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  1. Computer | Definition, History, Operating Systems, & Facts

    Dec 22, 2025 · A computer is a programmable device for processing, storing, and displaying information. Learn more in this article about modern digital electronic computers and their …

  2. What is a computer? | Britannica

    Dec 22, 2025 · A computer is a machine that can store and process information. Most computers rely on a binary system, which uses two variables, 0 and 1, to complete tasks such as storing …

  3. Computer - Technology, Invention, History | Britannica

    Dec 22, 2025 · Computer - Technology, Invention, History: By the second decade of the 19th century, a number of ideas necessary for the invention of the computer were in the air.

  4. Computer - History, Technology, Innovation | Britannica

    Dec 22, 2025 · It is not too great a stretch to say that, in the Jacquard loom, programming was invented before the computer. The close relationship between the device and the program …

  5. John Mauchly | Biography, Computer, & Facts | Britannica

    Jan 4, 2026 · John Mauchly (born August 30, 1907, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.—died January 8, 1980, Ambler, Pennsylvania) was an American physicist and engineer, co-inventor in 1946, with …

  6. Charles Babbage | Biography, Computers, Inventions, & Facts

    Dec 22, 2025 · Charles Babbage, English mathematician and inventor who is credited with having conceived the first automatic digital computer. He designed two calculating devices, the …

  7. Computer - Miniaturization, Transistors, Chips | Britannica

    Dec 22, 2025 · Computer chips themselves are designed with CAD programs that let an engineer write a specification for part of a chip, simulate its behavior in detail, test it thoroughly, and …

  8. How Do Quantum Computers Work? - Encyclopedia Britannica

    6 days ago · When a practical quantum computer is built, it will break current encryption schemes based on multiplying two large primes; in compensation, quantum mechanical effects offer a …

  9. How Does a Quantum Computer Work? | Britannica

    Using Max Planck's quantum theory, Professor Wrachtrup is building a computer that manipulates light. Equations like these are child's play for quantum physicists.

  10. History, Computer, Stands For, Machine, & Facts - Britannica

    Dec 26, 2025 · ENIAC, the first programmable general-purpose electronic digital computer, built during World War II by the United States and completed in 1946. The project was led by John …