Oral history interview with J. Presper Eckert, 1977 Oct. 28.

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Oral history interview with J. Presper Eckert, 1977 Oct. 28.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/63289531

Eckert discusses the development of the ENIAC at the University of Pennsylvania and the interaction of the personnel at the Moore School. He describes the difficulty in securing patent rights for the ENIAC and the problems posed by John G. Brainerd, the first director of the project, and by the circulation of John von Neumann's 1945 First Draft of the Report on EDVAC, which placed the ENIAC inventions in the public domain. Eckert claims that von Neumann had an interest in keeping these ideas from becoming patented, and deaccentuates von Neumann's role in the development of the EDVAC. Eckert also discusses the ethical questions that were raised by the corporate funding of the University of Pennsylvania's computer research.

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University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

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SNAC Resource ID: 7885488

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

Related Entities

There are 6 Entities related to this resource.

Stern, Nancy B.

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Von Neumann, John, 1903-1957

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John (Johann) Louis von Neumann (1903-1957) was born in Budapest and showed early signs of being a child prodigy. He entered the University of Budapest in 1921, but also attended the University of Berlin and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology before obtaining a degree in chemical engineering in 1925. He earned his Doctorate in Mathematics from the University of Budapest in 1927. After graduation, he worked at the University of Berlin before becoming a visiting professor to Princeton from ...

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The catalyst which advanced electrical engineering and the computer beyond the differential analyzer and to the ENIAC was the demands of the Army during the 1930s and particularly the Second World War. The practical need which the differential analyzer could not solve effectively was the preparation of firing tables and charts which showed how to aim artillery accurately. Too many people and too much time were required to prepare these tables. The federal government was willing to f...

Brainerd, John G. (John Grist), 1904-1988

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Computer science professor and co-designer of the ENIAC, EDVAC, and UNIVAC computers. From the description of Oral history interview with John W. Mauchly, 1976. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 63288500 Computer science professor and co-designer of the UNIVAC. From the description of Sperry Univac Point of View speech, 1973 Nov. 13. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 63276343 ...

Eckert, J. Presper (John Presper), 1919-1995

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Moore School of Electrical Engineering personnel in the 1940s. From the description of Oral history interview with J. Presper Eckert, Kathleen Mauchly, James McNulty, and William Cleaver, 1980 Jan. 23. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 63297207 Co-designer of the ENIAC, EDVAC, BINAC, and UNIVAC computers. From the description of Oral history interview with J. Presper Eckert, 1975. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record i...