See Also: Computer - History
In 1971 Intel (see Intel Microprocessor Evolution) introduced the 4-bit 4004, the world’s first commercially-available Microprocessor. The 4004 provided as much computing power as the ENIAC, which filled an
entire room (see the picture to the right).
On June 5, 1943, the Moore School at the University of Pennsylvania and the
Aberdeen Proving Ground signed a contract to develop the first all-purpose
electronic Digital Computer. The result was ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Calculator),
which used thousands of Vacuum Tubes, and was completed in February, 1946. A year later John Mauchly and Presper
Eckert filed for the patent application for the computer. They didn’t know that Konrad Zuse had applied for a German patent for his computer in
1936. Ironically, although John Vincent Atanasoff of the Iowa State College
(later university) had failed to file for a patent on his ABC Machine, it was nevertheless the discussions between Mauchly and Atanasoff that
eventually led the District Court in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to invalidate the ENIAC
patent. Eckert and Mauchly fought for years to vindicate their claim. Both
Eckert and Atanasoff died in June, 1995.