Generation One - Vacuum Tubes
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The first computers were huge and expensive to run and maintain, they not only took up entire rooms, and required a lot of electricity, but generated enormous ammounts of heat which was the cause of many malfunctions. The ENIAC (Electrical Numerical Integrator And Calculator), EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer), UNIVAC I (UNIVersal Automatic Computer) and IBM 650 were among the first. The Vacuum Tube was a key invention that allowed all of these computers to be created, it is a sealed glass enclosure that acted as an amplifier to strengthen weaker signals, and as a switch to stop and start the flow of electricity. Even with proper cooling however, Vacuum Tubes were prone to overheating and breaking down. The Vacuum Tube was also important in the creation of the radio. |
ENIAC
| The ENIAC (Electrical Numerical Integrator And Calculator) was developed in 1946 by John Mauchly and John Presper Eckert. It was sponsored by the American Military for calculation needs, the ENIAC, in one second, could calculate 5000 additions, 357 multiplications or 38 divisions. ENIAC's first tasks were for the military, calculating artillery firing tables, and calculating different settings for weapons under varied conditions for accuracy. The ENIAC is regarded as the first successful digital computer. It contained more than 18,000 Vacuum Tubes, 2000 of which had to be replaced monthley. |  |
UNIVAC I
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The UNIVAC (UNIVersal Automatic Computer) is an important land mark in this generation because it was the first comercially availuable computer, the first being delivered in 1951. A total of 46 Univac computers were delivered. The UNIVAC could handle both numbers and alphabetic characters. |