Grade Range: K-12Resource Type(s): Primary Source, ArtifactsDate Posted: 11/10/2008
The ENIAC was a large, general-purpose digital computer built to compute ballistics tables for U.S. Army artillery during World War II. Occupying a room 30 feet by 50 feet, ENIAC—the Electrical Numerical Integrator and Computer—weighed 30 tons and used some 18,000 vacuum tubes. It could compute 1,000 times faster than any existing device. Technicians used external plug wires, like those shown here, to program the machine.
During World War II, the U.S. military needed to find accurate ways to guide missiles to their ta...
computer, equipment, WW2, World War II, Second World War, 1940, war, technology, military history, innovation, 1900, invention, world war 2, conflict, twentieth century, WWII, 20th century, gun, military, Century