History Of The ENIAC

When the first programmable mainframe computer was built in 1946, the technology was utilized to help people with mathematical calculations, problem solving, and could even run small simple simulations while only taking up 1,000 square feet (Bestofmedia). Prior to the 1950’s, vacuum tubes had been used in all computers to indicate on or off for processing. In the early 1950’s transistors which used less energy, produced less heat, and were more reliable swept the computer field, making vacuum tubes

Currently, computers are used for everything in life. For example, from researching for a large essay project to playing video games with friends. “From the outset, computers were weighed for both military and commercial significance, and hence they straddled the very institutional boundaries that central to this study. It is also significant that computers became valuable research instruments in nearly all disciplines.” (Akera, 2). The first digital computer was constructed in 1946 by John Mauchly, a professor, and Presper Eckert, an inventor. “They met by chance in 1941 at the University of Pennsylvania’s Moore School of Engineering. They soon developed a revolutionary vision: to use electricity as a means of computing--in other words, to make electricity "think."” (McCartney, 1). They were ignored by their colleagues, but in 1943 they were becoming more well known and was funded by the U.S Army. The U.S Army was seeking for a contraption that can quickly calculate ballistic missile trajectories in wartime Europe and Africa (McCartney, 1). John Mauchly and Presper Eckert led a team that constructed the computer that occupied 1,800 square feet and weighed thirty tons. They named the large computer, ENIAC, Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer. The process of building this machine was not an effortless task, Mauchly and Presper and their team had to overcome many problems

A majority of the working people sit at the desk all day, using one or more computers to work with. Even 100 years ago this was unthinkable and far away. The typewriter, the telegraph, and the first telephones and photographic apparatus were regarded as marvels of technology, which became indispensable for some branches of profession. However, most people only had very late access to modern developments that would change life and work sustainably.

The ‘ENIAC Story’ is a historical account of the creation of the world’s first electronic digital

From a very simple invention satisfying man’s conviction to do better, the abacus dramatically encouraged the growth of trade wherever it was adopted, for it was well suited to any commercial calculation. Still used in the Soviet Union and in the Far East in the 20th century, the abacus was finally replaced worldwide by the cheap electronic calculator. (The Inventions, pg.10) In 1945, the world’s first fully electronic computer was completed at the University of Pennsylvania. It was called ENIAC-Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer.

The 1940’s was the beginning of an era of computers ruling us. It all started with Konrad Zuse a German engineer creates and finishes the computer called Z3 built in 1941 it was built using 2,300 relays, and used a floating point binary arithmetic, and had a 22 bit word length. Although the original was destroyed in a bombing run in Berlin in late 1943. He supervised a reconstruction of his invention in the 60's which is on display at the Deutsches Museum in Munich. In February of 1946 the ENIAC was released and the public was able to view it, built by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert they improved it by 1,000 times since the first computers were released. Started in 1943 it took 3 years to complete and it used a plugboard and switch program, and the speed was about 5,000 operations per second. It took up 1,000 square feet, or the size of a small house! In 1944 the Harvard Mark-1 was completed. Thought by the Harvard professor Howard Aiken, and built by IBM, the dimensions of this beast was room sized, relay-based calculator. Also it had a

The era of most mechanical computation devices has somewhat ceased, and gave way to electronic computation devices. This sudden change gave way to an immediate impact, this impact was felt most during one of the most violent times in America’s history, WWII. During this time the military had a priority to be able to navigate and break the conversation codes from the enemy. Radar in WWII was also much more accurate. In a very real sense, electronic implementation and computer technology came at just the right time, and was a small cornerstone for the American Military. Mechanical devices when compared to pure electronic computation devices were too slow and very unreliable. In an electronic computing devices, their electrons achieve the same

The origin of the computer resides with the military. The computer itself was created by the military during the Cold War era, when we were in a technological race with Russia. This race was the fuel for massive advancements in technology especially in the sector of computer intelligence. The first Computer’s were physically large enough to fill an entire room. They were used to manage large quantities of data in textual and numerical form. The government backed certain research facilities in the advancement of the computer and some investigated and experimented in computer technology with art and music. 1

The ENIAC was invented by John Mauchly and J.Presper Eckert, Jr.and built from 1943-1945. The ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator), often referred to as the first computer, was built to supply the need for faster calculations. It started the information age and led to the development of the first commercial computers (The ENIAC).

Although the idea of the computer had developed, the first digital computer, the Colossus, was used in World War II in England to crack into Hitler’s codes to break an electronic code to discover the German’s war plans in 1944. This would eventually evolve into technology that would become the Personal Computers (PC) and begin the age of the Computer and online connection (The Colossus Gallery).

When ENIAC was announced in 1946, it was heralded in the press as a "Giant Brain." [8] It had a speed on the order of one thousand (103) times faster than that of electro-mechanical machines; this computational power, coupled with general-purpose programmability, excited scientists and industrialists

The first generation of electronic computers was characterized by hulking monstrosities of tubes and wires, housed in metal. The first programmable electronic computer was Colossus. Completed in 1943, Colossus contained

An innovative era of technological advancements and radical new concepts swept the nation by storm. The revolution was steered by a collaboration of boundless minds and problem solvers. Through a series of trial and error, computers were transformed from small sprockets and motors to machines that could unravel most of society’s problems. In 1946, Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, two military commissioned American inventors, constructed one of the world’s first computers using vacuums and enormous air conditioners. The two men started an industry in machine processing speed and power. Eckert and Mauchly’s invention defined all new aspects of the future. By the 1950s computers were a public attraction; they were being used for military purposes, business management, and the advancement of networking.

1946: Mauchly and Presper leave the University of Pennsylvania and get financing from the Census Bureau to manufacture the UNIVAC, the first business workstation for business and government applications.eniac - World's first electronic, expansive scale, universally useful machine, constructed by Mauchly and Eckert, and initiated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1946. ENIAC reproduced on an advanced machine chip. See a clarification of ENIAC on a Chip by the Moore School of Electrical Engineering, University of Pennsylvania.

　　The key period of the evolution of modern electronic computer is in between the late 1930s and the early 1950s. Not all of them were invented by the mathematician or physician. Among those machines were pioneering computers put together by english academics notably Manchester/Ferrenti Mark 1, built at Manchester University by Frederic Williams and Thomas Kilburn. And the EDSAC, Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator built by Maurice Wilkes at Cambridge University.