Source : WordNet®

Herman Hollerith
     n : United States inventor who invented a system for recording
         alphanumeric information on punched cards (1860-1929)
         [syn: {Hollerith}]

Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

Herman Hollerith
     
         The promulgator of the {punched card}.  Hollerith was
        born on 1860-02-29 and died on 1929-11-17.  He graduated from
        Columbia University, NewYork, NY, USA.  He joined the US
        Census Bureau as a statistician where he used a punched card
        device to help analyse the 1880 US census data.  This punched
        card system stored data in 80 columns.  This "80-column"
        concept has carried forward in various forms into modern
        applications.
     
        In 1896, Hollerith founded the {Tabulating Machine Company} to
        exploit his invention and in 1924 his firm became part of
        {IBM}.  The Hollerith system was used for the 1911 UK census.
     
        A correspondant writes:
     
        Wasn't Hollerith's original machine first used for the 1990 US
        census?  And I think I am right in saying that the physical
        layout was a 20x12 grid of round holes.  The one I have seen
        (picture only, unfortunately, not the real thing) did not use
        'columns' as such but holes were grouped into
        irregularly-shaped fields, such that each hole had a
        more-or-less independent function.
     
        (2001-08-30)