Herman Hollerith
Invented the tabulating machine, which was crucial for processing the 1890 US Census.
Most quoted
"I came to the conclusion that if I could devise a mechanism whereby the items of information could be recorded by means of holes in cards, and then combined and counted by electrical means, the whole census problem could be solved."
— from Interview/Recollection, 1889
"My invention comprises a traveling carrier for the card, a series of electrically-controlled counters, and means for bringing the card and the counters into cooperative relation."
— from Patent Application, 1889
"The problem of handling statistics by mechanical means is one of the most interesting and important problems that has ever been presented to the inventor."
— from An Electric Tabulating System, 1889
All quotes by Herman Hollerith (430)
I watched a train conductor punch tickets and thought, 'That could be the basis for a counting system.'
The government's need for speed and accuracy was the mother of this invention.
We are on the threshold of a new era in statistical science.
The tabulator is to statistics what the telescope is to astronomy.
My business is built on a hole the size of a pencil lead.
The real invention was not the punch or the counter, but the idea of using electricity to sense the holes.
Let the machine do the repetitive work, so the mind can do the creative work.
In machinery, the best design is the one with the fewest parts.
The census of 1890 will be remembered not for its count, but for how it was counted.
Data, in itself, is silent. It is our machinery that gives it a voice.
Contemporaries of Herman Hollerith
Other Engineerings born within 50 years of Herman Hollerith (1860–1929).