A Brief History of the Computer

ENIAC, 1946 Although it was finished a year too late, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer was designed at the University of Pennsylvania
Jerry Cooke / Corbis

ENIAC, 1946
Regarded as the first general purpose electronic computer, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) was initially commissioned for the use in World War II, but not completed until one year after the war had ended . Installed at the University of Pennsylvania, its 40 separate eight-foot-high racks and 18,000 tubes were intended to help calculate ballistic trajectories.

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