Question
When Was the First Computer Invented?
The first computer was designed in the 1830s, and the first working electronic computers were built in the 1940s. The exact date depends on what you count as a computer, because the machine arrived in stages rather than all at once.
The first design came from Charles Babbage, whose Analytical Engine of the 1830s was a plan for a general-purpose mechanical computer. It was never finished, so no working computer existed for another hundred years. The theory caught up in 1936, when Alan Turing defined what computing means in mathematical terms.
Working machines arrived during and after the Second World War. Colossus, built at Bletchley Park in 1943, was the first programmable electronic digital computer, though it was designed for breaking codes. ENIAC, completed in the United States in 1945, was the first general-purpose electronic computer. The stored-program design that modern computers use was first run on the Manchester Baby in 1948. The first personal computers, small enough for one person to own, did not appear until the mid-1970s.
So there is no single date. The first computer was invented over more than a century, from Babbage’s designs in the 1830s to the electronic machines of the 1940s.
Frequently asked
What year was the first computer made?
It depends on the type. The first design for a general-purpose computer dates from the 1830s. The first programmable electronic computer, Colossus, ran in 1943, and the first general-purpose electronic computer, ENIAC, was completed in 1945.
What was the first electronic computer?
Colossus, built at Bletchley Park in 1943, was the first programmable electronic digital computer, though it was built for codebreaking. ENIAC, completed in 1945, was the first general-purpose electronic computer.
When was the first personal computer made?
The first personal computers appeared in the mid-1970s. The Altair 8800 of 1975 is often cited as the machine that started the personal computer era, followed by the Apple II and others.