The invention of the universal electronic computer—how the Electronic Computer Revolution began

Abstract

This is the story of the causal sequence of the three programmable digital electronic computers that launched the Electronic Computer Revolution: the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer); the EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Computer); and the Von Neumann, or IAS (Institute for Advanced Study), Computer. All were designed and built from 1943 to 1951. The chief designers were Presper Eckert, John Mauchly, John Von Neumann, Arthur Burks, and Herman Goldstine. The interacting roles of truth-functional and memory logic with digital electronics are explained, together with the relation of these electronic computers to the theoretical calculating systems of Kurt Gödel and Alan Turing.