The ENIAC Project: Its Significance in Computer Science and Society

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The ENIAC Project: Its Significance in Computer Science and Society

“…With the advent of everyday use of elaborate calculations, speed has become paramount to such a high degree that there is no machine on the market today capable of satisfying the full demand of modern computational methods. The most advanced machines have greatly reduced the time required for arriving at solutions to problems which might have required months or days by older procedures. This advance, however, is not adequate for many problems encountered in modern scientific work and the present invention is intended to reduce to seconds such lengthy computations…” From the ENIAC patent (No. 3,120,606), filed 26 June 1947.

When World War II broke out in 1939 the United States was severely technologically disabled. There existed almost nothing in the way of mathematical innovations that had been integrated into military use. Therefore, the government placed great emphasis on the development of electronic technology that could be used in battle. Although it began as a simple computer that would aid the army in computing firing tables for artillery, what eventually was the result was the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer). Before the ENIAC it took over 20 hours for a skilled mathematician to complete a single computation for a firing situation. When the ENIAC was completed and unveiled to the public on Valentine’s Day in 1946 it could complete such a complex problem in 30 seconds. The ENIAC was used quite often by the military but never contributed any spectacular or necessary data. The main significance of the ENIAC was that it was an incredible achievement in the field of computer science and can be considered the first digital and per...

... middle of paper ...

...) - “John W. Mauchly and the Development of the ENIAC Computer.” Penn Library Exhibitions. http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/rbm/maucly/jwm6.html

(7) - Soulliere, Cynthia. The Women of ENIAC. http://www.gecdsb.on.ca/d&g/women/women.htm

(8) - Soulliere, Cynthia. The Women of ENIAC. http://www.gecdsb.on.ca/d&g/women/women.htm

Other Sources Used:

Moye, William T. ENIAC: The Army-Sponsored Revolution. ARL Historian, January 1996

Goldstine, Herman H. "Computers at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School." The Jayne Lecture. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol 136, No.1. January 24, 1991

"Past Notable Women of Computing." http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/tap/past-women-cs.html

"WITI Hall of Fame." http://www.witi.com/center/witimuseum/halloffame/1997/eniac/php

"Why Build Computers?" The Military Role in Computer Research

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