PeopleofSuperintelligence

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Joseph Marie Jacquard

Also known as Joseph-Marie Jacquard, Joseph Marie Charles

Joseph Marie Jacquard was a French weaver and inventor whose loom took its weaving patterns from a chain of punched cards, an idea that Charles Babbage adopted around 1830 to control his Analytical Engine. Born in Lyon in 1752, he inherited looms and a workshop in 1772 and exhibited a loom in Paris in 1801. He was summoned to Paris in 1803, developed the Jacquard loom from 1804, and in 1805 Napoleon granted its patent to the city of Lyon, with a pension and a royalty on each loom for the inventor. Ada Lovelace wrote that the Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard loom weaves flowers and leaves. He died in Oullins in 1834, and Jacquard looms, only slightly modified, are still in use today.

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Timeline

  1. 1752–1772

    A silk weaver in Lyon

    He is born in Lyon in 1752, receives no formal schooling, and stays illiterate until he is 13. After inheriting a house, looms and a workshop in 1772, he becomes a silk weaver and merchant.

  2. 1790s

    A one-worker loom idea

    In 1790, he conceives a loom that removes the pulling of cords and needs one worker where five were used. In his spare time, he sets out to build it.

  3. 1801

    A bronze medal and a patent

    He shows his loom at the Exposition des produits de l'industrie française in Paris in 1801 and wins a bronze medal. In December 1801, he receives a patent for a machine to replace the cord-puller in making brocaded and figured fabrics.

  4. 1803–1805

    The punched-card Jacquard loom

    In 1803, he is summoned to Paris and attached to the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers, where a loom by Jacques de Vaucanson suggests improvements to his own. In February 1804, the Société d'encouragement pour l'industrie nationale awards him a gold medal. From 1804, he develops the loom that bears his name, and by 1805 a chain of punched cards replaces Vaucanson's paper strip, guiding needles that lift the warp threads so the loom weaves patterned silk automatically.

  5. 1805–1811

    Napoleon's patent and pension

    In April 1805, Napoleon and Josephine view his new loom in Lyon, and the emperor grants the patent to the city of Lyon. In return, Jacquard receives a lifelong pension of 3,000 francs and a royalty of 50 francs on each loom bought and used from 1805 to 1811. Lyon's silk weavers, who fear for their jobs, oppose the loom, and he delivers 41 looms to Lyon in 1806 and 57 in 1811.

  6. 1819

    A Légion d'honneur cross

    Louis XVIII awards him the cross of the Légion d'honneur in November 1819.

  7. 1830s

    Babbage's Analytical Engine

    Around 1830, Charles Babbage adopts the punched-card idea to control his Analytical Engine, and both inventors intend the cards to store programs. Ada Lovelace writes that the Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard loom weaves flowers and leaves.

  8. 1834–1839

    Death and a woven portrait

    He dies in Oullins in 1834, aged 82, and a mausoleum is built over his grave in the town cemetery. In 1839, a silk portrait of him is woven on a Jacquard loom from 24,000 punched cards. Only slightly modified, Jacquard looms are still in use today.

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  2. The United States employs an estimated 48% of people shaping AIWe estimate where the people shaping AI work today, how universities, companies and research institutes split across countries, and how country shares have changed since the 1960s.
  3. 43% of living people shaping AI work outside their country of birthWe estimate that 43% of living people shaping AI work outside their country of birth (520 of 1,198 people with known birth and employment countries).
  4. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionWe estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.

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Sources and credits

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  1. Joseph Marie Jacquard - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  2. Artifact Adopted! Preserving the Legend of J. M. Jacquard - CHM computerhistory.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  3. JACQUARD, Joseph Marie, (1752-1834), mécanicien-tisserand - napoleon.org napoleon.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  4. Joseph-Marie Jacquard's Loom Uses Punched Cards to Store Patterns - History of Information historyofinformation.com. Checked 22 October 2026.
  5. Computer Pioneers - Joseph-Marie Jacquard - IEEE Computer Society history.computer.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  6. The Jacquard Loom - Columbia University Computing History www1.columbia.edu. Checked 22 October 2026.