herman hollerith herman hollerith february 29 1860 november 17 1929 was an american inventor who developed an electromechanical punched card tabulator to assist in summarizing information and later accounting he was the founder of the tabulating machine company that was amalgamated via stock acquisition in 1911 with three other companies to form a fifth company the computingtabulatingrecording company later renamed ibm hollerith is regarded as one of the seminal figures in the development of data processing personal life herman hollerith was born the son of german immigrant prof georg hollerith from grofischlingen near neustadt an der weinstrae in buffalo new york where he spent his early childhood electromechanical tabulation of data unit record equipment at the urging of john shaw billings hollerith developed a mechanism using electrical connections to increment a counter recording information claim 2 of which reads photo dated december 31 1919 of census worker with hollerith pantograph punch the keyboard layout is for the us census 1920 population card replica of hollerith tabulating machine with sorting box circa 1890 the sorting box was an adjunct to and controlled by the tabulator the sorter an independent machine was a later development the hereindescribed method of compiling statistics which consists in recording separate statistical items pertaining to the individual by holes or combinations of holes punched in sheets of electrically nonconducting material and bearing a specific relation to each other and to a standard and then counting or tallying such statistical items separately or in combination by means of mechanical counters operated by electromagnets the circuits through which are controlled by the perforated sheets substantially as and for the purpose set forth inventions and businesses hollerith punched card holleriths grave at oak hill cemetery in georgetown in washington dc hollerith had left teaching and begun working for the united states census bureau in the year he filed his first patent application titled art of compiling statistics it was filed on september 23 1884 us patent 395782 was granted on january 8 1889 hollerith initially did business under his own name as the hollerith electric tabulating system specializing in punched card data processing equipment in 1896 hollerith founded the tabulating machine company in 1905 renamed the tabulating machine company he invented the first automatic cardfeed mechanism and the first keypunch the 1890 tabulator was hardwired to operate on 1890 census cards a control panel in his 1906 type i tabulator simplified rewiring for different jobs the 1920s removable control panel supported prewiring and near instant job changing these inventions were among the foundations of the data processing industry and holleriths punched cards later used for computer inputoutput continued in use for almost a century in 1911 four corporations including holleriths firm were amalgamated to form a fifth company the computingtabulatingrecording company ctr death and legacy hollerith is buried at oak hill cemetery in the georgetown neighborhood of washington dc hollerith cards were named after herman hollerith they eventually reached 128 columns width his greatgrandson the rt rev herman hollerith iv is the episcopal bishop of the diocese of southern virginia and another greatgrandson randolph marshall hollerith is an episcopal priest and the dean of washington national cathedral in washington dc for more on punched card history technology see unit record equipmentfurther reading for ibm see ibmfurther reading and history of ibmfurther reading notes austrian geoffrey d 1982 herman hollerith the forgotten giant of information processing columbia university press p418 isbn0231051468 truesdell leon e 1965 the development of punch card tabulation in the bureau of the census 18901940 us gpo includes extensive detailed description of holleriths first machines and their use for the 1890 census ashurst gareth 1983 pioneers of computing frederick muller pp7790 beniger james r 19862009 the control revolution technological and economic origins of the information society harvard university press 1986 pp390425 cortada james w 1993 before the computer ibm ncr burroughs remington rand the industry they created 1865 1956 princeton p344 isbn069104807x essinger james 2004 jacquards web how a handloom led to the birth of the information age oxford oxford university press engelbourg saul 1954 international business machines a business history phd columbia university p385 reprinted by arno press 1976 from the best available copy some text is illegible heide lars herman hollerith in jeffrey fear ed immigrant entrepreneurship germanamerican business biographies 1720 to the present german historical institute 2017 heide lars 2009 punchedcard systems and the early information explosion 18801945 johns hopkins isbn0801891434 hollerith herman april 1889 an electric tabulating system the quarterly columbia university school of mines x 16 238255 from the columbia univ history site this article is the basis for his 1890 columbia phd extracts reprinted in randell 1982 hollerith herman 1890 in connection with the electric tabulation system which has been adopted by us government for the work of the census bureau phd dissertation columbia university school of mines hollerith herman december 1894 the electrical tabulating machine journal of the royal statistical society blackwell publishing 57 4 678682 doi1023072979610 jstor2979610 from randell 1982 brief fascinating article describes the way in which tabulators and sorters were used on 100 million cards 1890 census wikimedia commons has media related to herman hollerith herman hollerith 2017 in immigrant entrepreneurship recommended holleriths patents from 1889 us 395781 us 395782 us 395783 columbia university computing history herman hollerith holleriths 1890 census tabulator ibm archives herman hollerith the tabulating machine co plant early office museum punched card tabulating machines oconnor john j robertson edmund f herman hollerith mactutor history of mathematics archive university of st andrews the norwegian historical data center census 1900 includes a description of the use of hollerith machines complicated american enumeration machines together with illustrations the research notes on herman hollerith collection at hagley museum and library includes the research materials geoffrey austrian used to write herman hollerith forgotten giant of information processing richard hollerith papers at hagley museum and library richard hollerith was the grandson of herman hollerith and part of this collection documents the sale and settlement of the herman hollerith estate following the death of his last remaining child virginia fleishman sandra march 5 2005 85 million and counting washington post retrieved may 4 2010 holleriths house authority control worldcat identities gnd 11877476x isni 0000 0000 5561 5396 lccn n81049885 nkc stk2008428706 snac w69p3qgm viaf 40693622 