Tuesday, December 6, 2011

ENIAC: The Father of Computers

Covering 1800 square feet of floor space and weighing over 30 tons, the ENIAC, Electronic Numerical Intergrator and Computer, made history in 1946 as the world's general purpose electronic computer. At the time, it was frequently heralded in the press as a "Giant Brain" When the ENIAC first came out, it was over a thousand times faster than any calculating machine to date and could solve 5,000 additions, 357 multiplications or 38 divisions within a second. It could also predict weather and do a variety of scientific tasks. What made the ENIAC special was that it was the first truly universal computing device, unlike any other machine before. Some of the ENIAC's competitors, such as the Z3 and the ABC were far slower and were capable of solving only small problems.

However, what is known as ENIAC's biggest accomplishment was how it sparked the imaginations of scientists and industrialists worldwide. It inspired many to attempt to create even more powerful devices. Many scientists and engineers raced to create faster, smaller, lighter, cheaper, and more advanced hardware. Within a few years, computers were popping up everywhere- universities, government agencies, banks and insurance companies.

Though it wasn't extremely powerful, the ENIAC was a huge advance leap from any computing device of its time. More importantly, it revolutionized computers and greatly influenced the development of later computers.

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