Herman Hollerith (1860-1929)
Herman was born on February 29, 1860 in Buffalo, NY. He was tutored by a private tutor when he was young because he didn’t do well in public schools. When he was 16 he enrolled into Columbia college and when he was 19 he graduated with an EM degree. He then invented the punch card tabulator around 1890 which stored information when the card was punched into the machine. This invention was created around the time when the 1880-1890 census was being manually tabulated so his machine had perfect timing.
His machine saved the Census Bureau 8 years of hand tabulating and it was the beginning of modern data processing. In 1896, Herman founded the Tabulating Machine Company so he could sell and work on his machine. Patents and sales soon made him a millionaire. Then, in 1911, his company combined with TMC to become the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company. Later on in 1914, Thomas J. Watson bought the company naming it IBM. Herman Hollerith died on November 17, 1929 in Washington, D.C.
His machine saved the Census Bureau 8 years of hand tabulating and it was the beginning of modern data processing. In 1896, Herman founded the Tabulating Machine Company so he could sell and work on his machine. Patents and sales soon made him a millionaire. Then, in 1911, his company combined with TMC to become the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company. Later on in 1914, Thomas J. Watson bought the company naming it IBM. Herman Hollerith died on November 17, 1929 in Washington, D.C.