Theres an old joke that goes like this: A bunch of scientists created a huge machine capable of complex calculations and called it UNIVAC. Eager to test their invention, they asked it, Is there a God? The vacuum tubes hummed and the tape spools spun for several minutes. Finally, the machine spit out a little card, on which was written, THERE IS NOW. On this day in 1951, the Remington Rand Corporation signed a contract to deliver the first UNIVAC computer to the U.S. Census Bureau. UNIVAC I (which stands for Universal Automatic Computer) took up 350 square feet of floor space — about the size of a one-car garage — and was the first American commercial computer.
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 14:42:41 +0000