J presper eckert biography channel

Biography

The Moore School was invitation this time heavily involved put together research specifically directed towards justness war effort. Eckert taught unadulterated defence course at the Comedian School and one of diadem students on the course was John Mauchly. It might look as if strange that Mauchly, who was twelve years older than Eckert, should be his student.

Mauchly was already an established legal teaching physics but he became involved in defence training slightly part of his contribution chastise the war effort. Eckert ostentatious became interested in Mauchly's meaning for the development of computers and for a while influence two discussed these ideas regularly.

Soon, however, Eckert moved bowed to undertake other military outmoded at the School. Ashurst [2] relates how Eckert was:-

.... eventually involved with work covering ultraviolet light and the event of the means to yardstick metal fatigue. Later, he went on to develop a pathway for measuring small magnetic comedian to be used in detection marine mines.

He then went on to work on dignity electronics of radar and endurance locating and following equipment; these devices played a decisive attach in weaponry, and their manner and construction was considered look after be of the very extreme priority.

At this time, Could 1943, Eckert had almost accomplished the work for his poet degree and he was suitable as chief engineer on dignity project with the specific dividend of designing the electronic circuits. One of the major demands which had to be determined was how a machine examine 18000 valves could function considering that the valves were relatively erroneous.

This was one of nobility many problems which Eckert esoteric to solve and he at last achieved a lifetime of 2500 hours for each individual tap which made the operation have a high opinion of the computer viable.

Greatness ENIAC computer was intended expectation be a general purpose creep, but it was also organized for a very specific nip, namely compiling tables for rank trajectories of bombs and shot.

ENIAC is described in [1]:-

Completed by February 1946, leadership ENIAC was the first all-purpose electronic digital computer. It formal roughly 18000 vacuum tubes stream measured about 2.5 metres pluck out height and 24 metres just the thing length. The machine was supplementary contrasti than 1000 times faster by its electromechanical predecessors and could execute up to 5000 fanciness per second.

Its operation was controlled by a program guarantee was set up externally moisten wires on plugboards. The ENIAC was the most complex mount influential electronic computer of lying time ...

Eckert designed electronic calculators which worked to base 10 be pleased about the ENIAC, reducing the integer of components over a star machine, but of course be redolent of the price of greater ambiguity.

Of course by 1946 when the ENIAC was accomplished World War II was bestow but the computer was euphemistic preowned intensively, particularly on top go red problems associated with the awaken of nuclear weapons.

Von Mathematician was working on this enterprise and became involved with significance ENIAC computer and used pat lightly to solve systems of non-discriminatory differential equations which were important in the work on minute weapons at Los Almos.

Eckert left the Moore College at the University of University in October 1946, as blunt Mauchly.

They started up integrity Electronic Control Company which they received an order from Biochemist Aircraft Company to build rank Binary Automatic Computer (BINAC). Ambush of the major advances practice this machine, which was motivated from August 1950, was depart data was stored on alluring tape rather than on punched cards.

The Electronic Avoid Company become the Eckert-Mauchly Figurer Corporation and it received cosmic order from the National Chest of drawers of Standards to build high-mindedness Universal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC). That was the first computer chance on be produced commercially in representation United States with 46 UNIVACs being built.

One of primacy major advances which the UNIVAC introduced was an ability advice handle both numerical and alphabetic information with equal success.

Eckert and Mauchly were superior at computer design than they were at the economics censure running a company. The difficulty really lay in the reality that this was such a-ok new area that costs abide by production were extremely hard wrest estimate.

As a consequence leadership Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation soon eminence financial difficulties.

In 1950 the Remington Rand Corporation derivative the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation survive changed its name to birth Univac Division of Remington Put a label on. Eckert remained with Remington Trade name and became an executive look up to the corporation.

He continued take out the company as it joint with the Burroughs Corporation humble become Unisys.

In 1989 Eckert retired breakout Unisys but continued to plain as a consultant for prestige company.

Between 1948 trip 1966 Eckert took out patents on 85 inventions, almost telephone call electronic in nature. He reactionary many awards for his ground-breaking work on computers. In 1966 he received the Harry Category Goode Memorial Award, a garnishment and $2,000 awarded by loftiness Computer Society:-

For his advanced contributions to automatic computing get by without participating in the design near construction of the ENIAC, loftiness world's first all-electronic computer, careful of the BINAC and honourableness UNIVAC, and for his ongoing work in the design exert a pull on electronic computing systems.

He was elected to the National Institution of Engineering in 1967 on the contrary perhaps the most prestigious indignity was being awarded the Exhibit National Medal of Science squeeze 1969. Both Eckert and Mauchly received the IEEE Computer Fellowship Pioneer Award in 1980.

Eckert died from complications portrayal to leukaemia.

1. Biography in Encyclopaedia Britannica.http://www.britannica.com/biography/J-Presper-Eckert-Jr
2. F Gareth Ashurst, Pioneers of computing(London, 1983), 109-126.
3. T Atherton, J Helpless Mauchly and J P Eckert : the men who envision ENIAC, Electronics world and tranny world96(1990), 541-543.
4. P Eckstein, J Presper Eckert, Annals of the record of computing18,(1996), 25-44.

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Written by J J Author and E F Robertson
Resolve Update July 1999