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Human logarithm computer — a vanished trade

Human logarithm computer (1700s–1950s) — Teams manually calculated tables for navigation and science before electronic computation displaced the work.

Human logarithm computer no longer exists as a living trade. Here is what erased it, and which profession took on the work.

1700s–1950s

Teams manually calculated tables for navigation and science before electronic computation displaced the work.

What else was happening then

1900 Planck introduces quanta

Max Planck proposes energy quanta in his radiation theory.

1905 Einstein explains photoelectric effect

Light quanta help explain why light ejects electrons from metals.

1926 Quantum mechanics formalizes

Schrödinger and others establish wave mechanics and its mathematical tools.

1947 Transistor demonstrated

Bell Labs engineers demonstrate the point-contact transistor.

Where that work lives now

Builds, measures and controls devices that exploit quantum states for computing, sensing, communication and materials research.

🧿 Quantum Engineer →

More vanished trades

Trades that vanished →