The tabulating machine

Herman Hollerith, an American inventor, was born on the 29th February 1860. His most famous invention was the electromechanical tabulation of data:

At the urging of John Shaw Billings, Hollerith developed a mechanism using electrical connections to trigger a counter, recording information. A key idea was that data could be encoded by the locations of holes in a card. Hollerith determined that data punched in specified locations on a card, in the now-familiar rows and columns, could be counted or sorted mechanically. A description of this system, An Electric Tabulating System (1889), was submitted by Hollerith to Columbia University as his doctoral thesis, and is reprinted in Randell's book.

In the patent of his invention, we can read:

The herein-described method of compiling statistics, which consists in recording separate statistical items pertaining to the individual by holes or combinations of holes punched in sheets of electrically non-conducting material, and bearing a specific relation to each other and to a standard, and then counting or tallying such statistical items separately or in combination by means of mechanical counters operated by electro-magnets the circuits through which are controlled by the perforated sheets, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In 1896 Hollerith founded The Tabulating Machine Company, that in 1911, with four others company, became the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company, renamed International Business Machines (IBM) in 1924.