霍尔瑞斯Herman Hollerith

霍尔瑞斯的父母是1848年德国政治动荡后移民到美国的。尽管霍尔瑞斯很聪明，但上学对他来说并不容易。Ashurst在4中叙述道：-

据说霍尔瑞斯在学校是个聪明能干的孩子，但很难学会拼写。他坚定的老师让他的生活痛苦不堪，以至于他常常尽可能逃避上学，当老师再次努力改进他的拼写时，他就逃跑。

这些学校问题的后果是，霍尔瑞斯最终被带离学校，由家里的路德会牧师私下辅导。

霍尔瑞斯于1875年进入纽约城市学院，并于1879年成为哥伦比亚矿业学院的工程学毕业生，在期末考试中获得优异成绩。他的本科记录非常出色，他的一位老师W·P·特罗布里奇教授印象深刻，邀请霍尔瑞斯成为他的助手。

因此，毕业后霍尔瑞斯成为Trowbridge的助手，先是在哥伦比亚大学，但后来当Trowbridge被任命为人口普查局首席特别探员时，他加入了美国人口普查局担任统计员。这一任命非常重要，因为正是在解决分析1880年美国人口普查产生的大量数据的问题时，霍尔瑞斯被引导去寻找机械处理数据的方法。这个想法实际上来自弗瑞兹·约翰 Shaw Billings博士，霍尔瑞斯在美国人口普查局工作时与他接触。霍尔瑞斯很久以后写道（见[6]）：-

一天晚上在B博士的茶桌旁，他对我说：‘应该有一台机器来做纯粹机械的制表和类似统计工作。’

在同一故事的稍有不同的版本中，据报告Billings博士曾说（例如见[4]）：-

应该有一些机械方式来完成这项工作，某种基于雅卡尔织机原理的东西，即卡片上的孔调节要编织的图案。

1882年，霍尔瑞斯加入了麻省理工学院，在那里教授机械工程。此时他调查了Billings的建议，研究雅卡尔织机的工作方式，以查看它是否可以用于人口普查工作。他发现，在大多数方面，雅卡尔织机的功能与可能对人口普查工作有用的东西相差太远，然而他确实意识到穿孔卡片是一种存储信息的有效方式。有一天在火车旅行中，他看着售票员打孔车票时，另一个想法击中了他。这是一种将信息打孔到卡片上的简单方法。

在麻省理工学院工作时，霍尔瑞斯开始了他的第一次实验。这些实验使用纸带而不是卡片，针会穿过纸带上的孔并完成电气接触。这个想法几乎正确，但纸带有缺点，因为它必须停下来让针穿过孔以进行接触。霍尔瑞斯意识到卡片会提供更好的解决方案。

霍尔瑞斯不喜欢教学，所以他很快寻找另一份工作。1884年，他在华盛顿特区的美国专利局获得了一个职位。这要么是好运，要么是辉煌的职业举动，取决于霍尔瑞斯在预见自己将处于最佳位置以充分利用在专利局学到的技能来为自己的发明申请专利方面有多远见。

1884年，霍尔瑞斯申请了他的第一项专利（在他的职业生涯中，他将从美国获得30多项专利以及许多海外专利）。他发展了他在麻省理工学院早期所做的工作，即把穿孔卡片上的信息转换为电脉冲的方法。这些脉冲反过来会激活机械计数器。他最初使用铁路票上用的打孔器在卡片上打孔。这表明系统有效，但由于打孔器只能在卡片边缘附近打孔，所以没有充分利用全部潜力。

霍尔瑞斯设计了他系统专用的打孔机，即霍尔瑞斯电动制表系统。他还改进了读卡机器。工程上的改进提高了针穿过卡片上的孔与下方水银形成电连接的准确性。产生的电流激活机械计数器，每张卡片可处理的信息量迅速增加。

霍尔瑞斯的系统于1887年在新泽西州巴尔的摩首次用于编制死亡率统计表，随后又在纽约市使用。到1890年美国人口普查时，这种打孔卡系统已投入使用，但它并不是普查考虑使用的唯一系统。在与另外两个考虑用于1890年人口普查的系统的竞争中，它令人信服地胜出，表明它能更快地处理数据。

获胜后，霍尔瑞斯现在必须让人制造打孔机和计数装置。打孔机由Pratt and Whitney制造，该公司后来因制造飞机发动机而闻名。打孔机的构造类似于打字机，有一个简单的键盘。计数机由Western Electric Company制造。到1890年6月，一切就绪，第一次普查数据于当年9月到达。计数于1890年12月12日完成，处理时间约三个月，而如果手工计数，预计需要两年。1890年美国总人口为62,622,250。

使用霍尔瑞斯的系统，速度并不是唯一的好处。它能够收集更多数据，诸如一个家庭中出生的孩子数、一个家庭中仍活着的孩子数以及讲英语的人数等数据，都是1890年人口普查的一部分。

霍尔瑞斯已经离开学术界，但他显然仍被学术界的某些方面所吸引，因为他写下了他的制表系统的详细内容，并将这项工作提交给哥伦比亚矿业学院以申请博士学位。霍尔瑞斯于1890年获得博士学位。

霍尔瑞斯的系统显然是一次巨大的飞跃。它通过只用没有它时所需时间的一小部分完成数据分析，并且所需人力也比没有它时更少，为1890年人口普查为美国节省了500万美元。该系统还再次用于1891年加拿大、挪威和奥地利的人口普查，后来又用于1911年英国人口普查。

由于他的杰出发明，荣誉从四面八方涌向霍尔瑞斯。1890年，费城富兰克林研究所授予他著名的埃利奥特·克雷森奖章。他获得了巴黎博览会的金奖和1893年世界博览会的铜奖。他被邀请向世界各地的学术团体发表演讲，例如他在伦敦向皇家统计学会发表了演讲。

1896年，霍尔瑞斯创立了制表机公司以利用他的发明。此时，他已经增加了一个自动送卡机制和其他自动分拣程序，使原本简单的机械计数过程更加精密。他的系统再次用于1900年的美国人口普查，但此时他对使用其技术索价过高，以至于人们开始质疑使用该系统的明智性。由于霍尔瑞斯实际上处于垄断地位，他将价格定得远远超过手工统计1900年人口普查数据的成本。

1903年，国会通过法案，使人口普查局成为永久性机构，并开始为1910年的人口普查做准备。1900年使用霍尔瑞斯系统的成本使他们决定开发自己的系统，尽管时间紧迫且难以绕过霍尔瑞斯的专利，他们还是能够及时为1910年的人口普查准备好更先进的机器。这个故事有一个相当奇怪的转折，因为负责人口普查局竞争机器开发的工程师詹姆斯·鲍尔斯，竟然被允许以他自己的名义为这些更先进的机器申请专利。

鲍尔斯现在处于强势地位，1911年人口普查后，他离开了人口普查局，成立了鲍尔斯制表机公司，此时该公司已足以与霍尔瑞斯的制表机公司匹敌。与另一家公司合并后，霍尔瑞斯的公司于1911年成为计算机制表记录公司，但这家新公司基本上被挤出了计数机市场。

霍尔瑞斯在计算机制表记录公司担任咨询工程师，直到1921年退休。到1920年，计算机制表记录公司已经恢复了其领先地位，这并非由于霍尔瑞斯，而是由于1918年加入公司的托马斯·J·沃森。该公司于1924年更名为国际商业机器公司（IBM）。

霍尔瑞斯以其打孔卡技术为现代电子计算机的发展做出了非常重大的贡献，但并非他所有的想法都同样成功。在19世纪80年代，在他开发第一套打孔卡系统的同时，他发明了一种新的火车制动系统。然而，他的电动制动系统败给了西屋公司的蒸汽制动系统。

霍尔瑞斯于1929年因心脏病发作去世，距他退休已有八年。

Herman Hollerith's parents were immigrants to the United States from Germany in 1848 after political disturbances in that country. School was not very easy for Herman despite the fact that he was clever. Ashurst recounts [4]:-

Herman is said to have been a bright and able child at school, but had an inability to learn spelling easily. His determined teacher made his life miserable to the extent that he used to avoid school whenever possible and run away when his teacher showed renewed effort to improve his spelling.

The consequence of these school problems were that Herman was eventually taken away from school and he was tutored privately at home by the family's Lutheran minister.

Hollerith entered the City College of New York in 1875 and he became an engineering graduate of the Columbia School of Mines in 1879, obtaining a distinction in his final examinations. His undergraduate record had been outstanding and one of his teachers, Professor W P Trowbridge, was so impressed that he asked Hollerith to become his assistant.

So after graduating Hollerith became an assistant to Trowbridge, first at Columbia University but later he joined the US Census Bureau as a statistician when Trowbridge was appointed Chief Special Agent to the Census Bureau. This appointment was very significant because it was in solving the problems of analysing the large amounts of data generated by the 1880 US census that Hollerith was led to look for ways of manipulating data mechanically. The idea in fact came from Dr John Shaw Billings who Hollerith came in contact with in his work for the US Census Bureau. Hollerith wrote much later (see [6]):-

One evening at Dr B's tea table he said to me 'There ought to be a machine for doing the purely mechanical work of tabulating population and similar statistics'.

In a slightly different version of the same story Dr Billings was reported to have said (see for example [4]):-

There ought to be some mechanical way of doing this job, something on the principle of the Jacquard loom, whereby holes in a card regulate the pattern to be woven.

In 1882 Hollerith joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he taught mechanical engineering. At this time he investigated Billings suggestion, examining the way that the Jacquard loom worked with a view to seeing if it could be used in census work. He found that in most respects the function of the Jacquard loom was too far removed from what might be useful to the census work, however he did realise that the punched cards were an efficient way to store information. Another idea struck him one day on a train journey as he watched the ticket collector punch tickets. This was an easy way to punch information onto cards.

While he worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Hollerith began his first experiments. These used a paper tape, rather than cards, with pins which would go through a hole in the tape and complete an electrical contact. The idea was nearly right but the tape had drawbacks since it had to stop to allow the pin to go through the hole to make the contact. Hollerith realised that cards would provide a better solution.

Hollerith did not enjoy teaching so he soon sought another job. In 1884 he obtain a post in the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C. This was either good luck or a brilliant career move depending on how far sighted Hollerith was in seeing that he would be in the best possible position to make full use of skills learnt in the patent office in patenting his own inventions.

In 1884 Hollerith applied for his first patent (he would receive more than 30 patents from the United States during his career and many overseas patents). He developed the early work he had done at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on methods to convert the information on punched cards into electrical impulses. These impulses in turn would activate mechanical counters. He used at first the punch that was used for tickets on the railway to make the holes in the cards. This showed that the system worked but since the punch could only make holes near the edge of the card, the full potential was not being used.

Hollerith designed punches specially made for his system, the Hollerith Electric Tabulating System. He also improved the machines which read the cards. Engineering developments improved the accuracy of the pin going through the hole in the card to make an electrical connection with mercury placed beneath. The resulting electrical current activated a mechanical counter and the amount of information which could be handled on each card rapidly increased.

Hollerith's system was first tested on tabulating mortality statistics in Baltimore, New Jersey in 1887 and again in New York City. This punched card system was in use by the time of the 1890 US census but it was not the only system to be considered for use with the census. It won convincingly in competition with two other systems considered for the 1890 census showing that it could handle data more quickly.

Having won, Hollerith now had to have punches and counting devices manufactured. The punches were made by Pratt and Whitney, later famed for building engines for aircraft. The punch was constructed in a similar way to a typewriter having a simple keyboard. The counting machines were made by the Western Electric Company. Everything was in place by June 1890 and the first data from the census arrived in September of that year. The counting was completed by 12 December 1890 having taken about three months to process instead of the expected time of two years if counting had been done by hand. The total population of the United States in 1890 was found to be 62,622,250.

Speed was not the only benefit of using Hollerith's system. It was possible to gather more data, and data such as the number of children born in a family, the number of children still alive in a family, and the number of people who spoke English were part of the 1890 census.

Although Hollerith had left the academic world, he clearly was still attracted to certain aspects of it, for he wrote up the details of his tabulating systems and submitted the work for a doctorate at the Columbia School of Mines. Hollerith was awarded his doctorate in 1890.

The Hollerith system was clearly a great leap forward. It saved the United States 5 million dollars for the 1890 census by completing the analysis of the data in a fraction of the time it would have taken without it and with a smaller amount of manpower than would have been necessary otherwise. The system was again used for the 1891 census in Canada, Norway and Austria and later for the 1911 UK census.

Honours came to Hollerith from all sides for his outstanding invention. He was awarded the prestigious Elliot Cresson Medal by the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia in 1890. He received the Gold Medal of the Paris Exposition and the Bronze Medal of the World's Fair in 1893. He was asked to address learned societies around the world, for example he spoke to the Royal Statistical Society in London.

In 1896 Hollerith founded the Tabulating Machine Company to exploit his inventions. By this time he had added a mechanism to feed the cards automatically and other automatic sorting procedures which added sophistication to the original simple mechanical counting process. His system was used again for the US census of 1900, but by this time he was asking such a high price for the use of his technology that questions began to be asked about the wisdom of using the system. Because Hollerith had a virtual monopoly he had set the price well beyond what it would have cost to count the 1900 census data by hand.

The Census Bureau became a permanent institution by an Act of Congress in 1903 and it began to prepare for the 1910 census. The cost of using Hollerith's system in 1900 made them decide to develop their own system and, despite the short time and the difficulty of getting round Hollerith's patents, they were able to have more advanced machines ready in time for the 1910 census. There is a rather strange twist to this story for the engineer who was in charge of the development of the rival machines at the Census Bureau, James Powers, was strangely allowed to patent these more advanced machines in his own name.

Powers was now in a strong position and in 1911, after the census, he left the Census Bureau and formed the Powers Tabulating Machine Company which was now more than a match for Hollerith's Tabulating Machine Company. A merger with another company saw Hollerith's company become the Computer Tabulating Recording Company in 1911 but the new company largely was forced out of the market for counting machines.

Hollerith served as a consulting engineer with the Computer Tabulating Recording Company until he retired in 1921. The Computer Tabulating Recording Company had recovered its leading role by 1920, due not to Hollerith but to Thomas J Watson who joined the company in 1918. The company was renamed International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), in 1924.

Although Hollerith made a very significant contribution to the development of the modern electronic computer with his punched card technology not all his ideas were similar great successes. In the 1880s, at the same time as he was developing his first punched card system, he invented a new brake system for trains. However his electrically actuated brake system lost out to the Westinghouse steam-actuated brake.

Hollerith died of a heart attack in 1929, eight years after retiring.