1. In February 15, 1946, the United States introduced the world's first electronic computer, ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), marking a significant milestone in computing history.
2. The development of ENIAC was entrusted to a team known as the "Moiré Group," which consisted of four scientists and engineers: Eckert, Mauchly, Goldstine, and Bocks. At the time, the lead engineer, Eckert, was only 24 years old.
3. ENIAC was a massive machine, measuring 30.48 meters in length, 1 meter in width, and occupying an area of 170 square meters. It weighed 30 tons and consumed 150 kilowatts of power. The cost of constructing this computer was approximately $480,000. It utilized 18,000 vacuum tubes, 70,000 resistors, 10,000 capacitors, and 15,000 relays, along with 6,000 switches.
4. The computer could perform approximately 5,000 additions or 400 multiplications per second, which was 1,000 times faster than relay-based computers and 200,000 times faster than manual calculations.
5. The idea for ENIAC originated during World War II when the U.S. military requested the "Ballistic Research Laboratory" to provide six fire control tables daily. This task was labor-intensive, requiring over 200 calculators and took more than two months to complete.
6. Mauchly proposed the concept of an electronic computer in 1942, and his idea received support from the U.S. military. Von Neumann joined the team in the middle of the development, contributing significantly to critical issues in computer design.
7. ENIAC, despite its large size and high power consumption, was capable of performing 5,000 additions per second, had the ability to execute arithmetic and logic operations automatically, and could store data, signaling the beginning of a new era in scientific computing.
8. Although ENIAC's processing speed pales in comparison to today's supercomputers, its invention laid the foundation for the development and application of electronic computers.
