Editing Herman Hollerith

{{short description|American statistician and inventor}}
{{about||the American Episcopal bishop|Herman Hollerith IV}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Herman Hollerith
| image              = Hollerith.jpg
| caption            = Hollerith {{circa|1888}}
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1860|2|29|mf=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Buffalo, New York]], U.S.
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1929|11|17|1860|2|29|mf=y}}
| death_place        = [[Washington, D.C.]], U.S.
| occupation         = {{cslist|Statistician|inventor|businessman}}
| awards             = {{ubl|[[Elliott Cresson Medal]] (1890)|[[World's Columbian Exposition]], Bronze Medal (1892)|[[National Inventors Hall of Fame]] (1990)}}
| death_cause        = 
| resting_place      = [[Oak Hill Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)|Oak Hill Cemetery]]
| resting_place_coordinates = 
| known_for          = {{cslist | Electromechanical tabulation of [[punched card]] data| [[IBM]] |semi=true}}
| education          = {{ubl|[[City College of New York]]|[[Columbia University]] (MinEng, PhD)}}
| spouse             = Lucia Beverly (Talcott) Hollerith
| children           = 6
}}

'''Herman Hollerith''' (February 29, 1860 – November 17, 1929) was a German-American statistician, inventor, and businessman who developed an electromechanical [[tabulating machine]] for [[punched card]]s to assist in summarizing information and, later, in accounting. His invention of the punched card tabulating machine, patented in 1884, marks the beginning of the era of mechanized binary code and semiautomatic [[data processing]] systems, and his concept dominated that landscape for nearly a century.<ref name="Cruz" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Brooks |first1=Frederick P. |author-link=Fred Brooks |last2=Iverson |first2=Kenneth E. |author2-link=Kenneth E. Iverson |title=Automatic Data Processing |publisher=Wiley |year= 1963 |page = 94 "semiautomatic"}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Herman Hollerith |url=https://www.britannica.com/money |access-date=2024-06-25 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en |quote=American inventor}}</ref>

Hollerith founded a company that was amalgamated in 1911 with several other companies to form the [[Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company]]<!-- there was no consolidation, the 4 companies remained separate entities-->. In 1924, the company was renamed "International Business Machines" ([[IBM]]) and became one of the largest and most successful companies of the 20th century. Hollerith is regarded as one of the seminal figures in the development of data processing.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Campbell-Kelly |first1= Martin |author1-link=Martin Campbell-Kelly |last2=Aspray |first2=William |title=Computer: A History of the Information Machine |edition=2ND |publisher=Basic Books |year=2004 |page=16}}</ref>

==Biography==
Herman Hollerith was born in [[Buffalo, New York]], in 1860, where he also spent his early childhood.<ref name="Nix">{{cite web |date=April 18, 2012 |title=Herman Hollerith (1860–1929) |url=http://www.hnf.de/en/museum/galerie-der-pioniere/herman-hollerith-1860-1929.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161027032725/http://www.hnf.de/en/museum/galerie-der-pioniere/herman-hollerith-1860-1929.html |archive-date=October 27, 2016 |access-date=February 28, 2014 |website=hnf.de |publisher=[[Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum]] |location=AUPaderborn}}</ref> His parents were [[Germans|German]] immigrants; his father, Georg Hollerith, was a school teacher from [[Großfischlingen]], [[Rhineland-Palatinate]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=US Census Bureau |first=Census History Staff |title=Herman Hollerith - History - U.S. Census Bureau |url=https://www.census.gov/history/www/census_then_now/notable_alumni/herman_hollerith.html |access-date=2024-06-25 |website=www.census.gov |language=EN-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |title=Herman Hollerith |url=https://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entries/herman-hollerith/ |access-date=2024-06-25 |website=Immigrant Entrepreneurship |language=en-US}}</ref> He entered the [[City College of New York]] in 1875, graduated from the [[Columbia School of Mines]] with an [[Mining engineering|Engineer of Mines]] degree in 1879 at age 19, and, in 1890, earned a [[Doctor of Philosophy]] based on his development of the tabulating system.<ref name="Cruz">{{cite web | url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/hollerith.html | title=Herman Hollerith | last=Da Cruz | first=Frank | date=March 28, 2011 | website=columbia.edu | publisher=Columbia University | access-date=February 28, 2014}}</ref>{{sfn|Austrian|1982|p=56}} In 1882, Hollerith joined the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] where he taught mechanical engineering and conducted his first experiments with punched cards.<ref name=JJOC_EFR>{{cite web|title=Herman Hollerith|url=https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Hollerith/|work=The MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive|publisher=School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews, Scotland|access-date=August 12, 2024|author=O'Connor, J. J.|author2=Robertson, E. F.|author2-link=Edmund F. Robertson}}</ref> He eventually moved to Washington, D.C., living in [[Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)|Georgetown]] with a home on 29th Street and a business building at 31st Street and the [[Chesapeake and Ohio Canal]], where today there is a commemorative plaque installed by [[IBM]]. He died of a heart attack in Washington, D.C., at age 69.<ref name=JJOC_EFR/>

==Electromechanical tabulation of data==
{{Main|Unit record equipment}}
At the suggestion of [[John Shaw Billings]], Hollerith developed a mechanism using electrical connections to increment a counter, recording information.<ref>{{cite book | last = Lydenberg | first = Harry Miller | author-link = Harry M. Lydenberg | title = John Shaw Billings: Creator of the National Medical Library and its Catalogue, First Director of the New York Public Library | publisher = American Library Association | year = 1924 | pages = 32 }}</ref> A key idea was that a datum could be recorded by the presence or absence of a hole at a specific location on a card. For example, if a specific hole location indicates ''marital status'', then a hole there can indicate ''married'' while not having a hole indicates ''single''. Hollerith determined that data in specified locations on a card, arranged in rows and columns, could be counted or sorted electromechanically. A description of this system, ''An Electric Tabulating System (1889)'', was submitted by Hollerith to [[Columbia University]] as his doctoral thesis,<ref>{{cite web |title=An Electric Tabulating System |url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/hh/}}</ref> and is reprinted in [[Brian Randell]]'s 1982 ''The Origins of Digital Computers, Selected Papers''.<ref>{{cite book | editor-last = Randell | editor-first = Brian | title = The Origins of Digital Computers, Selected Papers |edition=3rd | publisher = Springer-Verlag | year = 1982 | isbn = 0-387-11319-3}}</ref> On January 8, 1889, Hollerith was issued U.S. Patent 395,782,<ref name=HPatent>{{Cite patent|country=US|number=395782|status=patent|title=Art of compiling statistics|inventor=Herman Hollerith|pridate=1884-09-23|gdate=1889-01-08}}</ref> claim 2 of which reads:

[[File:HollerithMachine.CHM.jpg|thumb|Replica of Hollerith tabulating machine with sorting box, circa 1890. The "sorting box" was an adjunct to, and controlled by, the tabulator. The "sorter", an independent machine, was a later development.{{sfn|Austrian|1982|pp=178–179}}]]
<blockquote>The herein-described method of compiling statistics, which consists in recording separate statistical items pertaining to the individual by holes or combinations of holes punched in sheets of electrically non-conducting material, and bearing a specific relation to each other and to a standard, and then counting or tallying such statistical items separately or in combination by means of mechanical counters operated by electro-magnets the circuits through which are controlled by the perforated sheets, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.</blockquote>

==Inventions and businesses==
[[Image:Hollerith Punched Card.jpg|thumb|Hollerith punched card]]
[[Image:Hollerith Herman grave.jpg|thumb|Hollerith's grave at [[Oak Hill Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)|Oak Hill Cemetery]] in [[Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)|Georgetown]] in Washington, D.C.<ref name= cemy_map>{{cite web|url=http://www.oakhillcemeterydc.org/map.html|title=Oak Hill Cemetery Map|website=oakhillcemeterydc.org|access-date=January 8, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151218085650/http://www.oakhillcemeterydc.org/map.html|archive-date=December 18, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>]]

Hollerith had left teaching and began working for the [[United States Census Bureau]] in the year he filed his first patent application. Titled "Art of Compiling Statistics", it was filed on September 23, 1884; U.S. Patent 395,782 was granted on January 8, 1889.<ref name=HPatent/>

Hollerith initially did business under his own name, as ''The Hollerith Electric Tabulating System'', specializing in [[Unit record equipment|punched card data processing equipment]].{{sfn|Austrian|1982|p=153}} He provided [[Tabulating machine|tabulators]] and other machines under contract for the Census Office, which used them for the [[1890 United States census|1890 census]]. The net effect of the many changes from the 1880 census: the larger population, the data items to be collected, the Census Bureau headcount, the scheduled publications, and the use of Hollerith's electromechanical tabulators, reduced the time required to process the census from eight years for the [[1880 United States census|1880 census]] to six years for the 1890 census.<ref>Report of the Commissioner of Labor in Charge of The Eleventh Census to the Secretary of the Interior for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1895, Washington, D.C., July 29, 1895, Page 9: "You may confidently look for the rapid reduction of the force of this office after the 1st of October, and the entire cessation of clerical work during the present calendar year. ... The condition of the work of the Census Division and the condition of the final reports show clearly that the work of the Eleventh Census will be completed at least two years earlier than was the work of the Tenth Census." Carroll D. Wright Commissioner of Labor in Charge.</ref>

In 1896, Hollerith founded the Tabulating Machine Company (in 1905 renamed The Tabulating Machine Company).{{sfn|Engelbourg|1954|p=52}} Many major census bureaus around the world leased his equipment and purchased his cards, as did major insurance companies. Hollerith's machines were used for censuses in [[England and Wales|England & Wales]], [[Italy]], [[Germany]], [[Russia]], [[Austria]], [[Canada]], [[France]], [[Norway]], [[Puerto Rico]], [[Cuba]], and the [[Philippines]], and again in the [[1900 United States census|1900 U.S. census]].<ref name="Cruz"/>

He invented the first automatic card-feed mechanism and the first [[keypunch]]. The 1890 Tabulator was [[Electrical wiring|hardwired]] to operate on 1890 Census cards. A [[plugboard|control panel]] in his 1906 Type I Tabulator simplified rewiring for different jobs. The 1920s [[Plugboard|removable control panel]] supported prewiring and near instant job changing. These inventions were among the foundations of the data processing industry, and Hollerith's punched cards (later used for [[Punched card input/output|computer input/output]]) continued in use for almost a century.<ref name="Mackenzie_1980">{{cite book |url=https://textfiles.meulie.net/bitsaved/Books/Mackenzie_CodedCharSets.pdf |title=Coded Character Sets, History and Development |series=The Systems Programming Series |author-last=Mackenzie |author-first=Charles E. |date=1980 |edition=1 |publisher=[[Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc.]] |isbn=978-0-201-14460-4 |lccn=77-90165 |page=7 |access-date=2019-08-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160526172151/https://textfiles.meulie.net/bitsaved/Books/Mackenzie_CodedCharSets.pdf |archive-date=May 26, 2016 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

In 1911, four corporations, including Hollerith's firm, were amalgamated to form a fifth company, the [[Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company]] (CTR).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/documents/pdf/faq.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050514230534/http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/documents/pdf/faq.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 14, 2005| title=IBM Archives: Frequently Asked Questions}} Some accounts of the forming CTR state that only three corporations were included. This reference notes that only three of the four corporations are represented in the CTR name. That may be the reason for the differing accounts.</ref> Under the presidency of [[Thomas J. Watson]], CTR was renamed [[IBM|International Business Machines Corporation]] (IBM) in 1924. By 1933 The Tabulating Machine Company name had disappeared as subsidiary companies were subsumed by IBM.<ref>{{cite book | author = William Rodgers | year = 1969 | title = THINK: A Biography of the Watsons and IBM | url = https://archive.org/details/thinkbiographyof00rodg | url-access = registration | page=[https://archive.org/details/thinkbiographyof00rodg/page/83 83]| isbn = 9780297000235 }}</ref>

==Death and legacy==
Herman Hollerith died November 17, 1929. Hollerith is buried at [[Oak Hill Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)|Oak Hill Cemetery]] in the [[Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)|Georgetown neighborhood]] of Washington, D.C.<ref name= cemy_map/><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.oakhillcemeterydc.org/app/themes/oakhill/assets/records/654e.pdf |title=Oak Hill Cemetery, Georgetown, D.C. (Amphitheater) – Lot 654 East |website=[[Oak Hill Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)|Oak Hill Cemetery]] |access-date=August 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220302174044/https://www.oakhillcemeterydc.org/app/themes/oakhill/assets/records/654e.pdf |archive-date=March 2, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Hollerith card]]s were named after Herman Hollerith,
<!--Following text is wrong: the 128 is in reference to characters, not columns....(they eventually reached 128 columns width),<ref name="Mackenzie_1980"/>. -->
as were [[Hollerith constant|Hollerith strings and Hollerith constants]].
<!-- (a string constant declaration in some computer programming languages, sometimes called a ''Hollerith string'').  No, Hollerith constants and Hollerith strings are different. The interested reader will find details at the linked page.-->
<ref>{{cite book |title=American Standard FORTRAN |publisher=[[American National Standards Institute| American Standards Association]], X3.9-1966 |pages= 9, 10}} "4.2.6 ''Hollerith Type''. A Hollerith datum is a string of characters.  This string may consist of any characters capable of representation in the processor.  The blank character is a valid and significant character in a Hollerith datum."</ref>

His great-grandson, the Rt. Rev. [[Herman Hollerith IV]], was the [[Episcopal Church (USA)|Episcopal]] bishop of the [[Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia|Diocese of Southern Virginia]], and another great-grandson, [[Randolph Marshall Hollerith]], is an Episcopal priest and the dean of [[Washington National Cathedral]] in Washington, D.C.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hamptonroads.com/2009/02/new-epsicopal-bishop-face-tough-challenges|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516052109/http://hamptonroads.com/2009/02/new-epsicopal-bishop-face-tough-challenges|url-status=dead|archive-date=2011-05-16|title=New Epsicopal bishop to face tough challenges|author=Steven G. Vegh|date=February 13, 2009|work=[[The Virginian-Pilot]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.timesdispatch.com/entertainment-life/virginia-diocese-to-install-bishop/article_58501855-217e-5dc3-b70d-6010723507cd.html|title=Virginia diocese to install bishop|work=Richmond Times-Dispatch|date=February 9, 2009 }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Unit record equipment]]
* [[History of IBM]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book |last= Austrian |first=Geoffrey D.
|title= Herman Hollerith: The Forgotten Giant of Information Processing |publisher= Columbia University Press |year= 1982 |pages= 418 |isbn= 0-231-05146-8}}
*{{cite book |last= Truesdell |first= Leon E.|author1-link=Leon E. Truesdell
|title= The Development of Punch Card Tabulation in the Bureau of the Census 1890-1940 |year= 1965 |publisher= US GPO}} Includes extensive, detailed, description of Hollerith's first machines and their use for the 1890 census.
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last=Ashurst, Gareth |title=Pioneers of Computing |publisher=Frederick Muller |year=1983 |pages=77–90}}
* [[James R. Beniger|Beniger, James R.]] (1986/2009) ''[[The Control Revolution |The Control Revolution: Technological and Economic Origins of the Information Society]],'' Harvard University Press, 1986 pp.&nbsp;390–425
*{{cite book |last=Cortada |first=James W. |title=Before the Computer: IBM, NCR, Burroughs, & Remington Rand & the Industry they created, 1865 – 1956 |url=https://archive.org/details/beforecomputer00cort_913 |url-access=limited |publisher=Princeton |year=1993 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/beforecomputer00cort_913/page/n398 344] |isbn=0-691-04807-X}}
*{{cite book |author=Essinger, James |title=Jacquard's Web: How a Hand-Loom Led to the Birth of the Information Age |url=https://archive.org/details/jacquardswebhowh0000essi |url-access=registration |year=2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-280577-5 }}
*{{cite thesis |type=PhD dissertation |last=Engelbourg |first=Saul |title=International Business Machines: A Business History |publisher=Columbia University |year=1954 |pages=385}} Reprinted by Arno Press, 1976, ''from the best available copy''. Some text is illegible.
* Heide, Lars. "[http://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entry.php?rec=286 Herman Hollerith]". In Jeffrey Fear (ed.). ''Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present''. German Historical Institute, 2017.
*{{cite book |last=Heide |first=Lars |title=Punched-Card Systems and the Early Information Explosion, 1880–1945 |publisher=Johns Hopkins |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8018-9143-4 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/punchedcardsyste0000heid }}
*{{cite journal |last=Hollerith |first=Herman |title=An Electric Tabulating System |journal=The Quarterly, Columbia University School of Mines |volume=X |issue=16 |date=April 1889 |pages=238–255 |url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/hh/index.html |author-link=Herman Hollerith}} From the Columbia Univ. History site: This article is the basis for his 1890 Columbia ''Ph.D.'' Extracts reprinted in (Randell, 1982).
*{{cite thesis |last=Hollerith |first=Herman |title=In connection with the electric tabulation system which has been adopted by U.S. government for the work of the census bureau |type=PhD dissertation |publisher=[[Columbia University]] School of Mines |year=1890 }}
*{{cite journal |last=Hollerith |first=Herman |title=The Electrical Tabulating Machine |journal=Journal of the Royal Statistical Society |volume=57 |issue=4 |date=December 1894 |pages=678–682 |doi=10.2307/2979610 |jstor=2979610 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1449699}} From Randell (1982),"... brief... fascinating article... describes the way in which tabulators and sorters were used on ... 100 million cards ... 1890 census.''"''

==External links==
{{Commons}}
* [http://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/entry.php?rec=286 Herman Hollerith (2017) In Immigrant Entrepreneurship] Heide, Lars. German-American Business Biographies, 1720 to the Present, vol. 4, edited by Jeffrey Fear. German Historical Institute. Last modified April 5, 2017. Recommended!!
* Hollerith's patents from 1889: {{US patent|src=uspto|395781}} {{US patent|src=uspto|395782}} {{US patent|src=uspto|395783}}
* [http://www.columbia.edu/acis/history/hollerith.html Columbia University Computing History: Herman Hollerith] [http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/census-tabulator.html Hollerith's 1890 Census Tabulator]
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060904125708/http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/builders/builders_hollerith.html |title=IBM Archives: Herman Hollerith |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060904125708/http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/builders/builders_hollerith.html |archive-date=2006-09-04 |url-status=dead}}
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050121185758/http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/vintage/vintage_4506VV2027.html |title=The Tabulating Machine Co. plant |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050121185758/http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/vintage/vintage_4506VV2027.html |archive-date=2005-01-21 |url-status=dead}}
* [http://www.officemuseum.com/data_processing_machines.htm Early Office Museum: Punched Card Tabulating Machines]
* {{MacTutor Biography|id=Hollerith|mode=cs1}}
* {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130806043348/http://www.rhd.uit.no/census/ft1900e.html |date=August 6, 2013 |title=The Norwegian Historical Data Center: Census 1900}} Includes a description of the use of Hollerith machines ("complicated, American enumeration machines"), together with illustrations.
* The [https://findingaids.hagley.org/repositories/3/resources/1024 Research notes on Herman Hollerith] collection at [[Hagley Museum and Library]] includes the research materials Geoffrey Austrian used to write ''Herman Hollerith: Forgotten Giant of Information Processing''.
* [https://lccn.loc.gov/mm73049510 Herman Hollerith papers] at the [[Library of Congress]].
* [https://findingaids.hagley.org/repositories/3/resources/952 Richard Hollerith Papers] at [[Hagley Museum and Library]]. Richard Hollerith was the grandson of Herman Hollerith and part of this collection documents the sale and settlement of the Herman Hollerith estate following the death of his last remaining child, Virginia.
* {{cite news |first= Sandra|last= Fleishman|title=$8.5 Million And Counting |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7878-2005Mar4.html |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=March 5, 2005 | access-date=May 4, 2010}} – Hollerith's house
<!-------- These short "articles" have more errors than facts, should not be used/referenced.
http://museum.nist.gov/panels/conveyor/hollerithbio.htm Hollerith page at the National Hall of Fame
http://www.britannica.com/biography/Herman-Hollerith
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mcc:@field%28DOCID+@lit%28mcc/023%29%29
---------->

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[[Category:1860 births]]
[[Category:1929 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century American businesspeople]]
[[Category:19th-century American inventors]]
[[Category:20th-century American businesspeople]]
[[Category:20th-century American inventors]]
[[Category:American people of German descent]]
[[Category:American statisticians]]
[[Category:Burials at Oak Hill Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Buffalo, New York]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:City College of New York alumni]]
[[Category:Columbia School of Mines alumni]]
[[Category:IBM]]
[[Category:People from Georgetown (Washington, D.C.)]]
[[Category:Punched card]]