Herman Hollerith

For the American Episcopal bishop, see Herman Hollerith IV.

Herman Hollerith
Hollerith c. 1888
Born(1860-02-29)February 29, 1860
Buffalo, New York, U.S.
DiedNovember 17, 1929(1929-11-17) (aged 69)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Resting placeOak Hill Cemetery
Education
Occupations
  • Statistician
  • inventor
  • businessman
Known for
SpouseLucia Beverly (Talcott) Hollerith
Children6
Awards

Herman Hollerith (February 29, 1860 – November 17, 1929) was an American statistician, inventor, and businessman who developed an electromechanical tabulating machine for punched cards to assist in summarizing information and, later, in accounting. His invention of the punched card tabulating machine, patented in 1884, marks the beginning of the era of mechanized binary code and semiautomatic data processing systems, and his concept dominated that landscape for nearly a century.[1][2][3]

Hollerith founded a company that was amalgamated in 1911 with several other companies to form the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company. In 1924, the company was renamed "International Business Machines" (IBM) and became one of the largest and most successful companies of the 20th century. Hollerith is regarded as one of the seminal figures in the development of data processing.[4]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Cruz was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Brooks, Frederick P.; Iverson, Kenneth E. (1963). Automatic Data Processing. Wiley. p. 94 "semiautomatic".
  3. ^ "Herman Hollerith". www.britannica.com. Retrieved June 25, 2024. American inventor
  4. ^ Campbell-Kelly, Martin; Aspray, William (2004). Computer: A History of the Information Machine (2ND ed.). Basic Books. p. 16.