An Outline Map of a Great Complexity: the ENIAC, 1948

JF Ptak Science Books LLC  Post 575

"The ENIAC exists independent of its history"--Brainerd and Sharpless

The ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer, b. 1943-45) was, basically, the world’s first operational, high-speed digital computer, and the father of the computer industry.  What we see to the left  is the floor plan for the computer-with-no-monitor—I know to most people working today with a computer that the idea of a “floor plan” for anything that is not in a dark place at NSA is not easily conceivable.  The 30-ton, 18,000 tube, 125 KHz ENIAC’s space was about 1800 square feet, where it was able to add about 5000 numbers/second, which was vastly faster than anything else in existence. It operated with 70,000 resistors, 10,000 capacitors, 5 million hand-soldered joints and 6,000 manual switches. It was a magnificent achievement.

There are many sites dedicated to the history of the ENIAC—all I want to do here is surface this detailed floor plan of the computer, which seems not to be online.  The diagram comes from an article by J.K. Brainerd and T.K. Sharpless (Sharp brain!), “The ENIAC”, from the February 1948 issue of Electrical Engineering, which defines the machine and its components in full.  The abstract states: “The ENIAC is the only electronic large-scale general-purpose digital computing device now in operation.  Its speed of operation compares favorably with other electric and mechanical computers.  Developed under wartime pressures, it has been of value not only in producing results but in pointing the way toward improvements for future designs.”  Indeed.  The authors, both of whom worked on the construction of the machine from 1943 onwards, describe it in the following ten points:

“1. Large-scale 2.General purpose 3. Digital 4. Electronic  5.  Uses 10-digit numbers   6. Uses decimal system   7. High speed   8. Synchronous operation    9. Some parallel operations possible 10. Complete flexibility within limits of programming capacity” (page 170).

The authors make the following (qualified) understatement: “electrical engineers in the United States
have had a major interest in development of large-scale computing devices” mentioning the major players as MIT, Moore School (U PA), GE, Bell Telephone, Harvard and the spelled-out “International Business Machine corporation”.  Within ten years of the end of WWII the second generation of computer was nearly functional, and (as can be seen in the wonderful computer tree below) there were dozens of new machines in operation. By 1960, the explosion was getting ready  with the advent of microminiaturization. 

The computers in operation from 1938 to 1948 include the following alphabetical hodgepodge: Z1 Z2 Z3 Z4, ABC, Bell Model II, S1, Mark I, Mark II, Elliot 152, ARC, Mark II, SSEM, and the more poetic Colossus and Demon. (Zuse Z1 1938;  Atanasoff ABC 1939;  Zuse Z2 1939;  Bell Labs Complex Calculator aka Model I1940;  Zuse Z3 1941;  Zuse S1 1942; Bell Labs Model II; 1943 Bletchley Colossus Mark I 1943; Zuse S2 1943; Bletchley Colossus Mark II 1944; Harvard Mark I 1944; Zuse Z4 1944; Bell Labs Model IV  1945;  Bell Labs Computer Model V  1947;  Elliott 152 1947; Elliott 153 1947;  Moore School ENIAC 1947;  Birkbeck ARC 1948; Harvard Mark II 1948; Manchester University SSEM 1948;  NSA DEMON 1948.)

A longer look at the alphabet soup of computer names (taken from my own chronology at my book store website): 

 

EDSAC 1949  

BINAC 1949

IBM CPC 1949

IBM SSEC 1949

Manchester University Mark I 1949

ERA ATLAS  1950

IBM 607 1950

Imperial College ICCE  1950

MIT Whirlwind 1950

NBS SEAC 1950

NPL Pilot ACE 1950

Burroughs UDEC 1951

Burroughs Lab Calculator  1951

CRC CADAC 102 U1951

Eckert-Mauchley UNIVAC I 1951

ERA 1101 aka ATLAS 1951

Ferranti Mark I 1951

GE 100 ERMA 1951

Harvard ADEC 1951

Harvard Mark III ADEC 1951

Lyons LEO 1951

Melbourne University CSIRAC 1951

ONR ABEL Fairchild Computer 1951

ONR Relay Computer aka ABEL Fairchild Computer 1951

 U of Illinois ORDVAC 1951

U of Toronto UTEC 195

Academy of Sciences BESM 1952

Birkbeck APE(R)C 1952

Elliott NICHOLAS 1952

ETL ETL Mk 1 1952

Harvard Mark IV 1952

IAS 1952

Los Alamos MANIAC I 1952

Mathematical Centre ARRA 1952

Moore School EDVAC  1952

NBS SWAC 1952 NCR 1952

NSA ABNER 1952

 U of Illinois ILLIAC 1952

Underwood Elecom 100 1952

 Zuse Z5 1952

Teleregister Spec Purpose Dig Data 1952

EMAL 1952

M-2 1952 A

N UJQ-2(YA-1) 1953

Argonne AVIDAC 1953 Board of Computing BESK 1953

BTM HEC 1953

Burroughs UDEC II