| There's been a controversy in the computing world | | | | prototype of a device being built at the Iowa State |
| when discussing what was the first computer invented. | | | | College called the Atanasoff-Berry Computer. |
| For years, the accepted pioneer of the digital age was | | | | Professor John Vincent Atanasoff and graduate |
| the ENIAC, short for Electronic Numerical Integrator | | | | student Cliff Berry began development on The ABC in |
| And Computer, perhaps because the story associated | | | | 1937 and it continued to be developed until 1942 at the |
| with the development was one worthy for tabloids | | | | Iowa State College (now Iowa State University). |
| and television. | | | | Eventually, it could solve equations containing 29 |
| As World War II was coming to a close, the Army had | | | | variables. |
| run short of mathematicians and were willing to recruit | | | | In 1973, U.S. Federal Judge Earl R. Larson released his |
| women. Six women were accepted to work on | | | | decision that the ENIAC patent by Mauchly and Eckert |
| "Project PX" at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore | | | | was invalid and the ABC was actually the first |
| School of Electrical Engineering, under John Mauchly | | | | computer invented. However, the ABC was never fully |
| and J. Presper Eckert. The women's job was to | | | | functional, so the popular opinion to this day has the |
| program firing tables and ballistic trajectories using | | | | ENIAC as the first electronic computing device. The |
| ENIAC. Their work laid the groundwork for | | | | Smithsonian Institute's Museum of American History in |
| programming. The completed machine was unveiled | | | | Washington displays most of what remains of the |
| on Feb. 14, 1946 at the University of Pennsylvania. The | | | | ENIAC, alongside bits of the ABC. |
| military had funded the cost of almost $500,000. It | | | | However, there's another twist to this tale. The most |
| occupied about 1,800 square feet and used about | | | | basic computer is an electronic device designed to |
| 18,000 vacuum tubes, weighing almost 50 tons. It is | | | | accept data, perform prescribed mathematical and |
| widely considered to be the first computer invented, | | | | logical operations and display the results. Germany's |
| considering its highly functional status through the late | | | | Konrad Zuse created what was essentially the first |
| 1950s. | | | | programmable calculator in the mid-1930s in his parent's |
| However, its "first" status was challenged in court | | | | living room. Zuse's Z1 had 64-word memory and a |
| when Rand Corp. bought the ENIAC patent and | | | | clock speed of 1 Hz. Programming the the Z1 required |
| started charging royalties. Honeywell Inc. refused to | | | | the user to insert tape into a punch tape reader and |
| pay and challenged the patent in 1967. It was learned | | | | then receive his results through a punch tape dispenser |
| that Mauchly, one of the leaders of the Project PX at | | | | - making it possibly the first computer invented. |
| the University of Pennsylvania, had seen an early | | | | |