Herman Hollerith papers, 1850-1982

Biographical Note

1860, Feb. 29	Born, Buffalo, N.Y.
1879	Graduated, Columbia University School of Mines, New York, N.Y.
1880	Assistant to former teacher William Petit Trowbridge, Columbia University, New York, N.Y. Worked on 1880 United States census
1882	Instructor, mechanical engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
1883-1884	Assistant examiner, United States Patent Office, Washington, D.C.
1884-1890	Worked on perfecting mechanical aid in compiling statistical information for the United States census Invented tabulating machine which recorded statistical information through a system of punched holes in nonconducting material
1885-1886	Experimented on electromagnetically operated air brakes and other braking systems for railroads, St. Louis, Mo.
1889, Jan. 8	First patent granted on statistical compilation machines
1890	Awarded Elliot Cresson Medal, Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Pa., for outstanding invention of the year Ph.D., Columbia University, New York, N.Y. Married Lucia Beverly Talcott Tabulating machine used in United States census
1891	Hollerith machines used in recording census returns in Austria, Canada, and Norway
1895	Attended International Statistics Institute, Berne, Switzerland
1896	Founded Tabulating Machine Co.
1911	Tabulating Machine Co. merged with Computing Scale Co. of America and International Time Recording Co. of New York to form Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. (later International Business Machines Corporation)
1929, Nov. 1	Died, Washington, D.C.