The History of Computers

The first real computers were built in the 1940s. They were huge machines that filled entire rooms. Over the years, computers got smaller and faster. Today, a computer can fit in your pocket as a smartphone.

Early Computers

One of the first computers was called ENIAC. It was built in 1945 and weighed 30 tons. It used thousands of vacuum tubes to do math. Only a few people knew how to use it. It could do about 5,000 additions per second.

Computers Get Smaller

In the 1970s, personal computers were invented. People could have a computer at home for the first time. Apple and IBM made some of the first home computers. By the 1990s, laptops let people carry computers anywhere. Now we have tiny computers in our watches and glasses.

Fun Facts

• ENIAC, one of the first computers, used so much electricity it could dim the lights in a whole neighborhood.
• The Apollo 11 spacecraft had a computer less powerful than a modern calculator.
• The first computer programmer was a woman named Ada Lovelace, who lived in the 1800s.

Did You Know?

Before electronic computers, people used machines called abacuses to do math. The abacus was invented over 4,000 years ago!