The Evolution of Computer Science
While the institutionalized study of computer science and invention of the modern computer took place within the 20th century, the origins of computer science can actually be attributed to centuries before. Throughout history, mankind has invented mechanisms to assist or simplify calculations. Computing, of course, is related to performing such calculations. The following is a brief and by no means comprehensive overview of computer science's evolution.
The earliest known calculation device is the abacus, dating to about 2400 BCE. At least a good 2000 years later, the Greeks are then credited with the use of the first mechanical analog computer, known as the Antikythera mechanism -- complete with metal gears. The desire to create devices to aid in calculations has been present for years. More "recent" developments include John Napier's rods at the beginning of the 17th century to make multiplication easier and Pascal's mechanical adding machine. What spurred the development of our modern machines were the advancements during World War II, when mathematical calculations were necessary for ballistics.
Alan Turing formulated a model of the limitations of what can be computed in 1936, which was in effect the model of a computer: the theoretical Turing machine. It would be later in 1950 that Turing published his famous Turing Test, which introduced the idea of a computer being able to "think." This would be one of the first dabblings in the field of artifical intelligence.
In 1941, Konrad Zuse produced an operational process-controlled computer, called the Z3, in Germany. But because of Word War II, the Z3 was not widely known about until later on. In America, Howard H. Aiken, along with IBM, built the Mark I electromechanical computer in 1944 at Harvard. At the University of Pennsylvania, John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert developed the ENIAC, which is credited for being the first high-speed, electronic digital computer.
Another breakthrough was made when John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley developed the transistor in 1947. Transistors made the transition to microprocessors possible about 20 years later. The use of random access memory, or RAM, also appeared in the 1940s.
In the late 1950s, the first FORTRAN compiler was invented and John McCarthy invented LISP, which is a processing language for artificial intelligence.
After all the developments in computing, the term "computer science" finally came into being in the 1960s, with the first computer science department formed at Purdue University in 1962 (History of the Department of Computer Sciences at Purdue University). The 1960s also saw the rise to new programming languages such as BASIC and the formation of ARPAnet, the Internet's predecessor. In 1971, Intel released the first microprocessor. Computers continued to evolve in the 1970s, and in the 1980s, the spread of personal computers rose due in part to the work of Apple.
Now, in the 21st century, personal computers are readily available to the general public, and you can even take courses in computer science online. Like with the continued improvement in technology and computers, computer science has evolved along with the technological advancements.
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