Who was instrumental in the invention of the computer?

Answer by  pcguy (307)

Max Newman was the leader of the team who created the first electrical computer used to translate coded messages from the germans in WOII, IBM did a lot of work in creating mainframes, but Philips' semiconductors made them small enough to make computerchips (starting with the commodore). In 1981 IBM was the first to call it's machine a Personal Computer.

Answer by  tom96 (95)

Charles Babbage was the inventor of a machine called the difference engine which he started bulding in 1822. This machine which was the precursor to modern computers. The difference engine was a purely mechanical machine - no electronics were involved. It was designed to calculate numerical tables because human 'calculators' were prone to errors

Answer by  Felix88 (74)

The computer was not invented by one man alone but by thousands of curious scientists over a large span of years. The first computers were glorified calcuators that needed to be recalibrated after every use. The first commercial computer did not appear until 1981 when IBM released the IBM PC that ran a version of command prompt.

Answer by  abc25 (196)

Charles Babbage and his creation of the 'Analytical Engine' hardware which could be programmed by punched cards is generally acknowledged to be the first computer created.

Answer by  duneraider21 (149)

Dr. Mark Dean of IBM was hugely responsible for the invention of the PC- he holds 3 of 9 major patents for PC design.