History of the Computer Industry in America

There have been many advances since the initial invention of the computer fifty years ago. Today, computers operate many of the things that we use in everyday life. Some examples of these things are farm machinery, cars, planes, video games, heat and water delivery to our homes, banking, billing, and even the stock market. The advances of the computer have resulted in the

Computer science is, in comparison to most sciences, a relatively new field starting as early as the 1930’s for military based projects and eventually adapting in the early 1980’s to the personal computers we have today. If we were to look into a “brief history of computers starting with the 1950’s we would see huge series of cathode tubes and switches taking up entire rooms. These computers were designed for military intelligence and predominantly comprised of computing long calculations run by paper punch cards and manual switches.” (Ceruzzi pg. 28)

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

There was a big push for technological advancement during World War II in order to gain the upper hand in the war. The computers built during this time period were mainly electromechanical. The calculations were performed by electrical switches that signaled the mechanical operation.

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

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

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).

Today, the Turing Bombe is not used by the military, yet the machine inspires and reminds of the importance of sciences as World War II was won with the help of the scientific community. Now, the machines are exposed in the British Museum and are part of history. Soldiers and scientific community fought against the Nazis. After World War II, Alan Turing continued to devote himself for his passion of sciences, cryptanalysis, and computers. For instance, Turing is known as the father-creator of computers as in 1941, he designed the Colossus computer (Notes). In addition, he is recognized as an important figure in the scientific community and contributed largely to everyone’s lives, as computers are indispensable in today’s generation.

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

Americans have at present become too dependent on computers. With the invention of computers years ago, they have become an essential part of human life. Americans have increasingly become dependent on computers, and it is quite unbelievable that almost fifty years ago, many of them had never seen a computer before. Presently, computers are in use in almost every aspect of human life, at almost all corners of the globe. People can now work from the comfort of their own homes, interact instantly with their family or friends living abroad, and even socialize with strangers from all over the world. This paper explores how Americans are becoming too dependent on computers for communication, education, and entertainment.

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.

Technological advancements are made everyday. No matter the invention or its uses technology proceeds toward a superior state. One such advancement was the common computer. What began as a device that emulated a man following step-by-step directions, eventually blossomed into the devices we use today with a multitude of functions and uses. Today computers and their use, known as the concept of computing, have made a sizeable impact on everyday life, from the private lives of the common everyman to the social networks of average communities, the community of Clemson for instance. As time has passed and computers have advanced, computing has significantly influenced the Clemson community in terms of communication and organization.

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

ENIAC stands for Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer. It was introduced on February 15, 1946 and was the very first digital and electronically run computer. It was created in the United States at the University of Pennsylvania and its original purpose was to calculate artillery firing tables during World War 2. The ENIAC weighed 30 tons and filled up an entire extremely large room with its many parts. Its complexity was prominent, containing approximately 18,000 vacuum tubes, 70,000 resistors, 10,000 capacitors, thousands of switches, and 1,500 relays. It produced calculations that, if done by hand, would have taken much longer to achieve. For example in one second, the ENIAC could solve 5,000 additions.

　　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.