History of Computers - UNIVAC
Page created by: Mary Payne
[1] UNIVAC
Introduction
The Census Bureau needed a computer that dealt with the growing population which would eventually be called the UNIVAC. The UNIVAC, Universal Automatic Computer, was the first commercially available computer, created by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly in 1951. From 1951 to 1958 46 UNIVAC computers were delivered. [2]
Overview
[3] J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly
J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly created the UNIVAC with the help of Remington Rand after some financial problems. The first UNIVAC was sent to the Census Bureau in 1951. This computer was designed for business and administrative use. It was used for the fast execution of large numbers of relatively simple arithmetic and data transport operations, as opposed to the complex numerical calculations required by scientific computers. [4] In the UNIVAC, the size of the memory was of 1000 words, it used magnetic tapes for secondary memory and it had a printer and a typewriter. The UNIVAC was faster in performance than the ENIAC (2.25 MHZ), it used vacuum tubes and it took up 352 square feet. [5]
Significance
[6] UNIVAC Control Panel
The UNIVAC is significant in the history of computers because it was the first of its kind, in business and administrative use and this is one step in the development process of creating computers and laptops to the standards of the twenty-first century.
