About Gina Rinehart Business Nationality Net Worth and Biography, (n├йe┬аHancock, born 9 February 1954) is an Australian mining magnate and heiress.[6]┬аRinehart is the Executive Chairwoman of┬аHancock Prospecting, a┬аprivately-owned┬аmineral exploration and extraction company founded by her father,┬аLang Hancock. Rinehart was born in┬аPerth, Western Australia, and spent her early years in the┬аPilbara┬аregion. She boarded at┬аSt Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls┬аand then briefly studied at the┬аUniversity of Sydney, dropping out to work with her father at Hancock Prospecting. She was Lang Hancock’s only child, and when he died in 1992┬атАУ leaving a bankrupt estate┬атАУ she succeeded him as executive chairman.[7]┬аShe turned a company with severe financial difficulties into the largest private company in Australia and one of the largest mining houses in the world.
When Rinehart took over Hancock Prospecting, its total wealth was estimated at┬аA$75┬аmillion, which did not account for group liabilities and contingent liabilities. She oversaw an expansion of the company over the following decade, and due to the iron ore boom of the early 2000s became a nominal billionaire in 2006. In the 2010s, Rinehart began to expand her holdings into areas outside the mining industry. She made sizeable investments in┬аTen Network Holdings┬аand┬аFairfax Media┬а(although she sold her interest in the latter in 2015), and also expanded into agriculture, buying several┬аcattle stations, divesting them within a decade.[9]
Rinehart is AustraliaтАЩs richest person. Her wealth reached around┬аA$29 billion in 2012, at which point she overtook┬аChristy Walton┬аas the┬аworld’s richest woman┬аand was included on the┬аForbes┬аlist of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women. Rinehart’s net worth dropped significantly over the following few years due to a slowdown in the Australian mining sector.┬аForbes┬аestimated her┬аnet worth┬аin 2019 at┬аUS$14.8┬аbillion┬аas published in the┬аlist of Australia’s 50 richest people.[10]┬аHowever, her wealth was rebuilt again during 2020 due to increased demand for Australian┬аiron ore,[11]┬аso that by May 2021, her net worth as published in the┬а2021┬аFinancial Review┬аRich List┬аwas estimated in excess of┬аA$30┬аbillion;[12]┬аwhile in March 2021,┬аThe Australian Business Review┬аstated her wealth equalled┬аA$36.28┬аbillion.[13][14]┬аAs of September┬а2020┬аForbes┬аconsidered Rinehart one of the world’s ten richest women.[15]┬аRinehart was┬аAustralia’s wealthiest person┬аfrom 2011 to 2015, according to both┬аForbes┬аand┬аThe Australian Financial Review; and again in 2020 and 2021, according to┬аThe Australian Business Review┬аand┬аThe Australian Financial Review.[12][16][14]┬аIn a May 2021┬аGuardian Australia┬аinvestigation, it was reported that Rinehart was the single largest landholder in Australia, at over 9.2┬аmillion hectares (23┬аmillion acres), just over 1% of Australia’s total landmass.[17]┬аIn October 2021, she garnered controversy after expressing┬аclimate change denialist┬аviews during a speech at her childhood primary school.[18]
Early life and family[edit]
Rinehart was born on 9 February 1954 at┬аSt John of God Subiaco Hospital┬аin┬аPerth, Western Australia.[19]┬аShe is the only child of Hope Margaret Nicholas and Lang Hancock. Until age four, Rinehart lived with her parents at Nunyerry, 60 kilometres (37┬аmi) north of┬аWittenoom. Her family then moved to Mulga Downs station in the Pilbara.[20]┬аLater Rinehart boarded at┬аSt Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls┬аin Perth. She briefly studied economics at the┬аUniversity of Sydney, before dropping out and working for her father, gaining an extensive knowledge of the Pilbara iron-ore industry. Rinehart rebuilt the HPPL company to become one of the most successful private companies in Australia’s history.[21][22]
In 1973, at age 19, Rinehart met Englishman Greg Milton while both were working in Wittenoom. At this time Milton changed his surname to an earlier family name Hayward. Their children John Langley[3]┬аand Bianca Hope were born in 1976 and 1977 respectively. The couple separated in 1979 and divorced in 1981.[23]:тАК6тАК[23]:тАК7тАК[22]┬аIn 1983, she married corporate lawyer and Arco executive, About Gina Rinehart Business Nationality Net Worth and Biography Frank Rinehart,[23]:тАК4тАК┬аin Las Vegas. They had two children, Hope and Ginia, born in 1986 and 1987 respectively. Frank Rinehart received a scholarship to Harvard for his services in the then US Army air Corp. He was top of Harvard College, and then top of Harvard Law School, while also studying engineering, and holding a full-time and two part time jobs.[24][25]┬аFrank Rinehart died in 1990.[23]:тАК10тАК
Rinehart and,┬аRose Porteous, Lang HancockтАЩs estranged wife then widow, who married Willie Porteous soon after his passing, were involved in an acrimonious legal fight from 1992 over Hancock’s death and bankrupt estate. The ordeal ultimately took 14 years to settle. With HPPL retaining the mining tenements, Mrs Porteous had endeavored to allege did not belong to the company.
In 1999, the Western Australian state government approved a proposal to name a mountain range in honour of her family. Hancock Range is situated about 65 kilometres (40┬аmi) north-west of the town of┬аNewman┬аat┬а23┬░00тА▓23тА│S┬а119┬░12тА▓31тА│E┬аand commemorates the family’s contribution to the establishment of the pastoral and mining industry in the Pilbara region.[27][28]
In 2003, at age 27, Rinehart’s son John changed his surname by┬аdeed poll┬аfrom his birth name Hayward to Hancock, his maternal grandfather’s name.[29]┬аSince 2014, Rinehart has had a difficult relationship with her son, John; and was not present at his wedding to Gemma Ludgate.[21][30]┬аJohn’s sister, Bianca Hope Rinehart, who was once positioned to take over the family business, served as a director of Hancock Prospecting and HMHT Investments until 31 October 2011, when she was replaced by her half-sister, Ginia Rinehart.[5][31][32]┬аIn 2013, Bianca married her partner Sasha Serebryakov, she married in Hawaii; and Rinehart did not attend the wedding.[30]┬аRinehart’s other daughter, Hope, married Ryan Welker, and they divorced while living in New York. Rinehart attended both her younger daughters’ weddings.[5]
Gina Gerson is a Russian actress & model, born on 17 May 1991 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. In 2012, she started her career in entertainment industry with the film studio тАЩ21 S. NetworkтАЩ.
The History of First Water Car, The crime scene is in Grove City, Ohio, Franklin County.With all the ingredients of the setting in the American province that is dear to crime writers. ItтАЩs the 21st March 1998, the first day of spring, and four men are having lunch in a restaurant. A waiter serves one of them some cranberry juice, perhaps (but we will never know for sure) chosen for dessert. This man, immediately after the first sip, suddenly gets up as if heтАЩs gone crazy, he holds his hands around his neck, he loses his breath, runs out into the parking lot, collapses to the ground and pronounces his last words тАЬthey poisoned meтАЭ.
Steve Robinette, the lead detective on the case, collected the testimonies of everyone in the parking lot, including the final disturbing words of a man immediately identified as Stanley Meyer, a citizen of Grove City. His brother Stephen was one of the four at the table, and he heard the words spoken at the end of his life. Robinette is not one for interminable investigations. He performed a toxicology analysis, which gave no significant results, and he also spoke to the coroner, who attributed his death to a brain aneurysm, compatible with previous episodes of hypertension. In just three months, he closed the case file, sealed it with a coloured elastic band and wrote on the cover тАЬdeath by natural causesтАЭ. Formally, the case was now resolved.
One of the many newspaper articles that spoke of Stanley MeyerтАЩs surprising, as well as unproven invention
In 2015 Robinette retired from the police force, and devoted himself to politics, becoming president of the city council, and in 2019 he also ran for mayor.
But we can all rest assured that in all these years he never forgot the case of Stanley Meyer, the inventor of the water-powered car who, in 1998, got up from a table at a restaurant to run into a car park, some say just to leave us a message: тАЬthey poisoned me, and itтАЩs because of what IтАЩm doing to revolutionize the car worldтАЭ. The coronerтАЩs report contained the following statement: тАЬno poison known to American science has been foundтАЭ. But maybe the search for MeyerтАЩs enemies should have gone beyond American soil. We have to go back to 1975, when Meyer, who spent his life patenting technical solutions of every kind, from the banking sector to, ironically, heart monitoring, decided to explore the automotive world. In that year, the effects of the Middle East oil embargo, which had also led to a crisis in the United States, were still considerable, with a significant drop in car sales.
Stolen one week after the inventorтАЩs death, Stanley MeyerтАЩs тАЬWater Powered CarтАЭ currently appears to be in Canada, but there is no evidence whether it actually works
Meyer thought that the way to get out of oil dependency was through water propulsion. Yes, water. A тАЬveryтАЭ alternative solution, it goes without saying.
He created a fuel cell, based on the principle of splitting water atoms into its elemental form, burning hydrogen to create energy and releasing oxygen, along with water residues, through the exhaust pipe, thus generating harmless emissions.
After a few months he managed to develop his water-powered engine, mounting it onto a dune buggy painted with the conspicuous writing: тАЬwater powered carтАЭ, and with a call to his Christian faith, to communicate the spirit of protection and creation, which animated his actions.
Meyer claimed his vehicle was able to travel 180 km. With just 4 litres of water, and nothing else. Forty-five kilometres with just a litre of something that cost hardly anything must have sounded truly magical. And thatтАЩs exactly when his troubles started.
One of the drawings of the patent filed by Stanley Meyer for his тАЬWater Powered CarтАЭ
Taking a look at whatтАЩs left of this inexplicable series of events, there is a film of this moving car, and various photos of the car surrounded by admiring people. But many argue that no one had ever really verified the actual operation of the engine, whether it was powered purely by water and whether the patent or the project worked at all. Analysing the case, there have been rivers of words and ink spent over the years both to support and to refute MeyerтАЩs thesis, and especially the veracity of what he claimed. Even an American judicial authority, in 1996, two years before his mysterious death, had looked into MeyerтАЩs invention, petitioned by several small investors who had financed the development of his project, who later became suspicious and worried that it was doomed to bankruptcy.
Water is part of automobile history: in this image the Fiat Stanguellini 750 Sport that won the Tobruk/Tripoli race in 1939. In that case, water was vaporized in the combustion chamber to improve cooling
The Fayette County Judge (Ohio) had appointed three surveyors, to whom Meyer refused to submit the car, and who concluded by noting that the chemical and technological process тАЬinventedтАЭ by Meyer would not be at all revolutionary, even going so far as to call it trivial, and that no evidence was provided that it could actually effectively power an automobile engine.
The Judge then issued his verdict, in which he decreed that the funds received by Meyer had been stolen by deception (тАЬgross and egregious fraudтАЭ), and he was sentenced to return it to investors. For a man whose livelihood depended on his ingenuity, this was certainly not a small financial pill to swallow and, perhaps worse still, honour. Certainly, this was a very sad epilogue for someone who had proclaimed themselves to be the saviour of the complex equation between efficient automotive propulsion, respect for the environment, and affordable power.
Stanley had previously stated that he had been threatened many times by representatives from oil companies from around the world.
Even the Ferrari 126 C2 Turbo Formula 1 used the vaporization of water in the combustion chamber
Including tales of car chases with armed guards. Fantasy?
He also claimed he had been offered the hyperbolic sum of a million dollars (some even say a billion dollars) to kill all evidence of his technology, and that he had refused.
A scientist who tried to get in touch with Meyer to learn more about his project declared that Stanley had a тАЬparanoidтАЭ attitude, and that he had flatly refused to subject the Dune Buggy to a test in order to verify its performance, even if they promised not to open the тАЬblack boxтАЭ containing the electronic components that powered the system.
We know just how many car manufacturers have faced the delicate problem of hydrogen propulsion тАУ water still lies at the heart of the process тАУ but with far greater design and construction complexities. Stanley and his brother Stephen, despite their defeat, tried to protect what they continued to declare as the invention of the century.
GM studied for turbo engines тАУ in this case for the Oldsmobile Jetfire тАУ a cooling system that mixed alcohol and water
Stephen Meyer claimed that one week after StanleyтАЩs death, unidentified people had stolen the Dune Buggy from StanleyтАЩs garage, along with all of the inventorтАЩs instruments, and that the vehicle had subsequently been found, but it is unclear under what circumstances and conditions.
The patent had been registered, and the Dune Buggy was later closed off in a room without doors, so that no one could steal it and destroy it (but according to MeyerтАЩs detractors, so that no one could examine it and discover the weakness of the patent). It seems that in 2014, and therefore some sixteen years after the death of Stanley, the vehicle turned up in Canada (perhaps sold by his brother Stephen), now under ownership of the Holbrook family (claimed to be old associates of Stanley), but nothing is known of it after that date.
We cannot therefore exclude the possibility of new chapters being added to this thriller, in which reality, reticence and supposition alternate continuously, firmly keeping the suspicion of MeyerтАЩs supporters alive, who still doubt, against all investigative evidence, the purity of that cranberry juice.
The History of First Bicycle, or тАШvelocipedeтАЩ was invented in the early 1800s and looked very different to the ones we know today. However, you might be surprised to learn how many тАШmodernтАЩ bicycles design features arenтАЩt so modern after all. The first ‘bicycle’ was invented in 1817 by German, Baron Karl von Drais…
Who invented the first bicycle?
The first тАЬbicycleтАЭ was invented in 1817 by German, Baron Karl von Drais. Technically it was a velocipede (a 2 wheeled human-powered vehicle). It had no pedals, to operate it you had to run. For this reason, it was nicknamed тАЬthe hobby horseтАЭ. It was constructed almost entirely from wood, with brass bushing and steel-rimmed wheels. As a result, it weighed around 22 kg (48.5 lbs), to put that into context, modern bikes weight about half that.
Karl von Drais on his velocipede.
How did the first bicycles work?
Bicycles nearly looked very different. Before rotating pedals were added, there was the┬аtreadle bicycle, invented in 1860. (A treadle is another way of converting a pedal motion into a rotational one. It more closely resembles a cross-trainer.) Fortunately, the crank mechanism proved more popular otherwise┬аbicycle culture┬аmight be very different today.
Example of how bicycles could have ended up looking.
The bicycles, with pedals and cranks, first appeared in France around 1863. These pedals were attached to the front wheel of the bicycle. This design meant that bicycles were difficult to steer
Structure and design
The first bicycles were made from wood, with steel тАЬtiresтАЭ. The frame shapes were also rather wild and typically curved. Manufacturers moved towards a diamond-shaped body, made from steel tubing as it was much stronger and lighter.
The boneshaker 1866. Image credit: Federal Highway Administration [Public domain],┬аvia Wikimedia Commons
The device earned the name тАЬboneshakerтАЭ due to the combination of lack of suspension, steel-rimmed tires, and the poor road surface quality of the time.
The penny-farthing
The penny-farthing was invented as a way of increasing the maximum speed of the bicycle. That is because, in bicycles with front-mounted pedals, the rotational speed is limited to the size of the wheel. However, with a penny-farthing, the maximum speed is still limited by the leg length of the rider.
The penny-farthing, a dangerous, but iconic period in cycling history Image credit:┬аAlistair Paterson
Penny-farthings were extremely unsafe given their instability and high center of gravity. Riders would frequently die when their legs became trapped in the spokes and they would have to step off their bicycles when traveling downhill, as most brakes were rear-mounted or, in the case of fixed pedals, were operated by simply backpedaling.
Women were also unable to use these bikes, due to the fashions of the time.
The modern bicycle
In the late 1800s, the bicycle, nearly as we know it today, the тАШsafety bicycleтАЩ, was introduced. The design featured a chain-driven, rear wheel. However, the wheels were often differently sized and the frames were frequently somewhat bizarrely shaped.
Incredibly, they were manufactured using technologies from the sewing industry.
Ladies safety bicycles 1889
This new design introduced the bicycle to a wider market, including women.
Shortly after this the introduction of pneumatic tires and ball bearing hubs made for a smoother ride.
The upright bicycle became the standard as recumbent bicycles were banned from competitions, due to the increased speed possible with such designs. However, the┬аInternational Human Powered Vehicle Association┬аseek to promote тАШbanned classтАЭ bicycles.
Brakes
The first breaks were spoon brakes. They even feature on Karl DraisтАЩs original hobby horse design. They were operated by a cord or lever and pressed down onto the rear wheel.
The front brake was introduced in 1873 by John Kean. It made the penny-farthing┬аslightly┬аsafer.
Example of a front-mounted spoon brake.
Caliper brakes were patented in 1887 by Browett and Harrison. It worked much as modern brakes do today.
The duck brake was designed in 1897, it prevented wear on the new, modern rubber tires and worked much like the spoon brake.
Rod-actuated brakes or тАЬrod brakesтАЭ were fitted to bikes right into the late 1900s. The design featured a stirrup which holds brake shoes and pulls the brake up into the interior of the wheel rim. The braking power was lower than most modern bikes.
Disk brakes, or тАЬU brakesтАЭ were developed in the 1890s, however, it wasnтАЩt until 1962 that these were added to two-wheeled vehicles, in the Lambretta TV175 Series 3 Scooter.┬аDisc brakes for bicycles┬аwerenтАЩt popularized until the 1990s.
Hydraulic disc brakes were developed in 1994 by USA Sachs (SRAM) тАУ the PowerDisc.
Gears
Patents for epicyclic hubs date back to the mid-1880s. Before epicyclic gears were used in bicycle hubs, they were used on tricycles and quadricycles. Although tricycles and quadricycles were popular, no one made the connection between these and the humble hobby horse for quite some time!
Until the 1930s cyclists were unable to use gearing in competition bicycles. They were allowed only a 2-speed bicycle. To change gear the cyclist had to remove the wheel and flip it!
Recently a┬атАЬ1% frictionтАЭ gear system┬аhas been invented. It has no drive train and no chain! This converts 8 points of sliding friction into 2 points of rotating friction.
Modern trends
If you think that folding bikes and electric bikes are a modern invention, youтАЩd be wrong.
1896 folding Bicycle Patent 556,802
The first┬аfolding bike┬аwas created in 1878, England by Grout. It was a penny-farthing! Although some people do not consider this to be a тАШtrueтАЩ example of a folding bike, many other versions exist well before the 1900s.
The first battery-powered bicycle or тАШe-bikeтАЩ was patented in 1895, US by Ogden Bolton Jr.
The cycling fad and fade
The bicycle was nearly a blink in the history books. Cycling began as a fashionable sport available only to rich, young, and fit men. By the 1870s, almost everywhere but the UK, cycling fell out of fashion. Thankfully, by the mid-1870s, the popularity of the penny-farthing found its way back to France and by the late 1870s the Americans had got in on the act too, importing the penny farthing and later manufacturing it themselves. By 1891 as much as ten percent of all advertising in U.S. periodicals was by bicycle makers.
1906 Tour de France Agence Rol [Public domain],┬аvia Wikimedia Commons
The Tour de France and other cycling competitions fueled the popularity for cycling in Europe during the early 1900s. Whereas, in America, the motorcar gained popularity and bicycles were considered a тАЬchildrenтАЩs toyтАЭ. They returned to fashion in the 1980s when the fitness craze hit.
The History of First Airplane, One of the earliest airline organizations, a British┬аgroup called┬аAir Transport and Travel, Ltd., acquired several Airco D.H.4a VIII single-engine planes (designed by┬аGeoffrey De Havilland), powered by 350-horsepower Eagle V-type engines from┬аRolls-Royce Ltd., and modified them to include an enclosed cramped space in the fuselage with room for two adventurous passengers. The pilotтАЩs cockpit, atop the fuselage, remained open. The companyтАЩs inaugural flight occurred on Aug. 25, 1919, when the plane flew from London to Paris with its sole passenger, an enterprising newspaper reporter. The service caught on and competitors soon followed. Handley Page Transport, Ltd., made use of the manufacturing companyтАЩs wartime twin-engine bombers, converting them to haul up to 14 passengers, who lounged in comfortable wicker chairs. These slow but roomy aircraft established a tradition of ornately embellished interiors and spacious surroundingsтАФat the sacrifice of aerodynamic┬аefficiency┬аand high speedsтАФon early European airlines. Given the lack of navigational aids and the primitive instrumentation of the era, accidents invariably occurred, and passengers became used to delays caused by the notoriously foul winter weather in England. Pilots had to depend on luck and quick thinking when they were caught in unexpected atmospheric conditions. Approaching London in the fog, one British pilot suddenly realized he had drifted too close to the ground when a church steeple loomed out of the mist at his eye level. Fortunately, he noticed that express trains speeding toward London left a visible furrow in the┬аdense┬аfog bank, and he gratefully followed this phenomenon into the city, where he found improved conditions for landing. By 1924, with government support, independent airlines in Britain had consolidated into one entity, Imperial Airways Ltd., as a means to compete with the heavily subsidized French airlines in Europe.
The British also used airlines to knit together elements of their far-flung empire. During the 1920s, Imperial Airways mounted operations in Africa and the┬аMiddle East. Across trackless stretches of sparsely inhabited desert, creative surveyor crews shrewdly drove cars and trucks to create a visible track for pilots to follow; in some areas, they plowed furrows in the ground. Into the late 1930s, standard equipment on these routes was the stately┬аHandley Page H.P.42, a biplane having a wingspan of 130 feet (40 metres) and four 490-horsepower Bristol Jupiter engines. Depending on seating arrangements, 24 to 38 passengers cruised along at about 100 miles (160 km) per hour over the planeтАЩs 500-mile (800-km) range. The airline scheduled several days (including overnight stops) to travel from London to the Cape of┬аSouth Africa┬аby air, compared with some weeks by steamship. The routeтАЩs┬аclientele┬аcharacteristically included well-placed colonial officials and wealthy business travelers who expected first-class service. Consequently, the H.P.42тАЩs passenger cabin featured dimensions nearly equal to the size of a Pullman railway car, and patrons appreciated plush wall-to-wall carpeting and a stand-up bar. Attentive┬аstewards┬аserved seven-course meals.
Handley Page H.P.42 airliner, 1931
Imperial Airways Ltd. employees refueling a Handley Page H.P.42 airliner at Semakh on the Sea of Galilee, 1931.
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (neg. no. LC-M32- 4239)
France┬аalso had territorial possessions in Africa as well as important business interests in┬аLatin America. Consequently, French airlines ran along the Mediterranean coast of Spain, over to Morocco, and down the western coast of Africa as far as Dakar, Seneg. The routes took planes and crews over some of the most inhospitable areas of northwest Africa, where native tribesmen maintained strong┬аprejudices┬аagainst Europeans. Forced down in the desert, some French airmen were killed, and others were carted off in cages to be held as hostages for ransom.┬аAntoine de Saint-Exup├йry, the famed aviator and author, became successful as a field manager in Africa, donning native garb and negotiating peace with local tribal chiefs. A bewildering variety of planes from┬аHenri Farman,┬аLouis-Charles Br├йguet,┬аPierre Lat├йco├иre, and others equipped domestic and international airlines. By the 1930s, the French had also established operations in┬аSouth America┬аand begun to experiment with mail deliveries across the South Atlantic.
In 1919 the Netherlands organized a new airline,┬аKLM, and began service between London and Amsterdam using aircraft built by┬аAnthony Fokker. (KLM now proudly claims the title of the worldтАЩs oldest continuously operating airline.) By 1930, KLM offered weekly service to Batavia (now Jakarta), the colonial capital of the┬аDutch East Indies, and competed with┬аImperial┬аAirways in the Far East. Pioneering air services also sprang up in Africa, Asia, and Australia.
Germany, prevented by the┬аTreaty of Versailles┬аfrom developing┬аmilitary aircraft, poured considerable effort into civilian designs. The German government also gave its blessing to the expansionist plans of Deutsche Luft Hansa (now┬аDeutsche Lufthansa Ag), formed in 1926.┬аHugo JunkersтАЩs firm supplied a steady stream of low-wing single- and three-engine planes, clad in corrugated metal, that survived for decades in obscure corners of the world. Meanwhile, German airliners became regular callers throughout central and eastern Europe, with routes that extended as far east as Moscow. Other segments of Lufthansa covered Scandinavia and the Baltic; still others ran to the eastern Mediterranean and down to Baghdad. By the mid-1930s, Germany operated the largest commercial airline network in Europe.
Out of the┬аchaos┬аof┬аWorld War I, imperial Russia emerged as the┬аUnion of Soviet Socialist Republics. The communist regime soon seized on┬аaviation┬аas an icon of a new technical world to be shaped by the industrial proletariat.┬аAeroflot, the state airline, not only served┬аpropaganda┬аpurposes but subsequently emerged as an indispensable medium for rapid┬аtransportation┬аand a visible means of knitting together the sprawling, divergent regions of the Soviet Union. Although the Soviet regime occasionally purchased western┬аtechnology, its commissars emphasized the use of┬аindigenous┬аequipment in order to be free of invidious capitalistic influences. Consequently, Soviet engine and aircraft design bureaus, like that run by Oleg Antonov, turned out hundreds of planes for use on AeroflotтАЩs vast internal airway system.
The History of First Slipper, Until the late 19th century, the term could be used to describe any indoor shoe that slipped on to the foot, including ballroom slippers (think CinderellaтАЩs glassy numbers), bathroom slippers, bedroom slippers and afternoon tea slippers. Nowadays, we use the word to mean footwear that is only to be worn in the home. Whatever the definition, its history is an absorbing proposition. Slippers were worn in Chinese courts as early as 4700 BC. They would be made out of cotton or woven rush, had leather linings, and were adorned with symbols of power, such as dragons. Native American moccasins were also highly decorative. Hand painted to depict scenes from nature and embellished with beadwork and fringing, their soft sure-footedness made them suitable for indoors appropriation.
Inuit and Aleut people would make shoes from smoked hare hide to protect their feet against the frozen ground inside their homes. Conversely, the discerning Victorian gentleman was in need of a pair of тАШhouse shoesтАЩ in order to keep the dust and gravel outside тАУ much better than ruining his expensive rug and beautifully polished floor.
Embroidered slippers presented Victorian ladies (on both sides of the Atlantic) with an opportunity to show off their needlepoint skills. Magazines such as GodeyтАЩs LadyтАЩs Book and PetersonтАЩs Magazine contained patterns so that the latest fashions could be recreated in the home; a perfect gift for a loved one, and an ideal way to entice a man with an eye for embroidery.
The emergence of a slipper industry grew from the warehouse floor of the felt industry in northeast England. Workers would make themselves footwear from the scraps that were left over, and from this seed grew the businesses of John William Rothwell, Samuel McLerie and other commercial retailers in the late 1800s. Though the advent of heating and descent into everyday casualness may have led slipper sales to decline since the 1950s it doesnтАЩt make them any less interesting, or snug! Read on for tales of notable styles, The History of First Slipper from those worn by Kanye West to the Pope.┬а
The word тАШslipperтАЩ was first recorded in English in┬а1478, however it seems the slipper has been around for much longer. It turns out Spanish cave drawings that date back to more than 15,000 years ago illustrate humans wearing┬аanimal skin and animal fur┬аaround their feet, what one would assume was a make-do shoe or slipper for the time. At┬аBoscombe Down, roman bodies have been in the process of being dug up for the last fifteen years, so you might expect that if anything interesting was going to be found it would have been found by now. However, in 2008, a peculiar unearthing made headlines. The focal point of a body that was unearthed in 2008 was interestingly not the poignant fact that she was curled up with a child, but rather the fact that she had been buried in her slippers. This suggests slippers go all the way back to 200AD. It is believed her slippers indicate her high social status, as the majority of the remaining 300 bodies there were wearing traditional boots (for their journey into the next life).
The History of First Train, have been a popular form of transportation since the 19th century. When the first steam train was built in 1804, people were worried that the speed would make rail passengers unable to breathe or that they would be shaken unconscious by the vibrations. But by the 1850s, passengers were traveling at previously unthinkable speeds of 50mph (80km/h) or more. Rail travel was cheap, and people who had never been on a journey before could now afford to make trips by train. Cities that had once seemed far apart suddenly felt much closer together, because people and goods could move between them in hours rather than days. In some places, new towns sprang up beside the tracks.
Over 200 years ago, when locomotives were first being developed, people worried their speed would make passengers тАЬunable to breathтАЭ or that тАЬthey would be shaken unconscious by the vibrations.тАЭ
But today weтАЩre all the wiser. In fact, did you know that there are trains traveling at speeds well over 300 miles per hour (mph)?
Clearly, trains have changed dramatically since they first took to the rails. Like any other mode of transportation, trains, as we know them today, have been centuries in the making!
Railways So, where did it all begin?
Today, itтАЩs relatively simple to purchase a train ticket and travel freelyтАФdepending on what part of the world youтАЩre in. But where did it all start? Is it possible to imagine how far weтАЩve come since then? LetтАЩs try.
Railways existed as early as 1550, in Germany. These pathways of wooden rails called тАЬwagonwaysтАЭ were the beginning of modern rail transport, making it easier for horse-drawn wagons or carts to move along dirt roads.
Horses pulling loaded coal waggons make one final delivery along The Little Eaton Gangway wagonway (open 1795тАУ1908). Photo from Wikipedia.
By the late 1700s, iron replaced the wooden rails and wheels as wagonways evolved into тАЬtramwaysтАЭ and became popular throughout Europe. Horses still provided the тАЬhorsepowerтАЭ for cargo until the steam-powered locomotive came into play in the early 1800s.
Locomotion
So, whatтАЩs a steam-powered locomotive?
The first steam locomotives originated in Great Britain at the dawn of the 19th century. Though the earliest steam-powered locomotives first pulled wagons full of coal, they would soon be engineered to accommodate their first passengers.
The steam-powered locomotive gets its fuel from burning combustible materialsтАФlike coal, wood, and oilтАФto produce steam. Then that steam moves different pieces of machinery that work together to drive the train forward!
The Golden Age
Did you know that in the United States, railroads have been around (almost) as long as the first European settlers? Americans have been using railroads since the 1820s!
Most of the early locomotives in America were imported from Great Britain, although the United States was quick to form a locomotive manufacturing industry of its own. American production of locomotives got off the ground in the early 1830s.
Railroads took off in the United States because cars and airplanes hadnтАЩt been invented yet! Trains served as the most important mode of transportation during a period of time called тАЬThe Golden AgeтАЭ of railroads, which lasted from the 1880s until the 1920s.
An American railway circa 1884-1885. Photo by Carleton E. Watkins from Flickr user Beinecke Library.
So, what happened? In the early 1900s, cars and airplanes were invented, and their popularity grew quickly within the United States. After the 1920s, cars and planes would supersede trains as the primary means of transportation.
The end of an era
But you see trains all the time, right?
As you probably could have guessed, trains didnтАЩt disappear altogether, although steam-powered locomotives were gradually replaced with electric and diesel-powered locomotives beginning in the early 1900s.
Most steam-powered locomotives The History of First Train were retired from regular service routes by the 1980s, but a few are still in service as tourist or heritage lines. Heritage railways operate with the intention to recreate or preserve railways of the past, keeping their history alive.
Trains of today
So, the real question is, what types of trains are available today?
In our next article, weтАЩll take a closer The History of First Train look at the electric and diesel-powered locomotives that gradually replaced the steam-powered ones. But wait, thereтАЩs more! In the last 100 years of rail transportтАФjust like the first 100тАФthere have been major developments!
WeтАЩll also take a look at high-speed trains riding at 100, 200, and even over 300 mph!
History of The First Mobile, particularly the smartphones that have become our inseparable companions today, are relatively new. However, the history of mobile phones goes back to 1908 when a US Patent was issued in Kentucky for a wireless telephone. Mobile phones were invented as early as the 1940s when engineers working at AT&T developed cells for mobile phone base stations. The very┬аfirst mobile phones were not really mobile phones at all. They were two-way radios that allowed people like taxi drivers and the emergency services to communicate. Instead of relying on base stations with separate cells (and the signal being passed from one cell to another), the first mobile phone networks involved one very powerful base station covering a much wider area. Motorola, on 3 April 1973 were first company to mass produce the the first handheld mobile phone. These early mobile phones are often referred to as┬а0G┬аmobile phones, or┬аZero Generation┬аmobile phones. Most phones today rely on┬а3G┬аor┬а4G┬аmobile technology.
Landmarks in mobile history
Mobile telephony has a long history that started off with experiments of communications from and to moving vehicle rather then handheld devices.
In later years, the main challenges have laid in the development of interoperable standard and coping with the explosive success and ever increasing demand for bandwidth and reliability.
1926:┬аThe first successful mobile telephony service was offered to first class passengers on the Deutsche Reichsbahn on the route between Berlin and Hamburg.
1946:┬аThe first calls were made on a car radiotelephone in Chicago. Due to the small number of radio frequencies available, the service quickly reached capacity.
1956:┬аThe first automated mobile phone system for private vehicles launched in Sweden. The device to install in the car used vacuum tube technology with rotary dial and weighed 40Kg.
It had a total of 125 subscribers between Stockholm and Gothenburg.
Photo: Ericsson
1969:┬аThe Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) Group was established. It included engineers representing Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. Its purpose was to develop a mobile phone system that, unlike the systems being introduced in the US, focused on accessibility.
1973:┬аDr Martin Cooper general manager at Motorola communications system division made the first public mobile phone call on a device that weighed 1.1Kg.
1982:┬аEngineers and administrators from eleven European countries gathered in Stockholm to consider whether a Europe wide digital cellular phone system was technically and politically possible. The group adopted the nordic model of cooperation and laid the foundation of an international standard.
1985:┬аComedian Ernie Wise made the first тАЬpublicтАЭ mobile phone call in the UK from outside the DickenтАЩs Pub in St CatherineтАЩs dock to VodafoneтАЩs HQ. He made the call in full Dickensian coachmanтАЩs garb.
1987:┬аThe Technical specifications for the GSM standard are approved. Based on digital technology, it focused on interoperability across national boundaries and consequent different frequency bands, call quality and low costs.
1992:┬аThe worldтАЩs first ever SMS message was sent in the UK. Neil Papworth, aged 22 at the time was a developer for a telecom contractor tasked with developing a messaging service for Vodafone. The text message read тАЬMerry ChristmasтАЭ and was sent to Richard Jarvis, a director at Vodafone, who was enjoying his office Christmas party.
1996/97:┬аUK phone ownership stood at 16% of households. A decade later the figure was 80%. The explosion in growth was in part driven the launch of the first pay as you go, non-contract phone service, Vodafone Prepaid, in 1996.
1998:┬аThe first downloadable content sold to mobile phones was the ringtone, launched by Finland’s Radiolinja, laying the groundwork for an industry that would eventually see the Crazy Frog ringtone rack up total earnings of half a billion dollars and beat stadium-filling sob-rockers Coldplay to the number one spot in the UK charts.
1999:┬аEmojis were invented by Shigetaka Kurita in Japan. Unlike their all-text predecessors emoticons, emojis are pictures. The same year in the UK sees the first shots fired in a supermarket price war, with Tesco, SainsburyтАЩs and Asda selling Pay and Go phones at discounted prices. For the first time, you could pick up a mobile phone for just under ┬г40.
The first BlackBerry phone was also unveiled in 1999. Famous for its super-easy email service, BlackBerry handsets were seen as the ultimate business tool, allowing users to read and respond to emails from anywhere. This led to 83% of users reading and responding to work emails while on holiday, and over half admitted to sending emails on the toilet, winning the manufacturer the nickname CrackBerry.
2000:┬аThe all-conquering Nokia 3310 crash landed on shop shelves. Naturally it was unscathed and went on to sell 126 million units. Over in Japan, the first commercially available camera phone The Sharp J-SH04, launched in November 2000 in Japan. The only snag? you could only use it in Japan. Europe wouldnтАЩt get its first camera phone until the arrival of the Nokia 6750 in 2002.
2003:┬аThe 3G standard started to be adopted worldwide, kicking off the age of mobile internet and paving the way for the rise of smartphones. Honk Kong-based Hutchinson Wampoa owned Three brand offered the first 3G network connection in the UK among other countries. Staying very much on-brand, Three ranged a trio of 3G handsets, namely: the Motorola A830, the NEC e606 and NEC e808.
CC┬аBY-SA 2.0
Nepal was one of the first countries in southern Asia to launch 3G services. One of NepalтАЩs first companies to offer the service, Ncell, also covered Mount Everest with 3G.
2007:┬аThe iPhone debuted. Solely available on O2 at launch in the UK and priced at a then eye-watering $499, Nokia CEO confidently dismissed it as little more than a тАШcool phoneтАЩ that wouldnтАЩt translate column inches into market share.
2008:┬аThe first Android phone turned up, in the form of the T-Mobile G1. Now dubbed the O.G of Android phones, it was a long way from the high-end Android smartphones we use today. Not least because it retained a physical keyboard and a BlackBerry-style trackball for navigation. This year also saw the advent of both AppleтАЩs App Store and Android Market, later renamed Google Play Store, paving the way for our modern-day app culture and creating a $77 billion industry.
2009:┬аO2 publicly announced that it had successfully demonstrated a 4G connection using six LTE masts in Slough, UK. The technology, which was supplied by Huawei, achieved a peak downlink rate of 150Mbps.
WhatsApp also launched that year, letting customers send and receive calls and messages via the internet. The messaging system now has 1.2 billion users sending more than 10 billion messages a day. Which makes it 50% more popular than traditional texting.
2010:┬аSamsung launched its first Galaxy S smartphone. Usurping former Android giants, HTC, the Samsung Galaxy S range is still the most popular Android brand.
2012:┬аWhen text messages first arrived, most people didnтАЩt think theyтАЩd catch on. Ten years later, Britons were sending a billion messages per month. In 2012, British text volume reached its highest point, with 151 billion sent in the UK alone.
2016:┬аThe Pokemon Go app launched worldwide. The free augmented reality game uses the smartphone camera and location to show Pokemon characters in the real world. The aim of the game is to travel to different locations to collect as many Pokemon as possible, leading countless gamers to walk into lamp-posts in their quest to catch тАШem all.
2017:┬аThe Nokia 3310 had a revival, sporting a fresh version equipped with basic web browsing, a colourful screen and even a camera. Despite this, it still retained our favourite features from the original 3310, including the iconic design, super-long battery life and even an updated version of Snake. Needless to say, it stole the show at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) tech expo and was one of the biggest hits of the year.
Apple marked ten years in the smartphone game with the all-screen iPhone X and ditched a physical home button for the first time.
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Landmark phones: the handsets that made history
From тАШ80s menhir-like тАЬbrickphonesтАЭ to the iconic Nokia handsets, these are some of the phones that pushed the boundaries of what was possible and paved the way for todayтАЩs smartphones.
1985: Motorola Dynatac 8000X
Known in the industry as тАЬthe brickтАЭ and visible in many scenes of the 1987 movie Wall Street, the Motorola Dynatac 800X was the first handheld mobile phone and loudly announced the beginning of a new era.
The price? An eye-watering ┬г3,000.
1992: Nokia 1011
The worldтАЩs first mass produced phone that used the new GSM digital standard, the Nokia 1011 was тАШavailable in any colour, as long as itтАЩs blackтАЩ.
Specs included a monochrome LCD screen, extendable antenna and a memory capable of storing 99 phone numbers.
1996: Motorola StarTAC
Motorola Star Tac By Nkp911m500┬аGFDL┬аvia Wikimedia Commons
The most expensive and desirable phone on the market at the time of its release, the StarTac debuted the clamshell design and was the lightest and smallest phone on the market.
It was also the first phone to be openly marketed as a luxury item.
1997: The Hagenuk GlobalHandy
This little known German-made and impractically minimal handset was the first phone that had no visible external antenna.
1998: Siemens S10
The first phone with a colour screen, SiemensтАЩ S10 was a landmark device by any yardstick.
Although its uninspiring design and tiny 97 x 54-pixel display failed to set the world on fire, it more than merits a place in the annals of mobile phone history.
1998: Nokia 5110
Nokia 5110 by CSIRO┬аCC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Sponsor of London Fashion Week in 1999, it was an instant success and kickstarted the vogue for customising your handset.
1999: Nokia 7110
Nokia 7110
Another first for the Finnish phone-maker, the 7110 was the first handset to feature a WAP browser.
That meant it was capable of browsing the internet. Or at least a stripped down and incredibly slow version of it that was of little use to most people.
But for all that, it was a big step towards the multi-functionality thatтАЩs at the core of todayтАЩs smartphones.
1999: Motorola Timeport
Motorola Timeport
This was the first tri-band GSM phone, meaning it worked everywhere around the world.
A must-have for self-proclaimed citizens of the world. And the hordes of Gen X-ers heading to Asia on the backpacker trail. As was the fashion of the time.
2000: Nokia 9210 Communicator
Nokia 9210
The first serious attempt at an internet-enabled mobile phone, the Communicator was ahead of its time.
It weighed around 400g, so was no-oneтАЩs idea of pocket-sized. But on the plus side, it had 8MB of storage and a full keyboard, you could use it as a personal organiser, as well as a web browser and email support.
2000: Sharp J-SH04
Sharp J-SH04 By Morio GFDL┬аor┬аCC-BY-SA-3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Billed as the first commercially available camera phone, Sharp’s effort was only sold in Japan and had a camera resolution of 0.11MP. тАШBlurrycamтАЩ didnтАЩt begin to cover it.
2000: Nokia 3310
Nokia 3310 by Multicherry┬аCC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Legendarily sturdy, the 3310 was the phone that launched a thousand memes. And with 126 million units shifted, stands as one of the biggest-selling phone of all time.
The battery lasted for days and it was light and truly pocketable at only 133g.
It also introduced the Snake game, customisable ringtones and a silent ‘vibrate’ mode.
2003: Nokia 1100
The Nokia 1100 was launched as a basic phone for developing-world countries back in 2003.
The best part of a decade and a half and one smartphone boom later, it remains the best selling mobile phone of all time.
2004: Motorola Razr V3
Motorola Razr V3 By OptoScalpel via Wikimedia Commons
The last great flip phone, the Razr was impossibly thin at only 14mm. Unusually for the time, it also had an aluminium casing that looked achingly slick.
Ironically, the overwhelming success of the Razr was probably the main cause of the downfall of Motorola.
In hindsight, itтАЩs apparent that the US phone-makerтАЩs over-reliance on this successful and iconic series caused the company to fall behind, failing to innovate and compete with the soon-to-arrive large-screen phones from LG and Samsung.
2003: Blackberry 6210
The first true Blackberry phone, which integrated a phone with fully functioning email, web browsing and the much loved Blackberry Messenger.
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The Nokia years
Tracing its heritage to paper production, Nokia entered the telecommunications industry first as a supplier of telecommunications equipment to the military and entered the mobile market in the late тАШ80s.
Released in 1987, the Mobira Cityman brickphone was NokiaтАЩs answer to the Motorola Dynatac and was an early hit for the nascent company.
But as NokiaтАЩs first GSM phone, the 1011 in 1992, and 1994тАЩs 2100 model that precipitated the Finnish giantтАЩs rise to the top.
Marketed to the business market, the 2110 featured the design that came to be known as the тАЬcandybarтАЭ format.
It was the lightest and smallest GSM phone available at the time and featured the easy to use Nokia menu system.
It was also the first phone to offer a choice of ringtones and marked the debut of the melody that came to be known as тАЬthe Nokia ringtoneтАЭ, based on the Grand Valse composition for classical guitar.
In the тАШ90s, Nokia released more handsets than any of its rivals and in 1998 overtook Motorola to become the best-selling mobile phone brand in the world.
By the middle of 1999, NokiaтАЩs Expression series, comes to dominate the market with the release of the 3210.
The 3210 was the first to popularise the unmistakable small-candybar shape which was the work of British designer Alastair Curtis.
Its relatively low cost, under ┬г200 on release in the UK, but a lot less by the end of 2000, meant this 3210 was affordable for young people and folk whoтАЩd been shut out of the mobile phone market until now. The result was 160 million sales worldwide.
Within a year, the smaller 3310 was released. It was not a revolutionary update from its predecessor, but its compact design, four built-in games (Pairs II, Space Impact, Bantumi, and Snake II) and the fact it could support long SMS messages of up to 459 characters made it a success.
But it was the phoneтАЩs sturdy construction and legendary reliability that turned it into an enduring cult. And the best part of 20 years later, still inspires memes and favourable comparisons to fragile, modern-day smartphones.
Capitalising on a wave of nostalgia, in 2017 Nokia announced the release of an all-new 3310.
Featuring an updated design based on the original candy bar shape, the 3310 version 2.0 added a large 2.4-inch LCD screen, rear camera and an astonishing 25-day standby battery life.
Marketed both as a tribute to the original as well as an alternative to ever-more complex, more advanced smartphones, the new 3310 was priced at around ┬г50 SIM free and was a moderate commercial success.
The spread of 2G technology and early success of Blackberry phones inspired Nokia to experiment with physical QWERTY keyboards.
The 6800 was notable with its unusual fold-out keyboard, with built-in email and support for Blackberry emails.
The early 2000s were also a time of wild experimentation and Nokia seemed to aim at to release a phone to suit every taste.
It was also the era when mobile phones became fashion accessories and the company certainly wasnтАЩt afraid to bring to market phones with an accent on style. Arguably over substance.
Take the roughly square 7600, for instance. Its shape meant it was difficult to hold in one hand. And because you had to hold it at an angle, it was hard to make calls too.
Then came the 5510 that was essentially a keyboard-shaped phone. Nokia was aware that the shape was seen as unconventional, to say the least.
So much that in their flagship advertisement for the 5510, the phone is barely shown and the ad closes with the slogan тАЬLooks weird, sounds rightтАЭ.
The 3650 was one of the early experiments with keyboard layout. It was marketed as a high-end phone, but the rotary-styled keypad design made it hard to use for texting.
Next was an even stranger layout in the shape of the 2300, which was a basic phone with key shapes that didnтАЩt seem to follow any logic.
A relatively ordinary variant on the 3100 series, the 3220 had a system of LEDs on the sides that could be setup to flash in different colours.
On first impressions 2007тАЩs Xpress Music featured a fairly standard form factor. But the twist was that the camera could only be enabled by swivelling the bottom half.
Probably the oddest of the lot, the 7280 had neither a touchscreen or a keypad. And if you wanted to send a text message, you had to scroll through each letter with a physical spin dial.
It wasnтАЩt until the N95 in 2006 that Nokia released what could truly be termed a smartphone. It came with the longest list of features you could imagine at the time: wifi, web browsing, a five-megapixel camera and even built-in GPS.
It sold well, registering over 1 million sales in the UK alone. And for a few months, it seemed Nokia had managed to keep BlackberryтАЩs challenge at bay, while establishing a new benchmark of what a mobile phone could and should offer.
But the good times werenтАЩt to last. 2007 saw the release of the iPhone that ushered in the touchscreen era and made NokiaтАЩs Symbian operating system and its reliance on drill-down menus, seem cumbersome.
The development of mobile phone technology
The first mobile phone invented for practical use was by a┬аMotorola┬аemployee called Martin Cooper who is widely considered to be a key player in the history of mobile phones.
Handsets that could be used in a vehicle had been developed prior to Martin CooperтАЩs phone, but his was the first usable truly portable mobile telephone.
Cooper made mobile phone history in April 1973 when he made the first ever call on a handheld mobile phone.
2017 and beyond
Modern-day smartphones are pretty unrecognisable from the analogue bricks we used to cart around.
The likes of 2017тАЩs iPhone X and Samsung S8 have brought us stunning all-screen fronts that are perfect for watching videos and playing games. Meanwhile their face-scanning technology enables you to unlock your device just by looking at it.
Professional dual-lens cameras are now becoming standard on high-end smartphones while the handsets themselves are becoming ever more durable, with impressive waterproofing and tough Gorilla Glass screens.
Yet despite all this, NokiaтАЩs 2017 revival of its old classic, the┬аNokia 3310, was perhaps the most talked-about phone of the year, heralding in a wave of nostalgia for older, simpler devices.
History of First Computer, The first modern electronic digital computer was called the AtanasoffтАУBerry computer, or ABC. It was built by physics Professor┬аJohn Vincent Atanasoff and his graduate student, Clifford Berry, in 1942 at Iowa State College, now known as Iowa State University. ThatтАЩs where I have been teaching computer engineering for over 30 years, and IтАЩm also a collector of old computers. I got to meet Atanasoff when he visited Iowa State and got a signed copy of his book. Before ABC, there were mechanical computing devices that could perform simple calculations. The first mechanical computer,┬аThe Babbage Difference Engine, was designed by Charles Babbage in 1822. The ABC was the basis for the modern computer we all use today.
The ABCтАЩs drums.
┬аCourtesy of Iowa State University Library Special Collections and University Archives,┬аCC BY-ND
The ABC weighed over 700 pounds and used vacuum tubes. It had a rotating drum, a little bigger than a paint can, that had small capacitors on it. A capacitor is device that can store an electric charge, like a battery.
The ABC was designed to solve problems with up to 29 different variables. You might be familiar with equations with one variable, like 2y = 14. Now imagine 29 different variables. These are common problems in physics and other sciences, but were difficult and time-consuming to solve by hand.
Atanasoff was credited with several breakthrough ideas that are still present in modern computers. The most important idea was using┬аbinary digits, just ones and zeroes, to represent all numbers and data. This allowed the calculations to be performed using electronics.
Another idea was the separation of the program (the computer instructions) and memory (places to store numbers).
The ABC completed one operation about every 15 seconds. Compared to the millions of operations per second of todayтАЩs computer, that probably seems very slow.
Unlike todayтАЩs computers, the ABC did not have a changeable stored program. This meant the program was fixed and designed to do a single task. This also meant that, to solve these problems, an operator had to write down the intermediate answer and then feed that back into the ABC. Atanasoff left Iowa State before he perfected a storage method that would have eliminated the need for the operator to reenter the intermediate results.
Part of the ABC.
┬аCourtesy of Iowa State University Library Special Collections and University Archives,┬аCC BY-ND
Shortly after Atanasoff left Iowa State, the ABC was dismantled. Atanasoff never filed a patent for his invention. That means that, for a long time, many people werenтАЩt aware of the ABC. In 1947, the creators of the Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer, or ENIAC, filed a patent. This allowed them to claim they were the inventors of the digital computer. For several decades, most people thought that the ENIAC was the first modern computer. But one of the inventors of the ENIAC had visited Atanasoff in 1941. The courts later ruled that this visit influenced the design of the ENIAC. The ENIAC patent was┬аthrown out by a judge in 1973.The holders of the ENIAC patent argued that the ABC never really worked. Since all that remained was one of the drum memory units, it was hard to prove otherwise. In 1997 a team of faculty, researchers and students at Iowa State University finished building a replica of the ABC. They were able to demonstrate that the ABC did function. You can see the replica today at the┬аComputer History Museum┬аin Mountain View, California.
Computers and electronics play an enormous role in today’s society, impacting everything from communication and medicine to science. Although computers are typically viewed as a modern invention involving electronics, computing predates the use of electrical devices. The ancient abacus was perhaps the first digital computing device. Analog computing dates back several millennia as primitive computing devices were used as early as the ancient Greeks and Romans, the most known complex of which being the Antikythera mechanism. Later devices such as the castle clock (1206), slide rule (c. 1624) and Babbage’s Difference Engine (1822) are other examples of early mechanical analog computers.
The introduction of electric power in the 19th century led to the rise of electrical and hybrid electro-mechanical devices to carry out both digital (Hollerith punch-card machine) and analog (BushтАЩs differential analyzer) calculation. Telephone switching came to be based on this technology, which led to the development of machines that we would recognize as early computers.
The presentation of the Edison Effect in 1885 provided the theoretical background for electronic devices. Originally in the form of vacuum tubes, electronic components were rapidly integrated into electric devices, revolutionizing radio and later television. It was in computers however, where the full impact of electronics was felt. Analog computers used to calculate ballistics were crucial to the outcome of World War II, and the Colossus and the ENIAC, the two earliest electronic digital computers, were developed during the war.
With the invention of solid-state electronics, the transistor and ultimately the integrated circuit, computers would become much smaller and eventually affordable for the average consumer. Today тАЬcomputersтАЭ are present in nearly every aspect of everyday life, from watches to automobiles.
Charles Babbage, an English mechanical engineer and┬аpolymath, originated the concept of a programmable computer. Considered the “father of the computer”, he conceptualized and invented the first┬аmechanical computer┬аin the early 19th century. After working on his revolutionary┬аdifference engine, designed to aid in navigational calculations, in 1833 he realized that a much more general design, an┬аAnalytical Engine, was possible. The input of programs and data was to be provided to the machine via┬аpunched cards, a method being used at the time to direct mechanical┬аlooms┬аsuch as the┬аJacquard loom. For output, the machine would have a printer, a curve plotter and a bell. The machine would also be able to punch numbers onto cards to be read in later. The Engine incorporated an┬аarithmetic logic unit,┬аcontrol flow┬аin the form of┬аconditional branching┬аand┬аloops, and integrated┬аmemory, making it the first design for a general-purpose computer that could be described in modern terms as┬аTuring-complete.
The machine was about a century ahead of its time. All the parts for his machine had to be made by hand тАУ this was a major problem for a device with thousands of parts. Eventually, the project was dissolved with the decision of the┬аBritish Government┬аto cease funding. Babbage’s failure to complete the analytical engine can be chiefly attributed to political and financial difficulties as well as his desire to develop an increasingly sophisticated computer and to move ahead faster than anyone else could follow. Nevertheless, his son,┬аHenry Babbage, completed a simplified version of the analytical engine’s computing unit (the┬аmill) in 1888. He gave a successful demonstration of its use in computing tables in 1906.
Photo: Ericsson
Motorola Star Tac By Nkp911m500┬аGFDL┬аvia Wikimedia Commons
