Computing · 1642
Pascaline
A teenager's geared adding machine built to spare his tax-collector father.
Blaise Pascal built about 50 prototypes and some 20 finished machines that added and subtracted with an automatic carry mechanism. It proved that arithmetic could be done reliably by gears alone.
What it built on 1
What it led to 1
Watch
Related measurements
The dashed line marks when it first worked.
Computation per constant dollar, 1850-2006 Latest: 7.3B million units of computer power per 2006 $ (2003) Source: Nordhaus 2007, Two Centuries of Productivity Growth in Computing, J. Econ. Hist. 67(1), Table 6