ENIAC Patent Trial Summary

ENIAC Patent Trial

The Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) was proposed by John Mauchly as early as August of 1942. In order to make this work, Mauchly, a mathematician and physicist, worked with electrical engineer, Presper Eckert (Put a comma here.—zs) to make it happen. The design and construction of the ENIAC was financed by the United States Army, Ordnance Corps, and Research and Development Command. The construction contract was signed in June of 1943 and they began working on it a month later at the University of Pennsylvania’s Moore School of Electrical Engineering in secret. The ENIAC was finally completed in November 1945 and tested (used to test—zs) the feasibility of the hydrogen bomb, which was deemed successful. It was introduced to the public in February of 1946 as a “thinking machine.”

After the creation and completion of the ENIAC, Mauchly and Eckert thought about creating a potential commercial use of a computer, similar to today’s laptops and desktops, which was visionary at the moment.

An attempt was made by Irven Travis to restructure the accounting and produces of the Moore School in 1946. Harold Pender, the Dean at the time, wrote a letter to Mauchly and Eckert demanding them to sign a patent release form for all the work that they had completed at the University. Pender also demanded that they place the interest of the University first rather than using the ENIAC for their own commercial interests. Since Moore School and Mauchly and Eckert could not agree on such terms, Mauchly and Eckert resigned from the University of Pennsylvania in March of 1946 and formed their own company known as Electronic Control Company and later known (Perhaps, “renamed”—zs) as Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation in 1950. After the dispute, the machine itself was eventually moved to the basement of the Ballistic Research Lab and was switched off for the last time on October 2,