A computer is a machine that can store and process information. Most computers rely on a binary system, which uses two variables, 0 and 1, to complete tasks such as storing data, calculating algorithms, and displaying information.
He would go on to create the computer programming language LISP (which is still used in AI), host computer chess games against human Russian opponents, and develop the first computer with “hand-eye” capability, all important building blocks for AI.
Dorothy Vaughan, American mathematician and computer programmer who made important contributions to the early years of the U.S. space program and who was the first African American manager at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, which later became part of NASA.
Software comprises the entire set of programs, procedures, and routines associated with the operation of a computer system. The term was coined to differentiate these instructions from hardware—i.e., the physical components of a computer system.
St. Carlo Acutis was an English-born Italian computer programmer who was beatified (the second of three stages in the process of canonization) by the Roman Catholic Church in 2020.
Alan Turing was a British mathematician and logician, a major contributor to mathematics, cryptanalysis, computer science, and artificial intelligence. He invented the universal Turing machine, an abstract computing machine that encapsulates the fundamental logical principles of the digital computer.
The first computer hackers were MIT students during the 1950s and ’60s. The word hack in this case was slang for a shortcut—something for which computer-science students at MIT were always searching. Computers were expensive to run, so a programming shortcut saved time and money.
Mark Zuckerberg (born May 14, 1984, White Plains, New York, U.S.) is an American computer programmer who was cofounder of the social networking site Facebook. Zuckerberg serves as CEO (2004– ) of both Facebook and its parent company Meta Platforms.
Grace Hopper, American mathematician and rear admiral in the U.S. Navy who was a pioneer in developing computer technology, helping to devise UNIVAC I, the first commercial electronic computer, and naval applications for COBOL. Learn more about Hopper’s life and career.
