THE INVENTION OF THE COMPUTER, 1944–1946

In the 1930s mathematical calculations were still done mostly by hand or with the help of a simple machine such as the adding machine. Analog calculating machines also existed for special purposes. Essentially physical models of the problem under investigation, they approached the problem through analogy (hence the term “analog”). One example might be the AC (Alternating Current) Network Calculator used to help design electrical power networks.

The Harvard Mark I, developed by IBM (International Business Machines) between 1937 and 1943 on the basis of specifications provided by Howard Aiken, marked an advance from analog calculating machines toward the modern computer. As an electromechanical device, however, it was very slow. Its main importance lay in the fact that it was the first fully automatic calculating machine.

About the same time the Harvard Mark I was introduced, work was starting at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania on the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer). John W. Mauchly, associated with the Moore School, developed the ENIAC to speed calculations needed for artillery being developed in World War II. Most of the engineering was the work of J. Presper Eckert, a young electrical engineer. Another important figure was John von Neumann, an eminent mathematician, who became familiar with the ENIAC project and helped develop the concept of the stored-program computer. The basis for modern computer design, this called for the instructions and data to be kept separate from the part of the computer that would process the data.

The ENIAC, only put into service in November 1945, came too late to contribute to the war effort. One thousand times as fast as the Harvard Mark I, its debut made clear that the future of the computer would be electronic rather than electromechanical. A few years later, in 1949, scientists at the University of Manchester in Great Britain successfully developed a working model of the stored-program concept. Computers developed rapidly in the 1950s and by the end of the decade were used extensively in business, government work, and research.
Suggestions for Term Papers
1. Charles Babbage is a good example of an inventor whose ideas ran well ahead of the technology of his times. Investigate his career and write a paper connecting his ideas to the development of the first computers (see Suggested Sources).
2. Howard Aiken’s work was financed by IBM, a firm that became synonymous with computers for a time. Do a research project on IBM’s involvement with computers in the 1940s and the 1950s.
3. John V. Atanasoff and his student Clifford Berry are a part of the great tradition of independent innovators who never receive their fair share of the fame and wealth associated with their work. Compare their experiences with those of Philo Farnsworth and his associates (see entry #26) or Rosalind Franklin (see entry #49).
4. Use the ENIAC project as a case study of how war may help bring about breakthroughs in areas of science and technology. Comment on the advantages and disadvantages of working under wartime conditions.
5. J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly failed to make a commercial success of their work. Write a paper on the problems they faced in attempting to market the computer.
6. The early days of computers featured success stories in which scientists with quite limited resources made important breakthroughs. Do a research project on the work of Maurice Wilkes with the first stored-program computer (see Suggested Sources).

Research Suggestions

In addition to the boldfaced items, look under the entries for “General Broadcasting of Television in Britain, 1936” (#26), “The Use of Atomic Bombs in World War II, 1945” (#37), and “The Internet in the 1990s” (#99). Search under Charles Babbage, Adele Goldstein, Grace Hopper, Ada Lovelace, Alan Turing, and Maurice Wilkes.
SUGGESTED SOURCES

Primary Sources

Bernard, I. Cohen, Gregory W. Welch, and Robert Campbell. Makin’ Numbers: Howard Aiken and the Computer. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1999. Reminiscences of working with Aiken as well as reprints of his technical papers from the days of the Harvard Mark I.

Wilkes, Maurice. Memoirs of a Computer Pioneer. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1985. Wilkes was the creator of the EDSAC, the first practical stored-program computer.

Secondary Sources

Aspray, William. Computing before Computers. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1990. A good background source.

———. John von Neumann and the Origins of Modern Computing. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1990. The best book on von Neumann, one of the most significant contributors to the early development of the computer.

Ceruzzi, Paul E. Reckoners: The Prehistory of the Digital Computer, from Relays to the Stored Program Concept, 1935–1945. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1983. A good overview.

Cohen, I. Bernard. Howard Aiken: Portrait of a Computer Pioneer. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1999. The best biography of Aiken.

Goldstine, Herman H. The Computer: From Pascal to von Neumann. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1972. A good overview.

McCartney, Scott. ENIAC: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the World’s First Computer. New York: Walker and Co., 1999. A thorough study of the development of the ENIAC. McCartney also examines the problems Mauchly and Eckert faced in marketing their invention.

Mollendorf, Clark R. Atanasoff: Forgotten Father of the Computer. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1988. The fascinating story of John V. Atanasoff, whose early electronic computer may have contributed to the development of the ENIAC.

Zachary, G. Pascal. Endless Frontier: Vannevar Bush, Engineer of the American Century. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1999. Bush, Roosevelt’s science advisor in World War II, figured prominently in early work on the computer. An excellent biography.