June 14:
1951 : UNIVAC COMPUTER DEDICATED:
On June 14, 1951, the U.S. Census Bureau dedicates UNIVAC, the world's
first commercially produced electronic digital computer. UNIVAC, which
stood for Universal Automatic Computer, was developed by J. Presper
Eckert and John Mauchly, makers of ENIAC, the first general-purpose
electronic digital computer. These giant computers, which used
thousands of vacuum tubes for computation, were the forerunners of
today's digital computers.
The search for mechanical devices to aid computation began in ancient
times. The abacus, developed in various forms by the Babylonians,
Chinese, and Romans, was by definition the first digital computer
because it calculated values by using digits. A mechanical digital
calculating machine was built in France in 1642, but a 19th century
Englishman, Charles Babbage, is credited with devising most of the
principles on which modern computers are based. His "Analytical
Engine," begun in the 1830s and never completed for lack of funds, was
based on a mechanical loom and would have been the first programmable
computer.
By the 1920s, companies such as the International Business Machines
Corporation (IBM) were supplying governments and businesses with
complex punch-card tabulating systems, but these mechanical devices
had only a fraction of the calculating power of the first electronic
digital computer, the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC). Completed by
John Atanasoff of Iowa State in 1939, the ABC could by 1941 solve up
to 29 simultaneous equations with 29 variables. Influenced by
Atanasoff's work, Presper Eckert and John Mauchly set about building
the first general-purpose electronic digital computer in 1943. The
sponsor was the U.S. Army Ordnance Department, which wanted a better
way of calculating artillery firing tables, and the work was done at
the University of Pennsylvania.
ENIAC, which stood for Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator,
was completed in 1946 at a cost of nearly $500,000. It took up 15,000
feet, employed 17,000 vacuum tubes, and was programmed by plugging and
replugging some 6,000 switches. It was first used in a calculation for
Los Alamos Laboratories in December 1945, and in February 1946 it was
formally dedicated.
Following the success of ENIAC, Eckert and Mauchly decided to go into
private business and founded the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation.
They proved less able businessmen than they were engineers, and in
1950 their struggling company was acquired by Remington Rand, an
office equipment company. On June 14, 1951, Remington Rand delivered
its first computer, UNIVAC I, to the U.S. Census Bureau. It weighed
16,000 pounds, used 5,000 vacuum tubes, and could perform about 1,000
calculations per second. On November 4, 1952, the UNIVAC achieved
national fame when it correctly predicted Dwight D. Eisenhower's
unexpected landslide victory in the presidential election after only a
tiny percentage of the votes were in.
UNIVAC and other first-generation computers were replaced by
transistor computers of the late 1950s, which were smaller, used less
power, and could perform nearly a thousand times more operations per
second. These were, in turn, supplanted by the integrated-circuit
machines of the mid-1960s and 1970s. In the 1980s, the development of
the microprocessor made possible small, powerful computers such as the
personal computer, and more recently the laptop and hand-held
computers.
history.com/tdih.do
1951 : UNIVAC COMPUTER DEDICATED:
On June 14, 1951, the U.S. Census Bureau dedicates UNIVAC, the world's
first commercially produced electronic digital computer. UNIVAC, which
stood for Universal Automatic Computer, was developed by J. Presper
Eckert and John Mauchly, makers of ENIAC, the first general-purpose
electronic digital computer. These giant computers, which used
thousands of vacuum tubes for computation, were the forerunners of
today's digital computers.
The search for mechanical devices to aid computation began in ancient
times. The abacus, developed in various forms by the Babylonians,
Chinese, and Romans, was by definition the first digital computer
because it calculated values by using digits. A mechanical digital
calculating machine was built in France in 1642, but a 19th century
Englishman, Charles Babbage, is credited with devising most of the
principles on which modern computers are based. His "Analytical
Engine," begun in the 1830s and never completed for lack of funds, was
based on a mechanical loom and would have been the first programmable
computer.
By the 1920s, companies such as the International Business Machines
Corporation (IBM) were supplying governments and businesses with
complex punch-card tabulating systems, but these mechanical devices
had only a fraction of the calculating power of the first electronic
digital computer, the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC). Completed by
John Atanasoff of Iowa State in 1939, the ABC could by 1941 solve up
to 29 simultaneous equations with 29 variables. Influenced by
Atanasoff's work, Presper Eckert and John Mauchly set about building
the first general-purpose electronic digital computer in 1943. The
sponsor was the U.S. Army Ordnance Department, which wanted a better
way of calculating artillery firing tables, and the work was done at
the University of Pennsylvania.
ENIAC, which stood for Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator,
was completed in 1946 at a cost of nearly $500,000. It took up 15,000
feet, employed 17,000 vacuum tubes, and was programmed by plugging and
replugging some 6,000 switches. It was first used in a calculation for
Los Alamos Laboratories in December 1945, and in February 1946 it was
formally dedicated.
Following the success of ENIAC, Eckert and Mauchly decided to go into
private business and founded the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation.
They proved less able businessmen than they were engineers, and in
1950 their struggling company was acquired by Remington Rand, an
office equipment company. On June 14, 1951, Remington Rand delivered
its first computer, UNIVAC I, to the U.S. Census Bureau. It weighed
16,000 pounds, used 5,000 vacuum tubes, and could perform about 1,000
calculations per second. On November 4, 1952, the UNIVAC achieved
national fame when it correctly predicted Dwight D. Eisenhower's
unexpected landslide victory in the presidential election after only a
tiny percentage of the votes were in.
UNIVAC and other first-generation computers were replaced by
transistor computers of the late 1950s, which were smaller, used less
power, and could perform nearly a thousand times more operations per
second. These were, in turn, supplanted by the integrated-circuit
machines of the mid-1960s and 1970s. In the 1980s, the development of
the microprocessor made possible small, powerful computers such as the
personal computer, and more recently the laptop and hand-held
computers.
history.com/tdih.do
1777 : Congress adopts the Stars and Stripes
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5090
1789 : Bounty mutiny survivors reach Timor
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5091
1982 : Falkland Islands War ends
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5092
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