Computing Division, 1924
At least they had (very large!) adding machines.
Mabel Roy Mouton
One of the NASA "computers", she went on to become the Assistant Chief of Research Programs.
Harvard computers, 1889
Click on this photo to read about the astronomy department "computers" in the 1880's and how they shined.
Even 1993 looks retro!
1993 Vandenberg Air Force Base.
1965 school
Typewriters, not keyboards. Remember typing classes?
Katherine Johnson
Featured in the film "Hidden Figures", Katherine was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. She is still alive.
Mary Jackson
Mary was a computer and then an engineer at NASA.
Dorothy (Johnson) Vaughan
The acting head of the West Area computers at NASA (an African American couldn't become the official head), Dorothy went on to become a computer programmer.
Oh, the paper!
Computer print-outs in 1976. Are those checks??
Computing division
1920's computers figuring out soldiers' bonuses.
1997 Amrak
And this small area is now the hub of Amtrak activity.
Charles Babbage
He is known as the father of the computer.
2001
Even 15 years ago seems retro in the computer world!
IBM digital computer model 7090 - 1965
In 1960, this system sold for $2.9 million or rented for $63,500 a month - about half a million dollars today!
Science fiction?
Contrast this 1995 photo to the ENIAC computer which was the size of a house!
John Glenn's first flight
On February 20, 1960, John Glenn was the first US astronaut to circle the earth. This is a graphic showing his flight (shown on tv). Not quite CGI graphics!
Animation of the inside of John Glenn's space capsule
Again, not quite CGI - let alone HDTV!
And a new era begins!
Steve Jobs, cofounder of Apple, in 1980. The Apple I was launched in 1976.
Jobs & Wozniak, 1975
Apple computers getting their start.
In 1822, Charles Babbage conceived of (but never built) a steam powered machine that could compute numbers; It would take more than a century until the first mechanical computer was actually created. In 1946, the ENIAC was built - it took 1800 square feet to house it. In the meantime, human beings were used to calculate numbers - and they mostly included female mathematicians, who were considered more suited to routine tasks. (Yes, discrimination against women didn't only include the lack of equal pay and the inability to vote!)
Click "Next Page" to continue your journey through time, decades before computers were a reality.
