Word: eniac
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Dates: during 1946-1946
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...huge gadget was known as the "electronic numerical integrator and computer." Its inventors-Dr. John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert-called it "eniac." For their blue-ribbon audience, they demonstrated how eniac could compute the trajectory of a shell in less time than it would take the shell to reach its target. Thus, in a trice, eniac showed its superiority over all its predecessors...
...Mystery. Eniac does nothing mysterious. It does not need to, for the most complicated mathematical problem can be broken down into addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The trouble is that these familiar operations, involving very large numbers, must usually be repeated over & over thousands of times in all sorts of combinations...
That is where eniac shines. Its nimble electrons can add two numbers of ten digits in 1/5000th of a second. New data can be fed into it at any stage of the process. If necessary, it can "remember" numbers and hold them for future use. An elaborate system of controls makes eniac so flexible that its inventors have given up looking for problems it cannot handle. There is plenty of work ahead for eniac, its inventors say. In nearly every science and every branch of engineering, there are proved principles which have lain dormant for years because their use required...