Herman Hollerith
Herman Hollerith (February 29, 1860 – November 17, 1929) was an American statistician, inventor, and businessman who developed an electromechanical tabulating machine for punched cards to assist in summarizing information and, later, in accounting. His invention of the punched card tabulating machine, patented in 1884, marks the beginning of the era of mechanized binary code and semiautomatic data processing systems, and his concept dominated that landscape for nearly a century.
Herman Hollerith | |
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Hollerith c. 1888 | |
Born | Buffalo, New York, U.S. | February 29, 1860
Died | November 17, 1929 69) Washington, D.C., U.S. | (aged
Resting place | Oak Hill Cemetery |
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Spouse | Lucia Beverly (Talcott) Hollerith |
Children | 6 |
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Hollerith founded a company that was amalgamated in 1911 with several other companies to form the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company. In 1924, the company was renamed "International Business Machines" (IBM) and became one of the largest and most successful companies of the 20th century. Hollerith is regarded as one of the seminal figures in the development of data processing.