Hollerith, Herman

American Mathematician and Inventor 1860–1929

The presidential race between Texas Governor George W. Bush and U.S. Vice-President Al Gore in November 2000 illustrated the importance of accurately counting every vote. The hand recounts also revealed how collecting and interpreting vast amounts of data by hand can pose many difficulties,

including, but not limited to, error and bias. Herman Hollerith's invention of a tabulating machine was the first attempt to solve these problems.

During the 1880 U.S. census, the logistical problems of gathering and tabulating great amounts of data quickly enough for the data to remain useful was first recognized. In fact, the data from the 1880 census took nearly seven years to tabulate, far too long for the results to accurately reflect statistics that were needed for determining seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The U.S. Census Bureau devised a competition in which a prize would be awarded for the best method of tabulating census data.

Herman Hollerith, a former statistician for the U.S. Census Bureau and professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, won the competition. His work had led him to an interest in the mechanical manipulation of data. It seemed to lend itself perfectly to being automated. He edged out two competitors who invented "chip" and "slip" systems with his "card" system. His tabulating machine was put to use in the very next census in 1890.

Hollerith's "integrating machine" punched holes into stiff paper cards similar to the ones he had seen conductors using on trains. By punching holes next to the appropriate descriptors on the card, such as "large nose" or "dark hair," the conductor could create a profile of each passenger. Hollerith designed his cards to be the same size as dollar bills so that storage cabinets for currency could also be used for the "Hollerith cards."

Hollerith's system was essentially a binary system. "Punched" and "not punched" corresponded to the 1s and 0s we are familiar with in the twenty-first century's digital data storage systems. The cards were run under a group of brushes that completed electrical circuits when a "punch" was encountered. A corresponding mechanical counter then advanced for each punch, and in this way counted the total.

The Hollerith tabulating device allowed the 1890 census to be completed in only six weeks and at a savings of $5 million, an almost unbelievable improvement. In addition, data could be sorted and organized based on selected characteristics with little additional effort. More data than ever before could be collected and analyzed.

Fueled by the success of his machine, Herman formed the Herman Hollerith Tabulating Machine Company in 1896. However, his machine was so expensive the Census Bureau developed their own system for the 1910 census. Competition forced Hollerith to merge with another company, and the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company was created in 1911. Thomas J. Watson later reorganized it into International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation. The success of Hollerith's machine was the basis of IBM's success and has led him to be remembered as a founder of information processing.

Bibliography

Maxfield, Clive "Max," and Alvin Brown. Bebop Bytes Back: An Unconventional Guide to Computers. Madison, AL: Doone Publications, 1998.

Parkinson, Claire L. Breakthroughs: A Chronology of Great Achievements in Science and Mathematics. Boston: G. K. Hall & Co., 1985.

Internet Resources

O'Connor, J. J., and E. F. Robertson. "Herman Hollerith." School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St. Andrews, Scotland. July 1999. <http://www-history.mcs.St-andrews.ac.uk/history/Mathematicians/Hollerith.html>.

Russo, Mark. "Herman Hollerith: The World's First Statistical Engineer." <http://www.History.rochester.edu/steam/hollerith/>.