History of Computers Webquest

Use the following websites to find the answers to the questions below:

__https://www.educalc.net/196488.page & https://www.educalc.net/201484

__http://www.johnston.k12.ia.us/technologyservices/instructionaltechnology/HistoryWeb
Q/develcomp.html
__http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa050898.htm
__http://jva.cs.iastate.edu/jvabio.php
__http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/John_V._Atanasoff.aspx#0-1G2:3404707524-full
__http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/numbers/binary/index.htm
__http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/numbers/binary/cards.htm
__http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/613/the-history-of-the-computer-mouse/
__https://www.grahamcluley.com/2013/09/first-actual-computer-bug/
__http://history-computer.com/ModernComputer/Personal/Altair.html
__http://www.computerworld.com/article/2493059/computer-peripherals/past-is-
prototype--the-evolution-of-the-computer-keyboard.html
__http://mrhames.org/keyboarding/questions.htm#whykeys

1. What was Blaise Pascal’s calculating machine named?

Pascaline

2. Charles Babbage’s machines used hand-fed cards to operate the machines. What kind
of cards were they?
Punched cards

3. What woman helped create mechanisms, which contributed to computer development?

Adele Goldstine

4. Dr. Herman Hollerith’s calculating machine helped the US government with what task

Counting ballots in a presidential or political election

5. Which machine combined mechanical parts with electrical parts?

A mouse

6. Which computer was awarded the title, “the first all electronic digital computer”?

The ENIAC computer, built in 1945

7. Which company created the first popular home computer and began marketing to

schools?

The IBM personal computer or PC

8. What year did Dr. John V. Atanasoff conceive the idea of the Atanasoff Berry
Computer?
1939

9. Who was Dr. Atanasoff’s graduate student who helped him build the computer?

Clifford Berry
10. What year did they build the prototype of the computer (prototype is an example)?

March 1939

11. On January 15, 1941, what paper announced the ABC as “an electrical computing
machine”?

The Des Moines Register

12. Atanasoff-Berry Computer: How much grant money did Dr. Atanasoff and Clifford
Berry receive to build a larger computer?
$5,000

13. List details of the size of the final product (size, weight, vacuum tubes, wire length,
etc.).
More than 700 pounds, size of a desk, 1 mile of wire, 280 vacuum tubes, 31 thyratrons

14. Stanford Research Institute coined the term “mouse”. Describe how the device was
named.
Nobody can remember
15. What device was first used in the computer mouse that made contact with the working
surface?
Circuit board and two metal wheels

16. What kind of bug is deemed the ‘first computer bug’?

A moth trapped in a woman’s computer

17. What computer was the bug found in?

Harvard’s Mark 2 log book

18. What was the first and most successful home computer (and year of creation)?

The ENIAC made in 1943, over 1000 times faster

19. When was the first keyboard invented?

1868
20. Why are the keys all mixed up?
It was designed to be inefficient so typewriters wouldn’t jam

21. What is the official keyboard named?

QWERTY