History of Computers - ENIAC

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 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. ^[1]

However, ENIAC was a massive computer, largely due to its use of over 17,000 Vacuum Tubes. ENIAC would constantly break down, so hundreds of thousands of parts had to be examined because of how many parts the computer had. Although the vacuum tubes were considerably faster than the switches and relays that were previously used, they would produce massive amounts of heat.^[1] It was only later where such common problems could be solved through the transistor.

Another downside of the ENIAC was that it took weeks to reprogram, and it frequently needed maintenance. However, research on the ENIAC eventually led to the improvement of vacuum tubes. ^[1]

Significance

ENIAC, as the first general purpose electronic computer, rivaled many other computers at the time. As a opposed to the Colossus Computer, which was only used for breaking code, or the Z3, which still had mechanical parts, ENIAC was electronic and could be programmed for any calculations. ENIAC made calculations that would take years for people to calculate with any prior technology. It very much simplified how calculations were made at the time, and marked a new age for calculating and computing technology.