How ENIAC development began

The US War Department to fund electronic computer came on April 9 1943 ,ENIAC was formally dedicated at the University of Pennsylvania on February 15, 1946 and was heralded as a “Giant Brain” by the press. Ordnance Corps, Research and Development Command, led by Major General Gladeon M. Barnes. The total cost was about $487,000, equivalent to $7,051,000 in 2018
The ENIAC Designed Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation (EMCC) (March 1946 – 1950) was founded by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly.The EMCC they suggested name Electronic Diff Analyzer diff reflected the digital nature of the proposed machine and later the name ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer).
It was primarily for handing differential equation,In 1943 construction of ENIAC started. ENIAC was digital but instead of binary system (0, 1) it used decimal system of 10 digit counters(0-10), now we using only binary system.After a year of building around the time of D day in June 1944, Eckert–Mauchly were able to test the first two components amounting about one sixth of planned machine. They started with sample multiplication problems. The the next year Nov 1945 the ENIAC is fully operation. In the point it was able to perform five thousand additions and subtractions in one second which is hundred times faster than previous machines.
It is hundred feet long and eight feet high filling the space of what could be a modest three bedroom apartment it weighted close to thirty tons and had used 17468 vacuum tubes are used.
The completed machine was announced to the public the evening of February 14, 1946 and formally dedicated the next day at the University of Pennsylvania, having cost almost $500,000 (approximately $6,300,000 today). It was formally accepted by the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps in July 1946. ENIAC was shut down on November 9, 1946 for a refurbishment and a memory upgrade.
ENIAC parts
- Left wall
- Initiating Unit
- Cycling Unit
- Master Programmer – panel 1 and 2
- Function Table 1 – panel 1 and 2
- Accumulator 1
- Accumulator 2
- Divider and Square Rooter
- Accumulator 3
- Accumulator 4
- Accumulator 5
- Accumulator 6
- Accumulator 7
- Accumulator 8
- Accumulator 9
- Back wall
- Accumulator 10
- High-speed Multiplier – panel 1, 2, and 3
- Accumulator 11
- Accumulator 12
- Accumulator 13
- Accumulator 14
- Right wall
- Accumulator 15
- Accumulator 16
- Accumulator 17
- Accumulator 18
- Function Table 2 – panel 1 and 2
- Function Table 3 – panel 1 and 2
- Accumulator 19
- Accumulator 20
- Constant Transmitter – panel 1, 2, and 3
- Printer – panel 1, 2, and 3