I have just finished my Key Events in Computer History assignment. In this project, we had to work with one other person to complete a page about someone in history. My partner was Jepicard, who I called “Picadilli” in all of my reflections. Everyone was assigned to report out on one major person in computer history. My partner and I decided to do Ken and Roberta Williams. They are two of the first people to create adventure games. Ken was the CEO of their company, Sierra Games. He believed that it didn’t matter how much money they made, but how much the people around him loved the games. It all started in 1980, when they released their first game “Mystery House.” The game consists of several different rooms in which you have to solve the mysteries. Roberta and Ken have received many awards and have released many games. In 1995, the two released one of their last games before their company shut down. They are very well know for the “King’s Quest” games. They were released after the company shut down. In 2006, Roberta wanted to write a book to publish. When it did not work out, she started to make a game. From there, she made only a few, such as “Odd Manor” in 2014. The two were a happily married couple and make a huge hit selling games.
I did not only learn about the Williams, but also about a few other people. These other people are Charles Babbage, Ada Lovelace, and George Stibitz.
Charles Babbage was a British mathematician who lived from 1791 to 1871. He began to study mathematics in 1810. He soon found out that navigators relied on mathematical tables that were error – prone. Babbage decided that he wanted to change that. He made a small calculator that could do mathematics equations for people. Charles Babbage designed the first automatic computing engines, but were never built. After he died, the first engine was designed. This was 153 years after they were designed.
Ada Lovelace was a mathematician who lived from 1815 to 1852. She wrote the instructions to the first computer program in the mid 1800s. Her contributions were not found until the 1950s, when she had already died. Ada married William King and had three kids with him. She is one of the most historical figures in computer history.
George Stibitz is known for being on of the first men to invent a digital computer. In 1940, George made the first electrical digital calculator. His work changed the way that phones and computers were made forever. George’s work started new branches of physics, chemistry, and other sciences. I f he did not create this, we would be set back many years in technology.
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