22 The Computer Comes of Age ‘oul ove ad ch impacto ey hadnt nd 2 physical embodimene appropiate tt a poor Babhage had discovered: Babbage ded a dtapoined man in 187: in of screny-one years ate the words ft workinganayil caging began openings Hard Universi Then toma Sequence Catalan, Mark, was 2 fly automati digital computer dat ted mechani vices oped cleat salve equations esrb in Boolean log Like Babbages machine, ns con trolled by punched media inthis ease tape instesd of card ls speed and capacty gel eceded anything shied to that Alte by even hemos sophie analog elculrng machines. “Theimpers kind ts Mack ar tho much of compute seach an devlopmen ad come the military Ono the tmore seriou problems of compuraion vith which the Uied Sates Navy edd hws aang th ory oral shel and mises. This a lative seaghforvard task the ‘heli to be edna vacua inthe eal worl, cs enormously complicated by uch considerations aospherc humid st dena he shape ofthe projet nd eli Gunnery crows were fred to operate byl and ron, sig approximations ‘pple by th bse mechanial aur the alle More T ‘uniNe’s MACHINE, no matter how ila in conception,pecs cautions and ister compilation oftbles x provided by theinw machine, wereofimportae sativa. Tina. Britain was deeply invalbed iv desperate progeam onstrctfllyeleconie digital computer With the German Shs stem having bem broken Bethy ack, thee was 20W Janurgen neo sped the proces ocomputcon invalid, Banks a superset letomsechanicl machines, themes fr nad Sanceof anyehingthe wor arlargehad eer heard of were Fling behind the ow of abl information Important menage were ing decoded to aero be of tse, Bult beeen bras and November 94, Colosns, as the eletoni computer was called, vas deeply sheouded in military secrecy that was an anigue fone he world knew exited e operated sing binay ait Inet which allowed ito get avay with realy smal comple Iment of goo vacuum tbe, Laver models used 2,900 cubes! ven ofthe machines were bering andimeditel after the war evidence ofa rly staggering efor of echnical kil amin- iseaive determination and ivenive gens ‘hrs the Alamic atthe University of Peonyhvania hundreds of operon resin kp busy computing aller aectory cls using the igs and ae of he at generation of eleeo- mnechanicl analog ealeulatng machines. Meanwhile work had iogun.on another arco cmp athe Moore Seo of Bec Fopincring onan electronic version ofthe Mak 194 machine ale he Hectonic Numeric Inegratorand Comper (Nt) {eas nor comple uni the war was over but was By Br the fists conpurer inthe world when was up and running, Thin hala fone panel» hundred et long contained 17-468 ‘octum bes ised he deci ater than inary te, hich soul hve wala forever eectonie sitchen) reuied a dei {ital powerline supply ts demand for 74 lowats of clei ‘o-occpied egheen hundred uae fet ofoorspaceand weighed they ts cost $800,000 bul in 945. Teams of engineers shu tednicians were equted o operate, Replacement oes The Computer Comes of Age 293 aloe waa chalenge one bum out on ave, eho. Iecould do nine dig dns ning cond tt ssomed ned th time In one oft tn etre in eweny cords an som nergy lean that ar ig humaopented clung shia ofthe Mahara Pje| foahouo comple wa popranmedbychangngthe wing an comple cone panel, whi lok ian cay keghone ‘choad wth inne of uc cons To chang progan ‘ara teiowsand fang habour of many hours ea eae then more fasting led ba by clesng ea wh wo occalonalscdenl Unack oe of he plage ot otic ad td cod dco. ick bck no eee random, ‘von bapere wh fonder wool te dans of swan made doves inthe couse of thee work at ender ‘hematin abe een bee had ben completed: Wi war tl eaping ing thy approached the tem Bali Recreh [abort frre fading ered «morsel machine called nme (Eearonic Dice Vale Aromatic Compute, “Then ite ve there oportniy toecaone fh igh mind frien ens nan hon mate wo hey Ine: a immenuble resi otc pre Mahenatiog John von Neumann was beg ano the rao fin as veteran J. reper Ecker and Jon Mauchly A pou See are eee ner borne on Neuman ume, ob von Neumann had ben chill prodigy in mathemati in mgr. Arete, he had exe doen chee ceginetigin Zach anda PAD. mmahemates fom th Une tiyofBadaes nobel he fly ofPincnon User ‘hee he Became x menber fhe Inst for Avenel Sey “ong vith ler nein comtempote ped hen heme imei ca (936-97, Alan Tang aot eon 2 ing fll) on Neumann pasedan ening range OF nee, pulhing mo n quantum theory. material294 SiRIT OF THE WER loi, continuous rome meteorology, scicy scm ic stomata theory andthe cheory of hydrodynamic Twa cs laerintest tht woud lad his iwoltement inthe Mankan Project Thee, he consibuted eh implosion method of devon ton which was din the atomic bomb exploded oe: Ne ‘Yon Neumuai inl exposure ro advanced compute, We are tl ook plc nally platform Aberden, Maryland, ome fhe amy Bliss Reseach abort which eas 2 conan Theron tsp wartime evening, he me Herman Goldsine who war she chie aon officer berween he als, Li andthe vane projet a the University of Penne Goldine eorgnned the great rmathermaica and introduced ims Though both men held cop-leel curry arash conversation was guarded at fis ntl Goldin made fence to ropes wth ya. He ae calc“ When teamed that vat concerned with the deopment fan deroni com pute capable of 9 lkpcationsprsecond the wale amos: Phere of our conenaton changed fom onc of welt good moto one mae ike te ol examination or the dco’ de- tye in mathematics In September 14, wo Neuman vite thetnic poet and son aie berames cman His impecton the vc popes was profound. Lazving ch nical aspect ofthe machine to Ecker and Mauch, he focused on theabstac problem ofthe elatonships beeen te logic com ponents. He moe pape on che teams developing ideas, which Golisineciclated and which was immediatly recognized sa breakthrough n compute architecture. Unfortunately bore only |sonNeumanns ume, and he des pope became known a ‘son Neumana achicrre" This nat nder him wo Mauchly nd Ecker though in hindgh he appesto ave ben innocent of any nent corop the eam wor There were major eamietions: the Moore Schoo em di- sce inocimonyand ines. Manchyand Beker had om ‘eid the commer poten rth machin they ere deeoping The Computer Comes of Age 295 and were already embroiled ina dispar with Moore Schoo officials ‘over patent right, Publication of von Neumannis pape scarcely helped matters for chem: the army argued che paper had placed pvc archivectue inthe public domain, making it unpatenable, Mauchly and Eckert angrily resigned their university postions, intending to develop a commercial version of tovac onthe awn, "They filed for patene protection in 1947; Bell Telephone Laborato- ries and anu vigorously intervened, and the cae deagged on and ‘on until 964, when the patent was finally issued, By then, Mauchly and Eckerc had sold their interests in the patent to Spetry Rand for $600,000. lt was another biter disap ointment for them: they had hoped to cary on in busines for themselves. But though they had both been deeply involved in oe top-secret military projects to build Nic and eDvAc, new mil Contacts were inespliably denied them. Fal Mauchly earned tharan armylest security check had found him co be “communisi- cally inclined," ‘The main basis for this allegation was an anony- mous colleague's recollection that Mauchly had once signed a petition (along with several hundred other scientists) calling for