First Generation Computers

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The creation of the computers was spurred during a time of war; more specifically, by the need to predict and communicate ballistics reports. In 1834, Charles Babbage, an English mathematician, had the idea of a general-purpose computing machine coming into existence. Much time passed before something that would come close to that idea was created. In 1930, a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology led by Vannevar Bush created a "differential analyzer" for the purpose of solving electrical engineering-based problems. This machine was so large that an entire building floor had to be set aside just for it.

Scientists overcame a milestone in computing by using the binary system in electrical devices, which understand the sequences of 1's and 0's as either "on" or "off."

In America, Presper Eckhart and John Mauchly created ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator Analyzer and Computer) during World War Two. Finished in November of 1945, ENIAC was a massive machine that weighed 30 tons.