Today's computers are fantastically complex machines, shaped by innovations dreamt up by hundreds of engineers and theorists over the last several decades. Does it even make sense, then, to ask who invented the computer? McCartney thinks so, and in ENIAC: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the World's First Computer, he's written a compelling answer to the question, crediting two relatively unsung Pennsylvanians with what is arguably the most significant invention of the century. McCartney's heroes are Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, and as he makes clear, there are those who might question the choice. Nobody doubts the pair designed and built ENIAC, the world's first fully electronic computer and a watershed in the history of computing. But for years the importance of their contribution, made during World War II and sponsored by the U.S. Army, has been downplayed. The brilliant John von Neumann's subsequent theoretical papers on computer design have made him the traditional "father of modern computing." And Eckert and Mauchly later even lost the patent on their machine when it was claimed that another early experimenter, John Atanasoff, had given them all the ideas about ENIAC that mattered.
But McCartney's meticulously researched narrative of Eckert and Mauchly's careers--covering the thrilling three years of ENIAC's construction and the frustrating decades of little recognition that followed--sets the record straight. He carefully weighs Atanasoff's claims and gives von Neumann the credit he earned for advancing computer science, but in the end he leaves no room for doubt: if anyone deserves to be remembered for inventing the computer, it's the two men whose tale he has told here so engagingly. --Julian Dibbell
From School Library Journal
YA-McCartney begins with a quick review of the history of calculating machines and the basic principles of "computing." This background allows readers lacking technical savvy to understand the technical designs that follow. What makes the book most interesting is the interweaving of the personalities of the men who created the first computer. It was the work of many people, but McCartney attributes the groundbreaking ideas to John Mauchly, an unconventional physics professor, and Presper Eckert, a young genius with an engineering background. While the academics at the University of Pennsylvania, MIT, and Harvard scoffed at Mauchly's idea for a "high speed vacuum tube device for calculation," the Army, desperate for a way to produce the firing tables for its artillery guns, decided to gamble on it. The Army awarded the contract for an Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) in 1943. Mauchly, Eckert, and their team worked feverishly night and day, seven days a week and were able to unveil their computer on February 14, 1946. The story does not stop there. McCartney follows these great inventors through their unsuccessful attempts at creating a commercial business, the lawsuit in which they lost their patent for ENIAC, and the continuing battle over their place in history. McCartney writes in a clean, smooth, journalistic style, as free as possible of jargon, which makes the story of ENIAC's development a fascinating, yet easy read.
Jane S. Drabkin, Potomac Community Library, Woodbridge, VA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Over the past decades, computers have played an increasing role in society; they are now used for writing papers, forecasting the weather, and even buying groceries. The computer revolution can be traced back to the creation of the ENIAC, the first electronic programmable computer. McCartney (Defying the Gods: Inside the New Frontiers of Organ Transplants, LJ 5/15/94) details the creation of this monumental machine and its two main inventors, John Mauchly and Presper Eckert. The ENIAC was the first computing machine to use electrical instead of mechanical devices to perform its calculations. The result was a huge increase in speed and accuracy. McCartney further narrates how Mauchly and Eckert also developed the first commercial computer, the UNIVAC, which catapulted the computer industry into a market of its own. Well researched and written, McCartneys book is good reading for those interested in computers or the history of technological innovation. Recommended for academic and larger public libraries.William Baer, Brigham Young Univ. Lib., Provo, UT
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Despite the ubiquity of the computer, little is known about its origins. McCartney explores that irony. He recalls the circumstances behind the chance meeting of John Mauchly and Presper Eckert in 1941 at the University of Pennsylvania and their collaboration to create the first programmable computer. Both men worked with the Defense Department on the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) project to build a machine to accurately calculate firing tables. McCartney carefully researched documents, archives, and the personal papers of Mauchly and Eckert and interviewed surviving ENIAC participants. He also traces the concepts behind the computer through earlier efforts as far back as the 1600s, when Blaise Pascal developed an adding machine to track tax payments in France. McCartney puts the development of computers into context--their ability to bring order to modern life by quickly counting and comparing data, and the promise of chaos by so small a thing as whether they will recognize the year 2000. Vanessa Bush
Review
"ENIAC is a fascinating journey through the genealogy of the modern computer--detailing the science, business, governmental, and academic factors that have shaped the evolution of surely the most important development of the twentieth century. A compelling read for anyone and everyone interested in how today's computers came to be." -- Robert L. Crandall, retired Chairman and CEO, AMR Corp/American Airlines
"This lively account of the computer pioneers of another era not only fills a black hole in the history of technology, but demonstrates that the same chaotic and unpredictable creative processes that gave birth to the PC led, decades earlier, to the creation of the first mainframes. Without ENIAC, there could have been no Apple II, no IBM PC, no Macintosh." -- Walt Mossberg, Personal Technology Columnist, The Wall Street Journal
...[ENIAC] tells an absorbing story and sheds light on a moment when our world was transformed. -- The New York Times, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt
About the Author
Scott McCartney is a staff writer for the Wall Street Journal. He is the author of Defying the Gods: Inside the New Frontiers of Organ Transplants and coauthor of Trinity's Children: Living Along America's Nuclear Highway. He lives in Dallas, Texas.
