The First Computer

    Many people have computers that fit on a desk, in a briefcase, or even in a pocket. they can carry their computers back and forth to work. they can also use their computers on buses and planes. They couldn't  have done these things with the first computer. The first computer was enormous! It weighed 30 tons, stood  18 feet high, and had 500 miles of wiring. even its name was huge. It was the Electronic Numerical Integrator and computer, called ENIAC for short.  This computer was built at the University of Pennsylvania.  The United States government and the University of Pennsylvania developed ENIAC to figure out the course of bombs during the Second World War.  Building it took almost four years.  Finally, on Valentine's Day in 1946, the builders turned it on for the first time, starting the computer age.  The first computer solved problems faster than any person ever could.  It could add 5,000 numbers in a second.  It can multiply 300 numbers just as quickly.  As amazing as the first computer was, it can't to compare today's computers.  The ENIAC could only store 200 digits.  Today's computers can store 16 million digits.  In addition, many of today's computers are 60,000 times faster than ENIAC was.  Even some calculators that would fit in your pocket are more powerful than the giant ENIAC.  The massive machine was hard to use too.  It didn't have a keyboard.  Engineers had to rewire it for each new problem.  It couldn't print numbers or letters either.  Instead, it used flashing lights to signal its answers.  Even though modern computers are far better, they are based on ideas that started with ENIAC.  Scientists used ENIAC for nine years.  They retired the computer in 1985.  Now, parts of the computer are stored in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C.