The arithmometer, one of the first commercially successful mechanical calculators, was invented by which nineteenth century businessman and engineer?

Introduction / Context:

Before electronic calculators and computers, mechanical calculating machines were used in offices to perform addition and other basic arithmetic. The arithmometer was one of the earliest commercially successful devices of this kind. This question asks you to identify the inventor of the arithmometer, which is an important detail in the history of calculating machines.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• The device is the arithmometer, a mechanical calculator.
• The question asks who invented it.
• The options list scientists and inventors from various fields, including physics and nuclear research.
• You must recognise the name associated with business and mechanical calculation rather than with theoretical physics.

Concept / Approach:

Charles Xavier Thomas, also known as Thomas de Colmar, was a French businessman and engineer who invented the arithmometer in the nineteenth century. It was a robust mechanical calculator capable of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and it was produced and sold for many decades. This made it one of the first calculating machines to achieve commercial success. Other names in the options such as Evangelista Torricelli and Edward Teller are associated with barometers and nuclear physics, not with office calculators.

Step-by-Step Solution:

Verification / Alternative check:

Histories of computing and calculating machines describe how Thomas de Colmar repeatedly improved his arithmometer design and sold thousands of units, especially to government offices and businesses. They explicitly credit him as the inventor of this machine and distinguish it from earlier experimental calculators that did not reach wide markets. These sources provide strong confirmation that Charles Xavier Thomas is the correct inventors name for this question.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:

Evangelista Torricelli is known for inventing the mercury barometer and studying atmospheric pressure, not for office calculating devices.

Edward Teller was a nuclear physicist associated with the development of thermonuclear weapons.

Gustav Tauschek worked on early computing and punched card systems, but he did not create the arithmometer.

Blaise Pascal designed an earlier calculator called the Pascaline, which is important historically, but the specific device named arithmometer belongs to Thomas.

Common Pitfalls:

Because several early calculators exist, learners sometimes mix up their inventors. It helps to associate Pascal with the Pascaline and Thomas with the arithmometer. Remembering that Thomas device was mass produced and used in offices can also help you distinguish it from prototypes and experimental machines mentioned in computer history.

Final Answer:

The arithmometer was invented by Charles Xavier Thomas.