Herman hollerith: data processing pioneer

A chronological sketch of Herman Hollerith's (1860–1929) personal life, inventions and business activities has been abstracted from a Drexel Institute Master's thesis which covers these subjects comprehensively. Two of the more important contentions supported by the thesis and mentioned here are that Dr. John Shaw Billings had little to do with the invention of the Hollerith system, and that, contrary to rumor, Hollerith was a successful business man who pioneered in the marketing of punched card systems in the United States and abroad before he sold his business to Computer‐Tabulating‐Recording Company, which later became International Business Machines Company (IBM). Hollerith is a pioneer in information science because he invented the first machine for automated selective sorting; he developed a means of translating English words and census‐takers' checkmarks into machine‐readable language; he used the two now‐classic means of organizing machine‐readable files, for random (direct) access and serial access; and he developed some still‐used methods for checking errors within card decks. His machine techniques were easily understood, highly effective, efficient, and enduring.