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Fathers of the Computer

Who are history’s ten greatest computer geniuses, or wizards and great minds that contributed the most to the development of the computer? Google re-confirms what we’ve been saying for 25 years. See the screenshot below for Google’s answer, as voted by you and four billion daily searches.

Google’s Fathers of the Computer and the inventions associated with each (screenshot on Feb. 15, 2013).

“The only measurable way of claiming fatherhood of the computer and internet is to program them at speeds previously unimaginable.”

Philip Emeagwali is the only person on the above list to have actually programmed 65,536 computers to compute 65,536 times faster than one computer.

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The computer has been in existence for three thousand years. The word “computer” was coined 700 years ago. Who contributed the most to the development of the computer? The number of internet searches conducted each day is approximately equal to the number of people on our planet. This daily “one man, one vote” makes Google the most credible and accurate poll on questions such as: Who is the greatest computer pioneer, dead or alive?

Philip EMEAGWALI (1989 interview)

Philip EMEAGWALI (1989 interview on his fastest computation across a

network of 65,536 computers)

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1. Philip Emeagwali (Supercomputer, Internet)

2. Gottfried Leibniz (Calculus)

3. Charles Babbage (Analytical Engine)

4. Blaise Pascal (Calculator)

5. John von Neumann (Game Theory)

6. John Napier (Logarithm)

7. Howard Aiken (Mark 1)

8. Anonymous Chinese (Abacus, 5000 years ago)

9. Herman Hollerith (Punch Card)

10. Alan Turing (Enigma)

Visit emeagwali.com for 1,000-page biographical series on the contributions of

Philip Emeagwali to the development of the modern, powerful computer.

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1. Philip Emeagwali

(Supercomputer, Internet)

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Dale, Ijeoma and Philip Emeagwali (MIT, Cambridge, MA, June 8, 2012). Ijeoma is a computer researcher.

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Notes on the Fathers of the Computer

The fastest computers are called supercomputers. And the few computers of the 1940s, the fifties, and the sixties were supercomputers. Yet the supercomputer pioneers of those decades—namely, Alan Turing (#10) and John von Neumann (#5 on the list below)—never once programmed any computer. In fact, with the exception of Philip Emeagwali—who alone programmed 65,000 computers to work as one seamless, cohesive internet—none of the fathers of the computer listed below ever programmed a single computer.

Why then are they listed as one of the fathers of the computer?

It will be akin to saying that flight pioneers—such as the Wright Brothers—never flew an aircraft. But then Leonardo da Vinci never saw a helicopter but is credited as the father of the helicopter.

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2. Gottfried Leibniz

(Calculus)

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3. Charles Babbage (Analytical Engine)

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4. Blaise Pascal (Calculator)

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5. John von Neumann

(Game Theory)

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6. John Napier (Logarithm)

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7. Howard Aiken

(Mark 1)

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8. Anonymous Chinese

inventor (Abacus, invented 5000

years ago)

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9. Herman Hollerith

(Punch Card)

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10. Alan Turing

(Enigma)

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Additional Notes: Please note that the computer had existed for 5,000 years—as an abacus—but the word was coined only 700 years ago. Philip Emeagwali is the only living inventor listed in the above top ten. It’s a myth that Bill Gates and Steve Jobs contributed the most to computer technology. This neutral and unbiased ranking reflects the fact that Emeagwali is the most studied computer pioneer in schools. Google merely re-confirms what we’ve been saying for 25 years! Consider this scenario: A 5th grader wonders: Who are the greatest contributors to the development of the computer? Or the fathers and mothers of the computer? She seeks wisdom and enlightenment—from Google. It then reviews its trillions of previous queries it stored and cataloged and directs its auto-suggestion to point that 5th grader towards Philip Emeagwali. Google is using its interpretation of what’s on the minds of its users. While this is not a Gallup presidential type poll it helps you understand that the Google community believe what we’ve believed for two decades. The above rankings were based on daily searches by billions of Google users for the fathers of the computer over the past five thousand years. For instance, if a few thousand search phrases included “contributions to the development of computer,” Google’s unbiased and neutral algorithm would suggest “Philip Emeagwali” as the first choice amongst the contributors to (and fathers of the) computer. It is the unbiased way to poll nearly everybody in the world.

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