John G. Brainerd and Project PX (ENIAC) [Scanning the Past]

Abstract

Fifty years ago this month, the Proceedings of the Radio Engineers (IRE) included an article by John G. Brainerd on Project PX or ENIAC, which had recently been completed at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. The author had served as supervisor of the wartime project and was a professor of electrical engineering at the university. ENIAC was an acronym for Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer and the article characterized it as a "mathematical robot" and "the first all-electronic general purpose computer." Brainerd mentioned that the machine occupied a 30 x 50 foot room and contained approximately 18 000 electron tubes. He explained that ENIAC had been conceived originally as a machine to solve ballistics equations more quickly and accurately but was now being discussed "in connection with problems which were not even thought of when development began." the author continues with a brief biography of Mr. Brainerd and notes that a historical symposium celebrating the 50th anniversary of the ENIAC is scheduled to be held at the University of Pennsylvania on May 17-18, 1996.