1940-1950 Contributions to Computers

By hebsjudd

  • Atansoff-Berry Computer (ABC)

    Atansoff-Berry Computer (ABC)
    Inventor: Professor John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry The ABC was the first automatic electronic digital computer, and was the first computer to use vaccum tubes to do arithmetic calculations. The ABC developed important elements of modern computing including electronic switching and binary arithmetic.

  • Harvard Mark I

    Harvard Mark I
    Inventor: Howard Aiken and IBM Inspired by the Difference Engine that was invented in the 1820s by Charles Babbage, the Mark I computed and printed mathematical tables. It's most notable contribution was to the Manhatten Project in WWII and the development of how to detonate an atomic bomb.

  • Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC)

    Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC)
    Inventor(s): John Mauchly and J. Prespor Eckert The ENIAC was a programmable, electronic digital computer, the first computer to have all these criteria wrapped up in one package. It was designed and used to calculate artillery external ballisitc patterns and later used to study the practicallity of hydrogen bombs.

  • Williams-Kilburn tube

    Williams-Kilburn tube
    Inventor(s): Freddie Williams and Tom Kilburn The first random-access digital storage device, it was made from cathode ray tube that displayed a grid of dots that faded over time and needed to be refreshed periodically. This invention is similar to the memory refreshes that DRAM use in modern day computers.

  • Magnetic-Core Memory

    Magnetic-Core Memory
    Inventor(s): An Wang, MIT, IBM A non-volatile memory that was used predominatly from 1949-1975, this random-access memory replaced the William-Kilburn tube as it proved to be unreliable.