Charles Thomas

Name: Charles Xavier Thomas

Born: May 5, 1785, in Colmar, France

Death: March 12, 1870 (Age: 84)

Computer-related contributions

• French inventor and entrepreneur best known for designing, manufacturing, and patenting the first commercially successful mechanical calculator, the Arithmometer in 1820. The calculator could not only add but also subtract, multiply, and divide.
• By the time of his death in 1870, his manufacturing facility had produced around 1,000 Arithmometers, making it the first mass produced mechanical calculator in the world.

Honors and awards

• Made Chevalier of the Legion d'Honor for his invention of the Arithmometer (1821).
• Raised to the level of Officer of the Legion d'Honor (1857).