What were the earliest computing devices?

The history of computing devices goes back to ancient times when the Chinese and the Romans started to use the abacus for simple calculations. In the Renaissance era, Scottish mathematician John Napier designed the first logarithmic tables.

The first calculating machine was invented in 1623 by Wilhelm Schickard. Blaise Pascal invented the first mechanical calculator in 1642. By the early 20th century, cash registers, accounting machines and mechanical calculators started to incorporate electric motors. Alan Turing developed the principle of the modern computer in the 1930s. The British Bell Punch ANITA was the first all-electronic desktop calculator, released in 1961.