Yesterday, my co-blogger Laci did some excellent posts on the development of a brilliant bombing device in WW II by the Brits.
I had intended to write a companion piece on the same date noting that our armed forces had, on the same day in 1943, contracted with the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electrical Engineering for ENIAC, (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer). Called the 'Giant Brain' when it was made public, it was the first general purpose computer, intended to calculate artillery firing tables; a not inconsiderable contribution to the same WW II war effort by the US.
From Wikipedia:
ENIAC (pron.: /ˈini.æk/ or /ˈɛni.æk/; Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer)[1][2] was the first electronic general-purpose computer. It was Turing-complete, digital, and capable of being reprogrammed to solve a full range of computing problems.[3]please read more here.
ENIAC was designed to calculate artillery firing tables for the United States Army's Ballistic Research Laboratory.[4][5] When ENIAC was announced in 1946 it was heralded in the press as a "Giant Brain".[6] It had a speed of one thousand times that of electro-mechanical machines. This mathematical power, coupled with general-purpose programmability, excited scientists and industrialists. The inventors promoted the spread of these new ideas by conducting a series of lectures on computer architecture.
ENIAC's design and construction was financed by the United States Army, Ordnance Corps, Research and Development Command which was led by Major General Gladeon Marcus Barnes. He was Chief of Research and Engineering, the Chief of the Research and Development Service, Office of the Chief of Ordnance during World War II. The construction contract was signed on June 5, 1943, and work on the computer began in secret by the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electrical Engineering starting the following month under the code name "Project PX". The completed machine was announced to the public the evening of February 14, 1946[7] and formally dedicated the next day[8] at the University of Pennsylvania, having cost almost $500,000 (approximately $5,900,000 today). It was formally accepted by the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps in July 1946. ENIAC was shut down on November 9, 1946 for a refurbishment and a memory upgrade, and was transferred to Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland in 1947. There, on July 29, 1947, it was turned on and was in continuous operation until 11:45 p.m. on October 2, 1955.[2]
ENIAC was conceived and designed by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert of the University of Pennsylvania.[9] The team of design engineers assisting the development included Robert F. Shaw (function tables), Jeffrey Chuan Chu (divider/square-rooter), Thomas Kite Sharpless (master programmer), Arthur Burks (multiplier), Harry Huskey (reader/printer) and Jack Davis (accumulators). ENIAC was named an IEEE Milestone in 1987.[10]
Whatever the war, or undeclared war / conflict, our armed forces give so much to the rest of us, sometimes they give their lives. Not only today, but every day, if you see a member of our military thank them. If you see their family members - thank them too, for they are also making great sacrifices.
And as our political cycle ramps up for 2014, please remember that any government large enough and costly enough to wage two simultaneous war efforts which enrich corporations and the wealthy NEEDS to be large enough to pay the members of our armed forces, to see they receive health care not only while in active service, but for themselves and their families when they return home to civilian life. Our VA is a shambles, and is not doing the job that needs to be done for our armed forces. And our support for our vets integrating into the private sector is nearly as bad.
The real purpose of posting about our contracting with U of PA for ENIAC was two-fold; a little bragging about the US accomplishment on the same date as the famous raid by the Brits in WW II, but also to underline how important the investment in government spending is to support our military, and to underline as well how important it is that we invest in maintaining the excellence of our universities.
Oppose right wing efforts to enrich their cronies, while cheating and under-serving those who sacrifice so much. It is important that we fund what needs to be funded, and that we stop agreeing with those who want to shrink government until it could be drowned in the bathtub. Oppose right wing hypocrisy that gives lip service to the military, rich contracts to the military industrial complex to line their pockets, but does not support the people who put their boots on the ground (or in the air, or at sea).
Support our veterans; don't support the right wing nuts that exploit them.
