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"The ENIAC will provide the means of extending the frontiers of knowledge with all that implies for the betterment of mankind... It provides the firm bases for developing the tools of the future in man's endless search for scientific truths" --Major General Barnes, February 15, 1946 at the official dedication ceremony for the ENIAC).
First printing of the
first description of the first electronic computer |
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| HARTREE, D.R. "The
ENIAC, an Electronic Calculating Machine," in Nature, Vol.
157, No. 3990, April 20, 1946, p.527 (the complete issue). WITH:
"The ENIAC, an Electronic Computing Machine," in Nature, Vol.
158, no. 4015, October 12, 1946), pp. 500- 506. Octavo, original
wrappers. Housed in custom half-leather box. $3800.
First printing of the first description of the first electronic computer. News of the ENIAC began appearing in the popular press as early as February, 1946, but it wasn't until Douglas Hartree published the first authoritative description of the ENIAC in Nature that the great invention was brought to the awareness of scientists and engineers worldwide. The October issue elaborates on the first description in the April issue, providing great detail on the workings of the machine, complete with some of the earliest published photographs of the ENIAC. Small stamp on wrappers, text block loose in October issue, otherwise fine. Since large numbers of copies were bound in cloth for institutional libraries, it is extremely scarce to find a set in such fine condition in original wrappers. |
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The ENIAC contained 18,000 vacuum tubes, about
70,000 resistors, 10,000 capacitors, and 6,000 switches. It was 100 feet long,
10 feet high, and 3 deep. It consumed 140 kilowatts of power, so much power
that, when operated, the lights in a nearby town dimmed. It was an
energy-devouring behemoth.
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(image from October issue of Nature) |
