MacTutor
John Mauchly
Times obituary
Dr. John W. Mauchly, a co-inventor with Dr. J. Presper Eckert of Eniac, the world's first all-electronic digital computer, and a consultant to Sperry Univac, died on January 8. He was 72.
Born in Cincinnati, Mauchly grew up in Chevy Chase, Maryland. His father was a physicist at the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution in Washington, DC. He attended Johns Hopkins University, receiving a PhD in physics in 1932 at the age of 24.
In the following year, Mauchly went to Ursinus College to head the Physics Department. During his eight years at Ursinus, he began a project on weather analysis which led him to the conviction that a high-speed computer was necessary. Realizing that the speed problem could be solved by electronics, he began experimenting with equipment he had purchased himself.
In 1941, Dr. Mauchly left Ursinus to join the staff of the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. It was there he met J. Presper Eckert. From the proposal they submitted in 1942 describing an electronic computer came a contract from the United States Army Ordance Department to build it. The first all-electronic computer, Eniac (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), was completed in 1946.
Mauchly and Eckert left the University of Pennsylvania in 1947 to form their own company, the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, where they developed a second computer in 1949 called Binac (Binary Automatic Computer). Binac was the first computer to be programmed by internally stored instructions. The development of Binac served as a test of the plans Eckert and Mauchly had formulated for Univac I (Universal Automatic Computer). Univac I was the world's first general-purpose commercial computer capable of handling a wide variety of applications. Their first order for a Univac I came from the United States Bureau of the Census, and it was installed in March 1951.
Mauchly's basic interest was the application of computers, for which he developed the earliest high-level programming language. He was a founder and president of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). The Eckert-Mauchly Corporation was bought by Remington Rand in 1950, and for ten years Dr. Mauchly remained as Director of Univac Applications Research. Leaving in 1959, he formed Mauchley Associates, a consulting company that later introduced the Critical Path Method (CPM) for construction scheduling by computer. In 1967, he founded Dynatrend, a computer consulting organization. In 1973, he became a consultant to Sperry Univac.
Mauchly received numerous awards and honors. He was a life member of the Franklin Institute, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Society for Advancement of Management. He was elected a Fellow of the IRE, a predecessor society of IEEE, in 1957 and was a Fellow of the American Statistical Association. He received an LLD (Hon) degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a DSc (Hon) degree from Ursinus College. He was a recipient of the Philadelphia Award, the Scott Medal, the Goode Medal of AFIPS (American Federation of Information Processing Societies), the Pennsylvania Award, the Emanual R. Pione Award, the Potts Medal of the Franklin Institute, and numerous other awards.
Dr. John W. Mauchly, a co-inventor with Dr. J. Presper Eckert of Eniac, the world's first all-electronic digital computer, and a consultant to Sperry Univac, died on January 8. He was 72.
Born in Cincinnati, Mauchly grew up in Chevy Chase, Maryland. His father was a physicist at the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution in Washington, DC. He attended Johns Hopkins University, receiving a PhD in physics in 1932 at the age of 24.
In the following year, Mauchly went to Ursinus College to head the Physics Department. During his eight years at Ursinus, he began a project on weather analysis which led him to the conviction that a high-speed computer was necessary. Realizing that the speed problem could be solved by electronics, he began experimenting with equipment he had purchased himself.
In 1941, Dr. Mauchly left Ursinus to join the staff of the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. It was there he met J. Presper Eckert. From the proposal they submitted in 1942 describing an electronic computer came a contract from the United States Army Ordance Department to build it. The first all-electronic computer, Eniac (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), was completed in 1946.
Mauchly and Eckert left the University of Pennsylvania in 1947 to form their own company, the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, where they developed a second computer in 1949 called Binac (Binary Automatic Computer). Binac was the first computer to be programmed by internally stored instructions. The development of Binac served as a test of the plans Eckert and Mauchly had formulated for Univac I (Universal Automatic Computer). Univac I was the world's first general-purpose commercial computer capable of handling a wide variety of applications. Their first order for a Univac I came from the United States Bureau of the Census, and it was installed in March 1951.
Mauchly's basic interest was the application of computers, for which he developed the earliest high-level programming language. He was a founder and president of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). The Eckert-Mauchly Corporation was bought by Remington Rand in 1950, and for ten years Dr. Mauchly remained as Director of Univac Applications Research. Leaving in 1959, he formed Mauchley Associates, a consulting company that later introduced the Critical Path Method (CPM) for construction scheduling by computer. In 1967, he founded Dynatrend, a computer consulting organization. In 1973, he became a consultant to Sperry Univac.
Mauchly received numerous awards and honors. He was a life member of the Franklin Institute, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Society for Advancement of Management. He was elected a Fellow of the IRE, a predecessor society of IEEE, in 1957 and was a Fellow of the American Statistical Association. He received an LLD (Hon) degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a DSc (Hon) degree from Ursinus College. He was a recipient of the Philadelphia Award, the Scott Medal, the Goode Medal of AFIPS (American Federation of Information Processing Societies), the Pennsylvania Award, the Emanual R. Pione Award, the Potts Medal of the Franklin Institute, and numerous other awards.
You can see the original newsprint at THIS LINK
