Herman Hollerith was born on February 29, 1860, and died on November 17, 1929. He was a German-American statistician, inventor, and businessman who created an electromechanical tabulating machine for punched cards. This machine helped summarize information and later assist with accounting tasks. He received a patent for his punched card tabulating machine in 1884. This invention started the era of using machines to process data with binary code and semiautomatic systems. His idea was the main method used in this field for almost 100 years.
Hollerith started a company that later merged with other companies in 1911 to form the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company. In 1924, the company was renamed "International Business Machines" (IBM). IBM became one of the largest and most successful companies of the 20th century. Hollerith is considered a key figure in the development of data processing systems.
Biography
Herman Hollerith was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1860, and lived there during his early childhood. His parents were German immigrants. His father, Forty-eighter Georg Hollerith, was a school teacher and Lutheran minister from Großfischlingen, Rhineland-Palatinate. In 1875, Hollerith entered the City College of New York. He graduated from the Columbia School of Mines in 1879 at age 19 with a degree in engineering. In 1890, he earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree for creating a tabulating system. In 1882, he joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he taught mechanical engineering and tested punched cards for the first time. Later, he moved to Washington, D.C., and lived in Georgetown. His home was on 29th Street, and he owned a business building at 31st Street near the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. Today, a commemorative plaque from IBM marks this location. Herman Hollerith died of a heart attack in Washington, D.C., at age 69.
Electromechanical tabulation of data
At the suggestion of John Shaw Billings, Hollerith created a system that used electrical connections to increase a counter and record information. A main idea was that information could be recorded by having or not having a hole in a specific place on a card. For example, if a hole in a certain spot means a person is married, then having a hole there would show married, and not having a hole would show single. Hollerith found that information placed in certain spots on a card, organized in rows and columns, could be counted or sorted using both electricity and machines. A description of this system, called "An Electric Tabulating System" (1889), was sent to Columbia University as Hollerith's doctoral thesis. This description is also included in Brian Randell's 1982 book, "The Origins of Digital Computers: Selected Papers." On January 8, 1889, Hollerith received U.S. Patent 395,782. Part 2 of this patent states:
Inventions and businesses
Hollerith left teaching and began working for the United States Census Bureau in the same year he submitted his first patent application. The patent, titled "Art of Compiling Statistics," was filed on September 23, 1884. It was granted as U.S. Patent 395,782 on January 8, 1889.
At first, Hollerith operated his business under his own name, called The Hollerith Electric Tabulating System. His company specialized in creating machines that used punched cards to process data. He provided tabulators and other equipment to the Census Office, which used them for the 1890 census. Changes between the 1880 and 1890 censuses included a larger population, more data collected, a bigger Census Bureau workforce, earlier publication schedules, and the use of Hollerith’s electromechanical tabulators. These changes reduced the time needed to process the census from eight years for the 1880 census to six years for the 1890 census.
In 1896, Hollerith started a company called the Tabulating Machine Company, which was later renamed in 1905. Many census offices worldwide, as well as major insurance companies, leased his machines and bought his punched cards. His equipment was used for censuses in England & Wales, Italy, Germany, Russia, Austria, Canada, France, Norway, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines. It was also used again in the 1900 U.S. census.
Hollerith invented the first automatic card-feed mechanism and the first keypunch. The 1890 Tabulator was designed to work only with 1890 Census cards. A control panel added to his 1906 Type I Tabulator made it easier to rewire the machine for different tasks. In the 1920s, removable control panels allowed for quick changes in how the machines operated. These inventions helped create the data processing industry. Hollerith’s punched cards, later used for computer input and output, remained in use for nearly 100 years.
In 1911, four companies, including Hollerith’s, merged to form a new company called the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR). Under the leadership of Thomas J. Watson, CTR was renamed International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) in 1924. By 1933, the name The Tabulating Machine Company no longer appeared, as its subsidiaries were absorbed by IBM.
Death and legacy
Herman Hollerith died on November 17, 1929. He is buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
The Hollerith cards, Hollerith strings, and Hollerith constants were named after Herman Hollerith.
His great-grandson, the Rt. Rev. Herman Hollerith IV, served as the Episcopal bishop of the Diocese of Southern Virginia. Another great-grandson, Randolph Marshall Hollerith, is an Episcopal priest and the dean of Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.