M Herman Hollerith

Herman Hollerith (1860–1929) was an innovative American engineer and inventor whose pioneering use of punched-card technology transformed data processing and record-keeping practices. Hollerith initially developed his tabulating machine to address the immense challenges faced by the U.S. Census Bureau. His invention dramatically accelerated census data processing for the 1890 census, reducing years of manual counting to mere months. Hollerith’s method involved encoding data onto punched cards, allowing mechanical devices to automatically tabulate information swiftly and accurately. The success of this approach led him to establish the Tabulating Machine Company, a predecessor to IBM. Hollerith’s punched-card system became an industry standard across governmental agencies, insurance companies, and businesses, revolutionizing information management well into the mid-20th century. His invention directly influenced early computing architectures, marking a fundamental leap in the evolution of automated data processing and shaping the trajectory toward contemporary computing and database systems.