UNIVAC I: The First Commercial Computer
When computing left the laboratory and entered the corporate world.
Explore this event on the interactive timeline →While the Ferranti Mark 1 narrowly beat it to market by one month in the UK, the UNIVAC I (Universal Automatic Computer) became the first widely publicized commercial computer in the United States, famously predicting the outcome of the 1952 presidential election on national television.
Verified Facts
- It was designed by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, the same engineers who built the ENIAC.
- On election night 1952, with only a ~5.5% sample of the voter turnout, UNIVAC correctly predicted an Eisenhower landslide. CBS news anchors didn't believe the machine and refused to broadcast its prediction until the actual results proved it right.
- It used magnetic tape for data storage, an incredible innovation over the bulky, slow punch cards of previous machines.