ENIAC: The First General-Purpose Electronic Computer
The 30-ton behemoth that ushered in the electronic age.
Explore this event on the interactive timeline →Built at the University of Pennsylvania, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) was the first programmable, electronic, general-purpose digital computer. It solved calculations 1,000 times faster than electromechanical machines.
Verified Facts
- ENIAC weighed 30 tons, took up 167 square meters of floor space, and required 18,000 vacuum tubes to operate. It consumed so much power (150 kW) that a rumor claimed it dimmed the lights in Philadelphia when turned on.
- It was programmed entirely by physically plugging in cables and turning dials—there was no stored "software" as we know it today.
- The primary programmers of ENIAC were six brilliant women—Kay McNulty, Betty Jennings, Betty Snyder, Marlyn Wescoff, Fran Bilas, and Ruth Lichterman—who were largely ignored by the press at the time.