"Who invented the computer"" is not a question with a simple answer. The real answer is that many inventors contributed to the history of computers and that a computer is a complex piece of machinery made up of many parts, each of which can be considered a separate invention. Lets start with some basic background information. Do you really know what a computer is? Probably not, a computer is a device that processes information with astonishing speed and accuracy. Computers are just like you and me; they remember images, specific information, as well as having the ability to process numbers, words, and sounds.

The ideas and inventions of many engineers, mathematicians, and scientists led to the development of the computer. The first freely programmable computer came along in 1936, from a construction engineer from Germany, Konrad Zuse. It was called the Z1 Computer. As if inventing the computer wasn't...