Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz was the creator of the binary code. He had started by creating what we would call today, a calculator, in 1643. This "calculator" was the second invented, but his is considered to be the "first step" into the world of computers. The "calculator" crated before his was a simple machine created by Blaise Pascal in 1642. Pascal's "calculator" could only add and subtract. Leibniz's machine was much more complex and used a system of pulleys and gears that could add, subtract, multiply, and perform square roots.
When he created binary code, he first thought of human languages. Human languages have many words that have multiple meanings. He believed that this would confuse the computer. He thought hard, but could not come up with an idea - until a Chinese "Book of Changes", or "I Ching" crossed his path. This book confirmed his theories as a depiction that the universe was a progression of contradicting dualities, a series of on/off, yes/no possibilities. He had created a system of binary numbring, using one's and zero's. The only problem was, he had no use for them yet. Though he may have had the thought of binary code first, he had died before perfecting his universal language. Through the next century and a quarter, he left the idea for others such as Ploucquet, Lambert and Castillon. Finally, binary code was going to be finished. 125 years after Leibniz's idea, Goerge Boole picked up where the combined efforts of Leibniz, Ploucquet, Lambert and Castillon left off. |