By the end of the twentieth century, computers could be found in devices from wristwatches to automobiles, from medical equipment to children's toys. But while scientists and philosophers had dreamed of the possibility of automating calculation...

The earliest human spaceflights were guided by navigational computers on the ground; there was no onboard computation. But starting with project Gemini, computers have been an essential part of every space mission. When the first piloted Gemini flew in...

There are two basic data transfer and communication systems in computing technology—digital and analog. Analog systems have continuous input and output of data, while digital systems manipulate information in discrete chunks. Although digital...

Digital computers calculate by manipulating binary digits (bits; ones and zeroes). Because bits are so simple to handle they can be made easily to stand for almost anything; hence the general usefulness of digital computers. Bits can symbolize words,...

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The digital computer is a programmable electronic device that processes numbers and words accurately and at enormous speed. It comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, ranging from the familiar desktop microcomputer to the minicomputer, mainframe, and...

What makes computers so powerful is that they can process very quickly. This computing power is very useful in physics and science. Traditionally there are theoretical physicists and experimental physicists. Theorists do paper and pencil calculations...

<imagemap> Image:Padlock-silver-medium.svg The NASA Columbia Supercomputer. A computer in a wristwatch. A computer is a machine which manipulates data according to a list of instructions. Computers take numerous physical forms. The first devices...