- In full:
- Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer
- Key People:
- John Mauchly
- J. Presper Eckert
- Douglas R. Hartree
- Related Topics:
- computer
- first-generation computer
ENIAC
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What was ENIAC?
The ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was the first programmable, general-purpose, electronic, digital computer, developed during World War II by the United States. Physicist John Mauchly, engineer J. Presper Eckert, Jr., and their team at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electrical Engineering, with guidance from Herman Goldstine and John von Neumann, began work on the ENIAC in early 1943. Completed in February 1946, it cost \$400,000.
Though designed to calculate artillery range tables, it could be used for a wider range of problems. The machine occupied a 50-by-30-foot basement and contained approximately 18,000 vacuum tubes, 70,000 resistors, 10,000 capacitors, 6,000 switches, and 1,500 relays. It could perform up to 5,000 additions per second, much faster than its electromechanical predecessors. A portion of it is on display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
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When and why was ENIAC built?
The Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) was the first programmable, general-purpose, electronic digital computer, built by the United States during World War II. Work began on ENIAC in early 1943, led by John Mauchly, J. Presper Eckert, and their colleagues at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. It was designed to calculate artillery range tables. Completed in February 1946, the ENIAC cost the government $400,000. Its first task was to perform calculations for the construction of the hydrogen bomb.
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What made ENIAC different from earlier calculating machines?
The Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) was the first programmable, general-purpose, electronic, digital computer. Earlier machines lacked the conditional branching that gave ENIAC flexibility to handle a wider range of problems. ENIAC communicated instructions via plugboards, processing them at electronic speed, unlike earlier computers that read instructions from slower mechanical devices. Though rewiring ENIAC for each new problem took days, it remained the most powerful calculating device of its time, executing up to 5,000 additions per second, which was significantly faster than its electromechanical predecessors.
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How did ENIAC perform calculations?
The Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) was designed to calculate artillery range tables during World War II. Inputting instructions to ENIAC involved using plugboards, which, once programmed, allowed the machine to operate at electronic speed. This was much faster than reading instructions from slower mechanical devices like card readers.
ENIAC could execute different instructions or alter the order of execution based on data values, a process known as conditional branching. This feature provided flexibility, enabling ENIAC to tackle a broader range of problems beyond its initial purpose.
Completed in 1946, ENIAC could perform up to 5,000 additions per second, significantly faster than its electromechanical predecessors.
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Who designed and built ENIAC?
The Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) was the first general-purpose electronic digital computer, constructed during World War II. The ENIAC was designed and built by American physicist John Mauchly and American engineer J. Presper Eckert, Jr., along with a team at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. Work on the ENIAC began in early 1943, under the direction of Herman Goldstine, and mathematician John von Neumann consulted with the group the following year. Completed in February 1946, the ENIAC cost the U.S. government $400,000.
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How did ENIAC influence the development of later computers?
ENIAC, the first general-purpose electronic digital computer, significantly shaped the development of later computers despite its limitations. Completed in 1946, ENIAC demonstrated the feasibility of electronic computation, executing up to 5,000 additions per second, orders of magnitude faster than its electromechanical predecessors.
Although initially designed for specific tasks like calculating artillery range tables, ENIAC's conditional branching capability allowed it to solve a wider range of problems. Its successor, EDVAC, implemented the concept of storing instruction codes alongside data in an electrically alterable memory. ENIAC's electronic realization made it 1,000 times faster than the Harvard Mark I. ENIAC's design pushed the field towards realizing general-purpose computing devices.
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ENIAC, the first programmable general-purpose electronic digital computer, built during World War II by the United States. American physicist John Mauchly, American engineer J. Presper Eckert, Jr., and their colleagues at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania led a government-funded project to build an all-electronic computer. Under contract to the army and under the direction of Herman Goldstine, work began in early 1943 on ENIAC. The next year, mathematician John von Neumann began frequent consultations with the group.
ENIAC was something less than the dream of a universal computer. Designed specifically for computing values for artillery range tables, it lacked some features that would have made it a more generally useful machine. It used plugboards for communicating instructions to the machine; this had the advantage that, once the instructions were thus “programmed,” the machine ran at electronic speed. Instructions read from a card reader or other slow mechanical device would not have been able to keep up with the all-electronic ENIAC. The disadvantage was that it took days to rewire the machine for each new problem. This was such a liability that only with some generosity could it be called programmable.
Nevertheless, ENIAC was the most powerful calculating device built to date. It was the first programmable general-purpose electronic digital computer. Like Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine (from the 19th century) and the British World War II computer Colossus, it had conditional branching—that is, it could execute different instructions or alter the order of execution of instructions based on the value of some data. (For instance, IF X>5 THEN GO TO LINE 23.) This gave ENIAC a lot of flexibility and meant that, while it was built for a specific purpose, it could be used for a wider range of problems.
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ENIAC was enormous. It occupied the 50-by-30-foot (15-by-9-metre) basement of the Moore School, where its 40 panels were arranged, U-shaped, along three walls. Each panel was about 2 feet wide by 2 feet deep by 8 feet high (0.6 metre by 0.6 metre by 2.4 metres). With more than 17,000 vacuum tubes, 70,000 resistors, 10,000 capacitors, 6,000 switches, and 1,500 relays, it was easily the most complex electronic system theretofore built. ENIAC ran continuously (in part to extend tube life), generating 174 kilowatts of heat and thus requiring its own air conditioning system. It could execute up to 5,000 additions per second, several orders of magnitude faster than its electromechanical predecessors. It and subsequent computers employing vacuum tubes are known as first-generation computers. (With 1,500 mechanical relays, ENIAC was still transitional to later, fully electronic computers.)
Completed by February 1946, ENIAC had cost the government $400,000, and the war it was designed to help win was over. Its first task was doing calculations for the construction of a hydrogen bomb. A portion of the machine is on exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.