Datahüst Remembers: Herman Hollerith

A lot of data scientists complain about the amount of work it takes to prepare data before it can be analyzed, and rightfully so. But what if you had to invent your own computer too? That is exactly what Herman Hollerith did in preparation of the 1890 census. It took eight years to tabulate the results of the 1880 census. With the U.S. population exploding due to immigration, something had to change.

Hollerith borrowed the idea of the punch card from the Jacquard Loom and combined it with an electro-mechanical tabulating machine. Census information was punched on pre-printed cards with spaces for age, sex and location, etc.

This made getting totals much easier. However, it also allowed a great leap in analysis. Want to know how many married men, thirty-five years of age live in Maine? No problem, run the cards through a sorter and get the answer.

Hollerith founded a company that later, when combined with several other companies became IBM.

Here is a link to learn more about Herman Hollerith: https://en.wikipedia.org/wii/Herman_Hollerith