Computer History: 1946 ENIAC co-inventor shares details of its design origins & vacuum tube circuits

Computer History: ENIAC. - J. Presper Eckert, co-inventor of ENIAC, one of world's Largest Computers, gives a rare, detailed interview. ENIAC -Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, was built from 1943 to 1946. In this fascinating six-minute excerpt, Eckert relates how the ENIAC it’s full name back in 1943, how the ENIAC vacuum tube circuit boards were used and why so many were needed. ~ ENIAC was the largest programmable, electronic, general-purpose digital computer, in the U.S., built from 1943 to 1945. It was kept a top secret project until February 1946. ENIAC was designed and primarily used to calculate artillery firing tables for the U.S. Army’s Ballistic Research Laboratory. It was built at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering of the University of Pennsylvania. It cost $487,000 (in 1945 ) which is equivalent to over $7 million dollars in 2022.

ENIAC was formally accepted by the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps in July 1946. It was transferred to Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland in 1947, where it was in continuous operation until 1955. Today, portions of the ENIAC are at the Univ. of Pennsylvania, the Smithsonian, and other locations.

J. P. Eckert and Dr. John W. Mauchly went on to start their own computer company in 1946, and later produced the BINAC (1949) and the UNIVAC 1 (1951) and as part of Remington Rand, became the world leader in digital computers until surpassed by IBM by the end of the 1950’s.

INFO : {Date of this Interview: John Presper Eckert Jr. (April 9, 1919 – June 3, 1995) was an American electrical engineer and computer pioneer. This interview looks like mid 1980's, but we are still researching the exact date of it.}


See also the original 1946 ENIAC film itself, at this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGk9W65vXNA

With thanks to Speakeasy Archives for restoration of this interview clip from very old source material.
http://www.speakeasyarchives.com