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ENIAC was the first computer to make history. It was considered the brain child of J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly. ENIAC, or Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer was launched in February of 1946. Eckert was considered an Electrical Engineering genius. Mauchly on the other hand was an expert in physics and math. The primary reason to build ENIAC was a need for faster calculations for the U>S> Army. The Army needed new firing tables for its guns, and each table had 2000 to 4000 trajectories. A soldier with a regular desk calculator could make one trajectory in about 12 hours. ENIAC could complete the same exact problem in about 30 seconds. That was 1,440 times faster than a person with a calculator. It could also perform 5,000 additions, 357 multiplications or 38 divisions. It was also used on weather predictions, random number studies, and wind tunnel designs. The funding for the ENIAC project was submitted to the U>S> Army on April 2, 1943. The project was to last about six months and would cost $61.700. This figure was wrong in time and final cost. The project ran for about two and a half years and a final cost of $487,000. When ENIAC was finally completed it contained 17,468 vacuum tubes, 70,000 resistors, 10,000 capacitors, 6,000 switches and 15,000 relays. ENIAC was considered a monstrosity and it was a staggering 100 feet long, 10 feet high and 3 feet deep and weighed roughly 60,000 pounds. Roughly 2,000 of the computers vacuum tubes were replaced each month by a team of six technicians. These technicians were largely responsible for inputting the mathematical equations and programming functions for the computer. These jobs were considered an extension of the clerical department that was filled by women. One of the biggest challenges was how they could prevent the vacuum tubes from blowing out. The tubes required pulsating at 100,000 times a second and ENIAC had so many of them. To possibly correct the problem they ran below their threshold and designed the system to operate under the worst of the worst scenarios. The numbers were entered into the ENIAC by turning rotary switches and punch cards. The results were then punched into the punch cards and then printed. After each problem the knobs, switches and patch cords had to be reset. The ENIAC consisted of 40 panels that were arranged in a u-shaped configuration. There were three portable function tables a card reader and a punch card table. ENIAC was classified into four functional categories: arithmetic, memory, input and output and governing. This system relied on a ten digit decimal system, rather than the binary systems of ones and zeros used by all subsequent computers. Programs could not be stored on ENIAC. It could not employ conditional branching of modern programming. ENIAC was built in the Moore building in West Philadelphia. In 1947 it was shipped to its final destination, Aberdeen Ballistic Research Center in Maryland.
ENIAC proved to be a success and was the paved road to the New Information highway. IBM began its track to sell computers. During the fifties and sixties most computers were large and costly and had to be handled by well trained operators. In the mid seventies integrated circuits and microprocessors were tiny enough and cost effective for the creation of today’s computer systems.
On October 2, 1955, at 11:45 p.m. the ENIAC computer after many years of service was shut down for the last time.
Eckert and Mauchley eventually formed their own company, which was then bought by the Rand Corporation. Rand Corporation produced the Universal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC), which was used in a variety of commercial applications. Eckert and Mauchly later lost the patent on their machine when it was claimed that another early experimenter, John Atansoff had given them all the ideas about the ENIAC system.

Works Cited
(n.d.). Retrieved from http://mrsec.wisc.edu/Edetc/SlideShow/slides/computer/eniac.html
(n.d.). Retrieved from http://pdxretro.com/tag/world/
(n.d.). Retrieved from http://mazm.com/2007/10/20/89.computer-history-in-pics.html (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.tcf.ua.edu/Classes/Jbutler/T389/ITHistoryOutline2.htm
(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.upenn.edu/almanac/volumes/v55/n17/discoverpenn.html
(n.d.). Retrieved from http://whyy.org/cms/radiotimes/2011/02/14/the-eniac-anniversary/
(n.d.). Retrieved from http://latesttechnomanias.blogspot.com/2010/06/eniac.html (n.d.). Retrieved from http://faculty.philau.edu/londonm/history/eniac.htm
(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2006/02/eniac_turns_60.html
Paul A. Freiberger, M. R. (2011). ENIAC. Retrieved from Encyclopedia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/183842/ENIAC

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