Archives:The Computer Pioneers: ENIAC

Abstract

The Computer Pioneers was a video oral history project produced by Richard Solomon in association with MIT in the early 1980s.  Originally intended to be a complete documentary film, the project was unfortunately never finished.  The footage in this segment details the development of ENIAC at the University of Pennsylvania's Ballistic Research Laboratory.  Participants include Kay Mauchly, Herman Goldstine, Dave Mackey, Richard Clippinger, and John Grist Brainerd.

ENIAC was built between 1943 and 1946 and is widely credited as the first electronic digital computer. ENIAC was developed to calculate ballistic tables for the United States military and, though the war ended before ENIAC was fully functional, it helped to solve a problem for the hydrogen-bomb project.

ENIAC Discussion Panel - March 19, 1983, Kay Mauchly, Herman Goldstine, Dave Mackey, Richard Clippinger and John Grist Brainerd.