929, Washington, D.C., USA
- Nationality:
- American
- Profession(s):
- Statistician, Inventor
Early Life and Education
- Hollerith earned a degree from the Columbia University School of Mines in 1879 at age 19.
- He also received an Engineer of Mines degree from Columbia University in 1890.
Career and Major Achievements
- Hollerith initially worked as a statistician.
- His major achievement was the development of electromechanical punched card tabulating machines. The "biography of herman hollerith invention" details the profound impact this innovation had on data processing.
- He invented the tabulating machine to speed up the processing of the 1890 United States Census data.
- He founded the Tabulating Machine Company in 1896.
- The Tabulating Machine Company later merged with other companies to form Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) in 1911.
- CTR was renamed International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) in 1924.
Notable Works
- Hollerith Punch Card Tabulating Machine
Patents
- U.S. Patent 395,782, Art of Compiling Statistics, January 8, 1889
- U.S. Patent 395,783, Art of Applying Statistics, January 8, 1889
- U.S. Patent 1,123,615, Card Feeding Mechanism, January 5, 1915
Legacy and Impact
Herman Hollerith's invention of the punched card tabulating machine revolutionized data processing and laid the foundation for modern computing. His company, IBM, became a global leader in information technology.