Tech History Made on February 14, 1946

On this day in 1946 the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) was unveiled at The University of Pennsylvania. The U.S. Army had contracted the design and production for use U.S. Army;s Ballistic Research Laboratory in calculating artillery firing tables. The ENIAC "was the first high-speed, purely electronic,Turing-complete, digital computer capable of being reprogrammed to solve a full range of computing problems". Other systems had achieved these feats but not all together and with such speed. Despite it's $500,000 dollar price tag 9 months later it was shutdown for a memory upgrade and refurbishment. During this time it was moved to Aberdeen Proving ground in Maryland where it was turned back on July 29 1947. The ENIAC remained in operation until October 2,1955. During its operation most of the programming was done by six women who were later inducted into the Women in Technology Hall of Fame. To read more about the computer and the people behind check out this article.