Computer science development of sophisticated computing equipment. Wilhelm Schickard designed and constructed the first working mechanical calculator in 1623. In 1673, Gottfried Leibniz demonstrated a digital mechanical calculator, called the Stepped Reckoner. He may be considered the first computer scientist and information theorist, for, among other reasons, documenting the binary number system. In 1820, Thomas de Colmar launched the mechanical calculator industry when he released his simplified arithmometer, which was the first calculating machine strong enough and reliable enough to be used daily in an office environment. Charles Babbage started the design of the first "automatic mechanical calculator", his Difference Engine, in
Florida Automatic Computer computers. Some of the USAF personnel involved in the construction of FLAC, including Thomas G. Holmes, Charlie West, John MacNeill, Jim Bellinger, Steve Batchelor and Harlan Manweiler, together with Jim Allen, later went on to form Soroban Engineering, Inc. in Melbourne, Florida. Florida Automatic Computer FLAC, the Florida Automatic Computer, was an early digital electronic computer built for the United States Air Force at Patrick Air Force Base (PAFB) in Brevard County of Florida, to perform missile data reduction. The computer began service in 1953. The system's architecture resembled that of the many machines of the period that used the