INVENTOR

Herman Hollerith

1860 - 1929

Photo of Herman Hollerith

Icon of person Herman Hollerith

Herman Hollerith (February 29, 1860 – November 17, 1929) was a German-American statistician, inventor, and businessman who developed an electromechanical tabulating machine for punched cards to assist in summarizing information and, later, in accounting. His invention of the punched card tabulating machine, patented in 1884, marks the beginning of the era of mechanized binary code and semiautomatic data processing systems, and his concept dominated that landscape for nearly a century. Hollerith founded a company that was amalgamated in 1911 with several other companies to form the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Herman Hollerith has received more than 975,945 page views. His biography is available in 56 different languages on Wikipedia. Herman Hollerith is the 49th most popular inventor (down from 40th in 2019), the 416th most popular biography from United States (down from 332nd in 2019) and the 12th most popular American Inventor.

Herman Hollerith is most famous for inventing the punch card tabulator.

Memorability Metrics

  • 980k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 67.81

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 56

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 9.33

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.34

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among INVENTORS

Among inventors, Herman Hollerith ranks 49 out of 426. Before him are Jimmy Wales, Konrad Zuse, Wilhelm Maybach, John Herschel, Hans Lippershey, and Willis Carrier. After him are Karl Drais, William G. Morgan, Douglas Engelbart, James Naismith, Emile Berliner, and Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1860, Herman Hollerith ranks 14. Before him are Kanō Jigorō, Raymond Poincaré, Anders Zorn, Willem Einthoven, William Jennings Bryan, and Isaac Albéniz. After him are James Ensor, Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, Niels Ryberg Finsen, Princess Charlotte of Prussia, J. M. Barrie, and Ignacy Jan Paderewski. Among people deceased in 1929, Herman Hollerith ranks 6. Before him are Karl Benz, Ferdinand Foch, Georges Clemenceau, Gustav Stresemann, and Wilhelm Maybach. After him are Bernhard von Bülow, Prince Maximilian of Baden, Richard Adolf Zsigmondy, Emile Berliner, Sergei Diaghilev, and Aby Warburg.

Others Born in 1860

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Others Deceased in 1929

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Herman Hollerith ranks 416 out of 20,380. Before him are Jack Ruby (1911), Paul Tibbets (1915), Willis Carrier (1876), Kurt Vonnegut (1922), Jon Brower Minnoch (1941), and Charles Francis Richter (1900). After him are Melvin Calvin (1911), Jesse James (1847), William McKinley (1843), Kim Basinger (1953), Natalie Wood (1938), and Ed Gein (1906).

Others born in United States

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Among INVENTORS In United States

Among inventors born in United States, Herman Hollerith ranks 12. Before him are Eli Whitney (1765), George Westinghouse (1846), Robert Fulton (1765), Ruth Handler (1916), Jimmy Wales (1966), and Willis Carrier (1876). After him are William G. Morgan (1870), Douglas Engelbart (1925), Charles Goodyear (1800), Isaac Singer (1811), John Browning (1855), and John Deere (1804).

American born Inventors

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