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. material294 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