[1] : WordNet (r) 2.0

herman hollerith
     n : united states inventor who invented a system for recording
         alphanumeric information on punched cards 1860-1929
         syn: hollerith
see also:
hollerith 

[2] : The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)

herman hollerith
     
         the promulgator of the punched card.  hollerith was
        born on 1860-02-29 and died on 1929-11-17.  he graduated from
        columbia university, newyork, ny, usa.  he joined the us
        census bureau as a statistician where he used a punched card
        device to help analyse the 1880 us census data.  this punched
        card system stored data in 80 columns.  this "80-column"
        concept has carried forward in various forms into modern
        applications.
     
        in 1896, hollerith founded the tabulating machine company to
        exploit his invention and in 1924 his firm became part of
        ibm.  the hollerith system was used for the 1911 uk census.
     
        a correspondant writes:
     
        wasn't hollerith's original machine first used for the 1990 us
        census?  and i think i am right in saying that the physical
        layout was a 20x12 grid of round holes.  the one i have seen
        picture only, unfortunately, not the real thing did not use
        'columns' as such but holes were grouped into
        irregularly-shaped fields, such that each hole had a
        more-or-less independent function.
     
        2001-08-30
     
     
see also:
punched card tabulating machine company ibm 

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