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Mauchly obtains a PHD in physics
Mauchly graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a PhD in physics (Polachek 29). -
John Mauchly met John V. Atanasoff
John Mauchly met John V. Atanasoff, a physics professor at Iowa State College. Atanasoff, who was building what is considered the first digital electronic computer, the Atanasoff–Berry (AB) computer, invited Mauchly to visit. They spent several days discussing the AB computer’s design. This meeting brought patent issues for ENIAC later down the line. -
Eckert obtained a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering
Eckert graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering (Polachek 29) (Eckstein 39). -
John Mauchly conceives an idea
John Mauchly conceives the idea for an electronic computer that could perform complex calculations, leading to the development of ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) (Polachek 28). -
Eckert and Mauchly begin collaborating on the ENIAC
Eckert and Mauchly begin collaborating on the ENIAC project at the University of Pennsylvania. The U.S. Army commissions the project to calculate artillery firing tables for the military (Polachek 25). -
ENIAC is completed
The ENIAC's design was finished by January 1944, with a prototype capable of basic calculations by June 1944. The fully operational ENIAC was up and running by spring 1945 at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School, initially serving U.S. Army needs (Neukom 4). -
Eckert and Mauchly found Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation
Eckert and Mauchly leave the Moore School and found the Electronic Control Company (ECC later renamed Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation), the first American computer company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to further develop computing technology (Bergin 80). -
Contract with the National Bureau of Standards
By September, ECC had a contract with the National Bureau of Standards to study the specifications for an EDVAC-type computer to assist the US Census Bureau with census processing (Bergin 80). -
ENIAC is officially unveiled to the public
ENIAC was revealed to the public, becoming the first general-purpose electronic digital computer, capable of performing thousands of calculations per second. The project had remained secret during World War II (Neukom 4). -
ECC becomes EMCC
The Electronic Control Company (ECC) was renamed the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation (EMCC) (Bergin 80). -
EDVAC is renamed to UNIVAC
Eckert and Mauchly renamed their project the Universal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC) to separate their effort from the work at the Moore School and avoid further conflict upon having a patent dispute. -
Eckert and Mauchly begin work on UNIVAC
After selling their company to Sperry Rand Corp., Eckert and Mauchly developed faster, smaller machines, including the groundbreaking UNIVAC in 1950, the first commercial computer system (Costello 45). -
Remington Rand acquires Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation
Remington Rand acquires Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, and Eckert and Mauchly continue their work on UNIVAC under the Sperry Rand company (Costello 45). -
UNIVAC gains national attention
UNIVAC gains national attention when it successfully predicts the outcome of the U.S. presidential election for CBS News (Johnson 39). -
The first UNIVAC I is delivered to the United States Census Bureau
The first UNIVAC was delivered to the United States Census Bureau. UNIVAC was the first commercially produced computer in the United States and marks the shift from military to business applications (Bergin 80). -
EDVAC is put into operation
Engineers at the Moore School continued developing EDVAC. However, the project faced delays, and by the time EDVAC was operational at BRL, several other stored-program computers were already in use in the U.S. and England. (Bergin 80).