The invention of the computer is a complex story that involves many inventors and innovations over centuries. It is not the work of a single individual but rather a series of incremental advancements by numerous people. Here are some key figures and milestones in the development of the computer:

1. Charles Babbage (1791-1871): Often referred to as the "father of the computer," Babbage conceptualized and designed the first mechanical computer, the Difference Engine, in the early 19th century. Although it was never completed during his lifetime, his designs laid the groundwork for future computing machines. Later, he designed the more advanced Analytical Engine, which had the essential elements of a modern computer, including a processing unit (the "mill"), memory (the "store"), and the ability to be programmed using punched cards.

2. Ada Lovelace (1815-1852): A mathematician and writer, Lovelace is often considered the first computer programmer. She worked with Babbage and wrote the first algorithm intended to be processed by a machine, specifically the Analytical Engine. Her notes on the engine include what is recognized as the first algorithm intended to be carried out by a machine, making her a pioneer in the field of computer programming.

3. Herman Hollerith (1860-1929): Hollerith developed a mechanical tabulator based on punched cards to rapidly tabulate statistics from millions of pieces of data. His invention was used for the 1890 U.S. Census, and he later founded the company that would become IBM.

4. Alan Turing (1912-1954): Turing was a British mathematician and logician who developed the concept of the Turing machine, an abstract computing machine that manipulates symbols on a strip of tape according to a set of rules. This concept is fundamental to the theory of computation and computer science. During World War II, Turing worked on breaking German ciphers, which led to the development of the Bombe, an electromechanical machine used to decipher Enigma-encrypted messages.

5. John Vincent Atanasoff (1903-1995) and Clifford Berry (1918-1963): Atanasoff, a physicist, and Berry, his graduate student, built the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The ABC was the first electronic digital computer, although it was not programmable.

6. Konrad Zuse (1910-1995): Zuse, a German engineer, built the Z3 in 1941, which is considered the first programmable, fully automatic digital computer. It used electromechanical relays for computation and was used for aerodynamic calculations.

7. ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer): Developed by John Presper Eckert and John Mauchly at the University of Pennsylvania, ENIAC was completed in 1945. It was the first general-purpose electronic digital computer and could be reprogrammed to solve a full range of computing problems.

8. John von Neumann (1903-1957): Von Neumann was a Hungarian-American mathematician and physicist who made significant contributions to the development of computer architecture. His design, known as the von Neumann architecture, is the basis for most modern computers. It describes a design architecture for an electronic digital computer with parts consisting of a processing unit containing an arithmetic logic unit and processor registers, a control unit containing an instruction register and program counter, a memory to store both data and instructions, external mass storage, and input and output mechanisms.

The development of the computer has been a cumulative process, with each generation of inventors building upon the work of their predecessors. The modern computer is the result of centuries of innovation, from mechanical calculating devices to the powerful electronic computers we use today.