SDS 468: The History of Data — with Jon Krohn

Origins

Jon Krohn embarks on a journey through the history of data, tracing its origins back 4 billion years to the emergence of ribonucleic acid (RNA). RNA, a strand of genetic information, marked the beginning of data storage on Earth. Jon explains that the term "data" itself is derived from the Latin word "datum," meaning "something given," and highlights how data has been a fundamental part of life since the dawn of time 1.

Data are units of information, and the word itself is derived from the Latin datum.

--- Jon Krohn

He further explores how humans began consciously manipulating data around 7500 BCE with clay accounting tokens in Mesopotamia, representing commodities like cows and goats 1.

   

Storage Evolution

The evolution of data storage is a fascinating journey from ancient clay tokens to modern digital methods. In Sumeria, around 3000 BCE, clay tokens evolved into larger tablets, etched with a stylus to record commodities, leading to the earliest known written language 2. By the 18th century, punch cards emerged, initially used in mechanical looms and later proposed by Charles Babbage for processing numbers, although his ideas were never realized in his time 2.

By 1954, the expression data processing was first used.

--- Jon Krohn

Today, data storage has advanced to include hard disk drives, optical disks, and magnetic tape, with costs continually decreasing and data structures becoming more sophisticated 2.