[SIGCIS-Members] ENIAC history

[Ceruzzi, Paul]

It is fascinating to see Tom and others finding new and interesting things to say about the ENIAC and its programmers, a topic that some of us thought was tapped out years ago. I've been asked to write a short piece about the ENIAC in context.  I was reluctant to trot out the old cliché about how much power you have in a cell phone, etc. But I did come across this app for the iPhone, which puts the ENIAC in an interesting light:

http://www.winchester.com/learning-center/ballistics-calculator/Pages/ballistics-calculator-iphone.aspx

Maybe this is old news to many of you, but it was a surprise to me. A ballistics calculator that does what the ENIAC was originally built for. So it is not just an "ENIAC in a box"; it is "The Aberdeen Proving Ground in a box." Recall that in addition to the ENIAC, Aberdeen also had IBM punched card equipment,  including some custom-designed by Wallace Eckert (the IBM PSRC), a Bell Labs Model V relay computer, teams of human (mostly women) computers, and Lord knows what else. Who could have thought we'd come to this?

Paul

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