Howard H. Aiken

Howard H. Aiken was an American computer scientist who led the development of the Harvard Mark I, an early electromechanical general-purpose computer.

Grace Hopper: Grace Hopper was an American computer scientist and U.S. Navy officer who worked on the Harvard Mark I and helped develop early programming languages. She programmed the Mark I and later became one of its best-known collaborators.
Harvard Mark I: The Harvard Mark I was a large electromechanical calculator completed in 1944 and used for scientific and military calculations. It was the machine Aiken led Harvard and IBM to develop.
Harvard University: Harvard University is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, founded in 1636. Aiken proposed the calculator while completing graduate study at Harvard.
Harvard Mark II: The Harvard Mark II was a faster electromechanical computer completed at Harvard in 1947. Aiken directed this successor to the Mark I.
Thomas J. Watson: Thomas J. Watson was an American business executive who led IBM from 1914 to 1956. He approved IBM’s investment in building Aiken’s proposed machine.
Electromechanical computer: An electromechanical computer uses electrical signals and moving mechanical parts to perform calculations. The Mark I embodied this approach, using relays to control mechanical arithmetic.
IBM: IBM is an American technology company founded in 1911 as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company. IBM engineered and manufactured the Mark I under its agreement with Harvard.
Harvard Mark III: The Harvard Mark III was a 1950 computer that combined electronic and electromechanical components. It continued Aiken’s sequence of increasingly electronic Harvard computers.
Clair Lake: Clair Lake was an IBM engineer who contributed to the design and construction of the Harvard Mark I. His engineering work helped turn Aiken’s design into a functioning machine.
Relay: A relay is an electrically operated switch that opens or closes a circuit. Thousands of relays represented and controlled the machine’s operations.

Linked from 1 page