Willgodt Theophil Odhner

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Willgodt Theophil Odhner (in Cyrillic, Вильгодт Теофил Однер) (August 10, 1845 – September 15, 1905) was a Swedish mechanic and inventor of the Odhner arithmometer, a mechanical calculator.

Odhner was born in Dalby, Värmland, Sweden and in 1864 – 1867 he studied at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm but never graduated. In 1868 he moved to Saint Petersburg, Russia, where he remained until his death in 1905. Odhner developed the first version of the mechanical calculator that bears his name in 1875 and it was patented in several countries in 1878 – 1879. The serial production of the improved version of the arithmometer began in 1890. After Odhner's death his sons Alexander and Georg and son-in-law Karl Siewert continued the production and about 23,000 calculators were made until the factory was forced to close down in 1918.

[edit] See also

• Timeline of computing

[edit] External links

• Timo Leipälä: The life and works of W. T. Odhner, part 1.
• Timo Leipälä: The life and works of W. T. Odhner, part 2.
• Images of Odhner's arithmometers.
• Odhner Calculators - Willgodt T. Odhner - Kevin Odhner.