George Stibitz

George Stibitz

George Stibitz was a clever scientist who helped make the first computers. He was born in York, Pennsylvania in 1904. His mother taught math, and his father was a teacher, so George grew up loving to build things and solve problems.

George studied math and physics in school. He went to Denison University in Granville, Ohio, then Union College, and finally Cornell University. After finishing school, he began working at Bell Labs.

In his kitchen, George built a tiny machine called the "Model K" that could add numbers using a special way called binary addition. This was one of the very first steps toward the computers we use today.

George also helped make a bigger machine called the Complex Number Calculator. In 1940, he showed that this machine could be used from far away by sending commands over telegraph lines. This was the first time a computer could be controlled from a distance.

George loved working with electricity and special parts called relays. He used rules called Boolean logic to build digital circuits, which are important for how computers think.

Later in life, George used computers to make art for fun. He showed that computers could be used in many ways, not just for serious work.

Because of his important work, George Stibitz received many awards and was added to the National Inventors Hall of Fame. He passed away in 1995, but his ideas helped shape the computers we use every day.