The original meaning of computer is "calculator", that is to say, human beings will invent computers with the original purpose of helping to deal with complex digital operations. The concept of manual calculator can be traced back to Pascal, a great French thinker in the 7th century. Pascal's father is the tax director. At that time, the monetary system was not decimal, so it was very troublesome to calculate. Pascal used the gear principle to assist his father and invented the first calculator that can add and subtract. Later, the German mathematician Leibniz improved it and invented a calculator that can do multiplication and division. After that, although the function of the calculator was improved and refined, the real electric calculator could not be manufactured until AD 1944.
The first machine that can really be called a computer was born in the United States in 1946. It was invented by Mao Qili and eckert, and its name is ENIAC. This computer uses vacuum tubes to process signals, so it is huge (occupying one room) and consumes high power (everyone in the town knows when to use it, because the lights in every household are dimmed! ), and the memory capacity is very low (only 100 words), but it is already a great progress in human science and technology. And we usually call this kind of computer using vacuum tube the first generation computer.
The first generation computers were as big as two classrooms and much smaller than the personal computers we usually use now. At that time, the computer part was a vacuum tube (now I can't find it), and what was archived was punch cards. Without the design concept of predecessors and the invention of computers, it is still difficult to define who invented computers.
China Ming Dynasty people: 10,000 households.
The invention of the rocket first appeared in China. In China's ancient records, the meaning of rocket is relatively broad.
After the establishment of the Southern Song regime in A.D. 1 128, the Southern Song, Jin and Mongolia fought frequently, and all sides used firearms. 1 16 1 year 1 1 month, when the state of Jin invaded the Central Plains, the army of the Southern Song Dynasty used a rocket weapon-"thunderbolt gun" to defeat the Jin army for the first time, which was the first time in human history to use a rocket weapon on the battlefield.
In the Ming Dynasty, the development of rockets in China entered a relatively important period, and many kinds of rockets appeared. In addition to single-stage rockets, various cluster rockets, rockets and original multi-stage rockets have been developed, and the manufacture, application, equipment, propellant raw material ratio and processing and manufacturing of various rockets have been described in detail. At that time, rocket weapons were necessary weapons in the water, including infantry and cavalry, and even special rocket troops. There are also regulations on the use, deployment, combat technology and management of rocket weapons. These rockets are recorded in Wu Bei Zhi of Ming Dynasty.
Gunpowder rocket: Its working principle is the same as that of solid fuel rocket, and it generates thrust by gunpowder combustion. Gunpowder appeared as early as the early years of the Tang Dynasty (about the 7th century) and was used to make fireworks in the Southern Song Dynasty. In about13rd century, it was made into a rocket. Rockets and fireworks made in ancient China all used black powder.
Congreve, British, 1793 graduated from Cambridge University, majoring in liberal arts. Influenced by his father's management of the Royal British Arsenal, he was deeply interested in ordnance machinery, so he later abandoned his weapons and entered the Arsenal. Based on the rocket data brought back by British soldiers from India, he began to study how to improve the speed and range of rockets. After several years' exploration, 1805, congreve made a practical rocket with a new type of gunpowder, weighing 14.5kg, with an arrow length of 1.06m and a diameter of 0. 1m, and installed a 4.6m long balance bar with a range of1800. This kind of rocket made great achievements in the war in which Britain defeated Napoleon's army. Congreve was knighted by the British government in 18 14 and was elected as a member of parliament in 18 17. However, Congreve rockets did not solve the guidance and control problems, and its accuracy was poor. 1844, William Hall of England invented a spin stabilizer and used it to improve Congreve rockets. Although compared with modern rockets, all these rockets are very simple and not widely used, their appearance has already played the prelude to the birth of modern rockets.
The rocket developed by congreve has been improved in range, accuracy and stability, and its performance has almost reached the limit of gunpowder rocket. Because of its great lethality, all countries begin to attach importance to the research and use of rockets. Since then, another major progress of war rockets has been the improvement of stability. /kloc-in the middle of the 9th century, the British inventor William Hale installed three spiral plates with stable inclination at the tail of the rocket. When the rocket is launched, the rocket itself rotates due to aerodynamic force to achieve stability. By the time of World War II, the development of gunpowder rockets had reached the point of perfection. Its basic structure is composed of rocket launcher and powder, propellant in the middle, high-explosive bomb and fuse in the head, nozzle in the tail, tail stabilizer for stabilizing, launcher or launcher on the launcher. The more famous is the Soviet rocket launcher Katyusha.
Powder rocket is the first practical reaction propulsion device. Although there are many limitations to prove that it is not an ideal spacecraft, its basic principle is completely suitable for the needs of spacecraft, so the idea of using rockets as basic spacecraft is gradually brewing in the minds of pioneers. Later, the appearance of liquid fuel rockets further provided reliable technical support for space propulsion, and also let space pioneers see the dawn of using rockets to complete space transportation. After continuous research and early experiments, the rocket has been gradually recognized as a propulsion device for space flight, and finally built a bridge to space for mankind.