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  • 75 years ago today

    From ram@ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) to alt.folklore.computers on Sat Jun 13 12:33:31 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.computers

    75 years ago [1951-06-14] today [2026-06-14],

    the US Census Bureau dedicated its first UNIVAC computer.

    Coverage in the general press was minimal.

    The UNIVAC I (Universal Automatic Computer) was the world's
    first commercially produced electronic digital computer,
    delivered to the US Census Bureau in 1951.

    Built by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, it was massive,
    weighing roughly 16,000 pounds and utilizing about 5,000 vacuum
    tubes to perform roughly 1,900 operations per second.

    It famously achieved public stardom during the 1952
    presidential election when it accurately predicted Dwight D.
    Eisenhower's landslide victory on live television using just
    a 1% voting sample.

    Unlike its predecessors, the UNIVAC I was groundbreaking
    because it handled both numerical and alphabetical data
    natively, and it replaced traditional punch cards with
    high-speed magnetic tape storage.


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  • From John Levine@johnl@taugh.com to alt.folklore.computers on Sat Jun 13 17:43:32 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.computers

    According to Stefan Ram <ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de>:
    75 years ago [1951-06-14] today [2026-06-14],

    the US Census Bureau dedicated its first UNIVAC computer.

    Unlike its predecessors, the UNIVAC I was groundbreaking
    because it handled both numerical and alphabetical data
    natively, and it replaced traditional punch cards with
    high-speed magnetic tape storage.

    The main reason it was groundbreaking was that it was the one of the
    first computers you could order and buy. It's widely considered the
    second, since the British Ferranti Mark I was shipped a few months earlier.

    All previous computers had been one-off research projects.
    --
    Regards,
    John Levine, johnl@taugh.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies",
    Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. https://jl.ly
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Bill Findlay@findlaybill@blueyonder.co.uk to alt.folklore.computers on Sat Jun 13 23:11:09 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.computers

    On 13 Jun 2026, Stefan Ram wrote
    (in article<today-20260613132806@ram.dialup.fu-berlin.de>):

    75 years ago [1951-06-14] today [2026-06-14],

    the US Census Bureau dedicated its first UNIVAC computer.

    Coverage in the general press was minimal.

    The UNIVAC I (Universal Automatic Computer) was the world's
    first commercially produced electronic digital computer,
    delivered to the US Census Bureau in 1951.

    The Ferranti Mark 1 begs to differ.
    --
    Bill Findlay

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From David Wade@g4ugm@dave.invalid to alt.folklore.computers on Sun Jun 14 08:38:42 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.folklore.computers

    On 13/06/2026 23:11, Bill Findlay wrote:
    On 13 Jun 2026, Stefan Ram wrote
    (in article<today-20260613132806@ram.dialup.fu-berlin.de>):

    75 years ago [1951-06-14] today [2026-06-14],

    the US Census Bureau dedicated its first UNIVAC computer.

    Coverage in the general press was minimal.

    The UNIVAC I (Universal Automatic Computer) was the world's
    first commercially produced electronic digital computer,
    delivered to the US Census Bureau in 1951.

    The Ferranti Mark 1 begs to differ.

    Aren't firsts so hard! The Ferranti MK1 was delivered to Manchester
    University in Feb 1951....
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2