INVENTOR

Herman Hollerith

1860 - 1929

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Herman Hollerith (February 29, 1860 – November 17, 1929) was a German-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. 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. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Herman Hollerith is the 45th most popular inventor (up from 49th in 2019), the 527th most popular biography from United States (down from 416th in 2019) and the 9th most popular American Inventor.

Herman Hollerith is most famous for inventing the punch card tabulator.

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Among INVENTORS

Among inventors, Herman Hollerith ranks 45 out of 426Before him are Joseph Marie Jacquard, Frank Whittle, Bob Kahn, Ismail al-Jazari, Adolphe Sax, and Wilhelm Maybach. After him are Robert Fulton, Steve Wozniak, Karl Drais, George Westinghouse, Douglas Engelbart, and Konrad Zuse.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1860, Herman Hollerith ranks 13Before him are Raymond Poincaré, Willem Einthoven, Isaac Albéniz, William Jennings Bryan, Niels Ryberg Finsen, and Kanō Jigorō. After him are James Ensor, J. M. Barrie, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Anders Zorn, Princess Charlotte of Prussia, and Vittorio Emanuele Orlando. Among people deceased in 1929, Herman Hollerith ranks 7Before him are Karl Benz, Georges Clemenceau, Richard Adolf Zsigmondy, Ferdinand Foch, Gustav Stresemann, and Wilhelm Maybach. After him are Charles Cooley, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Bernhard von Bülow, Prince Maximilian of Baden, Sergei Diaghilev, and Emile Berliner.

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Herman Hollerith ranks 527 out of 20,380Before him are Romina Power (1951), Joseph Stiglitz (1943), Babe Didrikson Zaharias (1911), Louis Gossett Jr. (1936), Irwin Rose (1926), and Dean Martin (1917). After him are Jim Mattis (1950), David Morse (1953), Vincent du Vigneaud (1901), Richard Widmark (1914), Sean Penn (1960), and Stephen Hillenburg (1961).

Among INVENTORS In United States

Among inventors born in United States, Herman Hollerith ranks 9Before him are Samuel Morse (1791), Eli Whitney (1765), Lee de Forest (1873), Jimmy Wales (1966), Samuel Colt (1814), and Bob Kahn (1938). After him are Robert Fulton (1765), Steve Wozniak (1950), George Westinghouse (1846), Douglas Engelbart (1925), Hiram Maxim (1840), and Samuel Pierpont Langley (1834).