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Complex Number Calculator (CNC)
George Robert Stibitz and Samuel Williams created the Complex Number Calculator, an example of remote access computing. The CNC was able to add, subtract, multiply, and divide complex numbers. What an advancement from pencil and paper. Stibitz himself holds 38 patents. -
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Computers in the 1940's
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Atanasoff–Berry computer (ABC)
John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry invented the ABC, named after them, computer. This computer was in a patent dispute until 1977. Binary math and electrical switching was introduced with the ABC computer. -
Harvard Mark 1
Howard Aiken and IBM created the Mark 1 and it was used at the end of WWII to help navy ships with computations. Parts of the machine are at the Smithsonian, IBM, and the Science center at Harvard. -
ENIAC
Built by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert at the University of Pennsylvania. ENIAC was by far the fastest computer at the time. In 1946 it was unveiled to the public. It weighed 10 tons and took up an entire room. -
Manchester Baby
Created by Frederic Williams, Tom Kilburn, and Geoff Toothill. It was built to test a program on it, specifically the Williams Tube which was the first random access memory to run on another computer.
