15 February marked the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the first electronic computer
15 February 1946 was officially announced the creation of the world's first electronic computer ENIAC, which led to the calculation of real problems, calculations of ballistic tables for the army. Before that there were also computers, but they were only prototypes or experimental units.
ENIAC ( Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer -The electronic numerical integrator and computer) - the first electronic digital computer for general purpose, which can be reprogrammed to solve a wide range of tasks.
Архітектуру комп'ютера розробили 1943 року Джон Преспер Еккерт, Джон Вільям Моклі і Джон фон Нейман з університету Пенсильванії. Загалом комплекс містив 17468 ламп, 7200 кремнієвих діодів, 1500 реле, 70000 резисторів і 10000 конденсаторів.
Комп'ютер міг виконувати 300 операцій множення або 5000 операцій додавання за секунду. Обчислення виконувались у десятковій системі. До 1948 року для перепрограмування ENIAC'у потрібно було, фактично, перекомутувати його заново.
The computer occupied an area of about 170 square meters and its weight was 30 tons, and the consumption of electricity over 150 kW. The cost of development amounted to almost half a million dollars.
A computer used primarily for settlements related to the objectives of ballistics, nuclear weapons, forecasting weather, designing wind tunnels and studies of cosmic radiation, as well as for research and analysis of random errors rounding numbers.
ENIAC worked until 2 October 1955,when it was turned off forever. Soon the computer was dismantled, some of its panels are in museums US and UK.