History of Computers - ENIAC

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In 1946, after almost two and half years of work and 500,000 tax dollars worth of expenditure, the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), developed by John Mauchly and John Presper Eckert of the University of Pennsylvania, was completed. It took up more than 1800 square feet of space and consumed more than 160 kilowatts of power.[1]

Overview

eniac.jpg

ENIAC.gif

ENIAC was the first general purpose electronic computer and had a wide practical use. ENIAC was originally designed to calculate artillery firing tables for the United States Army during World War II, who funded the entire project. As a general purpose, programmable computer, ENIAC grabbed the attention of hydrogen bomb maker, John von Neumann. Instead of being used for calculating ballistics tables, ENIAC was first used for calculations for the hydrogen bomb, as well as weather prediction, cosmic-ray, thermal ignition, random-number, and wind-tunnel design studies.[1]


The ENIAC was one thousand times faster than any other calculating machine to date; for instance, in one second, it could perform 5,000 additions. Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag
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