John Mauchly

inducted in the class of 2004

Notable accomplishments:

• Co-designed (with J. Presper Eckert) ENIAC, the first general-purpose electronic digital computer (1945)
• Co-founded (with Eckert) the Electronic Control Company (later renamed the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation) (1946)
• Co-designed (with Eckert) the EDVAC computer (1949)
• Co-designed (with Eckert) the BINAC computer for Northrop Aircraft (1949)
• Co-designed (with Eckert) the UNIVAC, the first general-purpose business applications computer (1951)

Quotes:
“My interest in working on devices for aiding calculation began to show up, you might say, in the mid-thirties. And by the time I got into the Moore School I was convinced that a lot of
advantages would accrue if you could build your calculating devices out of electronic components instead of out of mechanical ones.” (Interview about the ENIAC with the National Museum of American History, Jan. 10, 1973)

“Months later, when the two accumulator tests had been passed I’d checked the crosstalk and made the two accumulators which were built integrate second order equations, such as sines and co-sines, hyperbolic sines and co-sines and exponentials and what not, the most we could do, with no further controls, the two feeding back and forth. At that time, I think there were some great sighs of relief, that at last there was an indication that this thing really might work, you know!” (Interview about the ENIAC with the Niels Bohr Library, May 6, 1977)

Suggested reading:
“ENIAC: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the World’s First Computer” by Scott McCartney (1999)

“ENIAC in Action” by Thomas Haigh, Mark Priestley, and Crispin Rope (2018)

Learn more:
Biography at Lemelson-MIT