Last chance today; Census Forms, IBM and Hollerith.
If you have not mailed in your 2010 census form, today is your last chance to do so (I’m sure that they will still take it if you mail it tomorrow).The task of processing the huge amount of census-data has an interesting story.
Back in 1890 the census data was first counted and analyzed utilizing “modern” data processing. Ten years earlier, Herman Hollerith worked on the 1880 US census to make a few dollars. He just received a degree in Mine Engineering and could not find employment in his line of work. The counting of the date was a laborious and error-prone operation that cried out for mechanization.
For the next 10 years, Hollerith worked on his invention and won the competition for best machine to process the census-data to be collected in 1890.
His machine utilized punch cards, measuring 3.25 by 7.375 inches, the same size as the dollar bills at the time. (US banknotes were reduced in 1929 to their present size.)
This was the first wholly successful information processing system to replace pen and paper, and reduced a seven-year job to three months. Yes, that’s how long it took in 1880, and for 1890 it was projected to take 13 years!
Hollerith is considered the father of digital data collecting and processing. Hollerith’s machine saved the 1890 taxpayers five million dollars, and earned him an 1890 Columbia PhD.
Hollerith started his own business in 1896, the Tabulating Machine Company, which was also in charge of tabulating the date for the 1900 census. In 1900 Hollerith’s automatic mechanism to feed the cards allowed an even faster processing of the data. In 1911 the Tabulating Machine Company merged with three other companies and formed the Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation, or CTR. In 1924, CTR was renamed and became International Business Machines, or our familiar IBM.
Hollerith can also be looked at the founder of IBM.
Peter Frei
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Comments:
Posted on 4 May 2010, 9:12 by Peter FreiHolland above average..
As of today, the participation rate according to the census bureau is:
72% for the entire US
73% for the state of Massachusetts
78% for the town of Holland
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Posted on 5 May 2010, 6:12 by Free Thinker
Stats
The fact that Holland is above average in census response just goes to show that Holland has more mindless drones than The rest of the USA. That should be no surprise when you look at what is going on in this town as allowed by its citizens.
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Posted on 24 Feb 2011, 13:49 by Peter Frei
IBM's 100 Anniversary..
Today, IBM is celebrating its 100 anniversary, in case you care to know..
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