Giovanni Poleni

Builder of the first pinwheel design calculating clock, Poleni was a pioneer of mechanical computation. Made of wood, his calculating clock was built in 1709; he destroyed it after hearing that Antonius...

Giovanni Caselli

Inventor of the pantelegraph (a.k.a. Universal Telegraph or "all-purpose telegraph"), the predecessor of the modern fax machine, Caselli put the world's first practical operating facsimile machine ("fax") system into use. Pantèlègraph is...

Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace

Known as the "World's First Computer Programmer," Lovelace wrote notes on Charles Babbage's analytical engine that include what is recognized as the first algorithm intended to be processed by a machine. An...

Izrael Abraham Staffel

Inventor of a calculating machine able to add, subtract, divide, multiply, and obtain a square root, Staffel was a Polish inventor, watchmaker, mechanic, and designer of calculating machines, born in 1814 in...

Percy Edwin Ludgate

Designer of an Analytical Engine, Ludgate helped advance calculators by expanding Charles Babbage's design for the first programmable computer. An Irish accountant working alone in Dublin, he was unaware of Charles Babbage's...

George Barnard Grant

One of the few Americans to make a significant contribution to mechanical computation prior to the end of the nineteenth century, Grant improved on the Difference Machine calculator and is recognized as...

Gertrude Blanch

Pioneering figure in numerical analysis and computation and one of the founders of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), Blanch was born Gittel Kaimowitz in Kolno, Russia (now Kolno, Poland), arrived in...

John (James) Clerk Maxwell

A Scottish physicist and mathematician, he was born in Edinburgh, to John Clerk and Frances Cay. His father was a man of comfortable means, of the Clerk family of Penicuik, Midlothian, holders...

Alonzo Church

A major contributor to mathematical logic and the foundations of theoretical computer science, Church is sometimes called the father of theoretical computer science. He is best known for the lambda calculus, the...

Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander, CMG, CBE

One of the key workers on breaking the Enigma machine, Alexander made vital contributions to British codebreaking during World War II. An Irish-born British cryptanalyst, chess player, and chess writer, he was...

Edith Clarke

Pioneer of electrical engineering and the inventor of the Clarke calculator, Clarke broke barriers as the first woman to earn an M.S. in electrical engineering from MIT. Clarke studied mathematics and astronomy at...

Lee de Forest

Inventor of the audion triode and audio and radio pioneer, De Forest had an interest in wireless telegraphy and invented the Audion in 1906. He then developed an improved wireless telegraph receiver....

George Robert Stibitz

Recognized as one of the fathers of the modern digital computer for his work with Bell Labs in the 1930s and 1940s, Stibitz completed a relay-based calculator in November 1937 he dubbed...

Thomas (Tommy) Harold Flowers

Designer of Colossus, the first programmable electronic computer, Flowers made one of the most significant contributions to wartime codebreaking. His first contact with the wartime codebreaking effort came when he was asked...

Lewis Fry Richardson

Pioneer of fractals and the modified Richardson iteration method for solving systems of linear equations, Richardson was also an English mathematician, physicist, meteorologist, psychologist, and pacifist who pioneered modern mathematical techniques of...

Francis (Frank) E. Hamilton

Responsible for the primary organization, design, and construction of the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (Mark I) and the IBM Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator (SSEC), Hamilton was a pivotal figure in early computing....

Martin Wiberg

Inventor of a machine that could print logarithmic tables, Wiberg is known as a computer pioneer for his 1875 invention of a device the size of a sewing machine. The tables were...

Jacob Bernoulli

Known for numerous mathematical landmarks including Bernoulli Numbers and the Bernoulli Differential Equation, Bernoulli became familiar with calculus through a correspondence with Gottfried Leibniz, then collaborated with his brother Johann on various...

Joseph Marie Jacquard

Inventor of the earliest programmable loom, Jacquard transformed weaving with his automatic patterned-silk loom, though his early inventions operated poorly and were largely unsuccessful. In 1801, Jacquard exhibited his invention at the industrial...

Victor Mayer Amédée Mannheim

Inventor of the modern slide rule, Mannheim standardized the design that remained in common use until pocket calculators took over. After graduating from the École d'Application in Metz, Mannheim became an officer of...