Museum of Science, Tokyo University of Science
The Museum of Science, Tokyo University of Science was established in 1991. The building is a reconstruction of the original wooden building constructed in 1906 that housed the Tokyo College of Science. The permanent exhibit presents the history of computing devices including abacuses, calculators, and computers. (For more information, see the February 2013 issue of the PR magazine pla-topia.) http://www.tus.ac.jp/info/setubi/museum/
Before the calculator
Stones were the first calculators used by humans. Subsequently, diamond-shaped caltrops that do not roll over came to be used. In the Edo period, wooden sticks, as well as bamboo rods called divining blocks were, alongside paper with a square grid known as an abacus, used as methods of calculation. (the photograph shows an abacus and wooden sticks)
