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George Robert Stibitz was born in York, Pennsylvania
on April 30, 1904 and died in Hanover, New Hampshire on January 31, 1995.
He is recognized as the "Father of the modern digital computer"
by many. This famous inventor, unfortunately, only found his interest
in computers in 1937 from an assignment of his. (After his many degrees
in colleges and universities, George was brilliant.) His assignment had
asked him to study magneto-mechanics of telephone relays. After studying
these relays, he decided that they could be used for more purposes. From
here, the wheels in George's head began to turn. Beginning with just relays,
flashlight bulbs, and switches from a tobacco tin, he finally ended up
with a Complex Number Calculator, in 1939! (He got help in building this
calculator from S.B. Williams.) This calculator was the first electrical
digital computer! This wonderful invention, ironically, was presented
in a meeting that used a Teletype to transmit problems to the new calculator
and receive the results, on September 11, of 1940! (This is known to be
the first example of remote job entry.) Also in 1940, the first demonstration
of remote computing used the Complex Number Calculator by communicating
to it by a teletypewriter over phone lines! His inventions are thought
of as the basis for our modern computer machinery.
George Stibitz is by far one of the most amazing
people in history. He was very intelligent, a great inventor, and in his
later years a wonderful professor. Without Dr. George R. Stibitz, who
knows where our world of technology would be now?!
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