A Brief History of Computing - Complete Timeline（计算简史u2014u2014完整的时间表）.pdfVIP

A Brief History of Computing - Complete Timeline /~swhite/history/timeline.html 500 B.C. The abacus was first used by the Babylonians as an aid to simple arithmetic at sometime around this date. The abacus in the form we are most familiar with was first used in China in around 1300 A.D. 1614 Scotsman John Napier (1550-1617) published a paper outlining his discovery of the logarithm. Napier also invented an ingenious system of moveable rods (referred to as Napiers Rods or Napiers bones). These allowed the operator to multiply, divide and calculate square and calculate cube roots by moving the rods around and placing them in specially constructed boards. 1623 Wilhelm Schickard (1592-1635), of Tuebingen, Wuerttemberg (now in Germany), made a Calculating Clock. This mechanical machine was capable of adding and subtracting up to 6 digit numbers, and warned of an overflow by ringing a bell. Operations were carried out by wheels, and a complete revolution of the units wheel incremented the tens wheel in much the same way counters on old cassette deck worked. The machine and plans were lost and forgotten in the war that was going on, then rediscovered in 1935, only to be lost in war again, and then finally rediscovered in 1956 by the same man (Franz Hammer)! The machine was reconstructed in 1960, and found to be workable. Schickard was a friend of the astronomer Johannes Kepler since they met in the winter of 1617. 1625 William Oughtred (1575-1660) invented the slide rule. 1642 French mathematician, Blaise Pascal built a mechanical adding machine (the Pascaline). Despite being more limited t