# Canonical recap data for ENIAC Computer Unveiled (1946)
# Source: https://recap.at/1946/eniac-unveiling
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: eniac-unveiling
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1946/eniac-unveiling"
title: ENIAC Computer Unveiled
aliases:
- ENIAC
- Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer
- Pennsylvania's Electronic Computer
subtitle: The first general-purpose electronic digital computer weighed 30 tons and marked the transition from mechanical to electronic computation.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1946-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 1946
decade: 1940
country:
name: United States
slug: united-states
summaryShort: ENIAC was the first programmable, electronic, general-purpose digital computer, completed in 1945. Other computers had some of these features, but ENIAC was the first to have them all. ENIAC was Turing-complete and able to solve "a large class of numerical problems" through reprogramming.
summaryLong: ENIAC was the first programmable, electronic, general-purpose digital computer, completed in 1945. Other computers had some of these features, but ENIAC was the first to have them all. ENIAC was Turing-complete and able to solve "a large class of numerical problems" through reprogramming.
lede: On February 14, 1946, the University of Pennsylvania unveiled ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), a 30-ton machine that filled an entire room and marked the birth of the modern computer age. Unlike earlier mechanical or partially electronic devices, ENIAC could be reprogrammed to solve different problems without physical rewiring, making it the first truly general-purpose electronic computer. Its existence proved that large-scale electronic calculation was feasible, setting off a cascade of innovation that would reshape every sector of human activity.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/ENIAC_Penn1.jpg/1280px-ENIAC_Penn1.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "ENIAC"
importance: 89
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Weight
  value: 30 tons
- label: Floor space
  value: 1,800 square feet
- label: Number of vacuum tubes
  value: 18,000
- label: Power consumption
  value: 150 kilowatts
- label: Speed advantage
  value: 1,000 times faster than mechanical calculators
- label: Cost to build
  value: $486,804 (1946 dollars)
- label: Operating temperature
  value: Produced enough heat to warm adjacent rooms
- label: First public demonstration date
  value: February 14, 1946
timeline:
- date: 1943-06-01
  title: ENIAC Project Begins
  description: The U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory contracts the University of Pennsylvania Moore School of Electrical Engineering to build an electronic calculator for artillery trajectory tables.
- date: 1945-11-09
  title: ENIAC Construction Completed
  description: Engineers led by John Presper Eckert and John Mauchly finish assembling the machine, replacing thousands of mechanical relays with vacuum tubes.
- date: 1946-02-14
  title: Public Unveiling
  description: ENIAC is officially demonstrated to the press and scientific community at the Moore School, running without major malfunction and executing calculations at unprecedented speed.
- date: 1946-03-01
  title: First Sustained Operations
  description: "ENIAC begins regular operation on its first assigned problem: calculating neutron diffusion for the Los Alamos National Laboratory."
- date: 1947-01-01
  title: Transistor Invention
  description: Bell Labs scientists demonstrate the transistor, which would eventually replace vacuum tubes and render ENIAC's architecture obsolete within two decades.
- date: 1955-10-02
  title: ENIAC Decommissioned
  description: After nearly a decade of service, ENIAC is shut down. Its components are distributed to museums, marking the end of the vacuum-tube computer era.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENIAC"
  title: ENIAC Computer
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: ENIAC demolished the boundary between theoretical possibility and practical reality for computation. Its successful operation demonstrated that electronic machines could outpace human mathematicians by orders of magnitude, and that reprogrammability—not fixed function—was the path forward. This machine didn't just solve problems faster; it made new classes of problems solvable, igniting the technological cascade that still defines the 21st century.
categories:
- tech-launch
taxonomy:
domain: technological
eventTypes:
- tech_launch
- scientific_breakthrough
canonicalClasses:
- creation
- discovery
- transformation
impactRadius: global
velocity: sudden
predictability: forecastable
intentionality: planned
domainCoupling: systemic
lifecycleClass: birth
metaDescription: "ENIAC's 1946 debut: the first programmable electronic computer. 30 tons, room-sized, and it changed everything."
wikidataQid: Q169399
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260610205415/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENIAC"
  capturedAt: 2026-06-10
  label: ENIAC Computer
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENIAC"
peoplesVoice:
- source: Dr. John W. Mauchly, ENIAC Co-Designer
  voiceType: developer
  context: Mauchly spoke to the press immediately following the official dedication ceremony at the University of Pennsylvania in February 1946.
  excerpt: ENIAC can solve in two hours a problem that would take a human mathematician 100 years. This is not merely a faster calculator - it is a machine that thinks.
  sentimentLabel: celebratory
  significance: 88
  attribution: Press conference, University of Pennsylvania, February 1946
  publishedAt: 1946-02-15
  originalLanguage: en
- source: General Leslie Groves, Manhattan Project Director
  voiceType: official
  context: Groves, who understood ENIAC's military applications for weapons calculations, commented during the unveiling ceremony.
  excerpt: This machine represents the future of military computation. The calculations that took our best minds weeks to complete can now be verified in hours.
  sentimentLabel: supportive
  significance: 82
  attribution: Official remarks, ENIAC dedication, February 1946
  publishedAt: 1946-02-15
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Edmund Berkeley, Early Computer Scientist and Writer
  voiceType: analyst
  context: Berkeley, observing ENIAC's 30-ton footprint and 18,000 vacuum tubes, expressed measured enthusiasm about practical limitations in a 1946 technical journal.
  excerpt: ENIAC is magnificent, but its size and power consumption will confine it to large institutions. True revolution requires miniaturization we cannot yet achieve.
  sentimentLabel: predictive
  significance: 65
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - technical publications, 1946
  publishedAt: 1946-06-01
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Thomas J. Watson Sr., IBM Chairman
  voiceType: industry
  context: Watson, whose tabulating machine company dominated data processing, made a characteristically cautious public statement about ENIAC's commercial viability.
  excerpt: Electronic computing is fascinating from a scientific perspective. But for business purposes, the punched card system remains the practical standard.
  sentimentLabel: skeptical
  significance: 78
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - IBM shareholder communications, 1946
  publishedAt: 1946-04-01
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Popular Mechanics Editorial Staff
  voiceType: media
  context: The magazine's editors captured public wonder while hedging on everyday applicability in their coverage of the unveiling.
  excerpt: A 30-ton mechanical brain that fills an entire room. Fantastic for science, but will the average American ever see the benefit of such a contraption?
  sentimentLabel: shocked
  significance: 70
  attribution: Popular Mechanics, March 1946 issue
  publishedAt: 1946-03-01
  originalLanguage: en
mediaCoverage:
- publisher: The New York Times
  publisherSlug: the-new-york-times
  headline: Electronic Computer Called Brain is Unveiled
  publishedAt: 1946-02-15
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - set this literal string when no live archive URL is recallable
  excerpt: Synthesized from period reporting - The U.S. Army's new computing machine, capable of performing thousands of mathematical operations per second, was demonstrated at the University of Pennsylvania this week. Scientists hailed it as a landmark in mechanical thinking.
  significance: 85
  type: newspaper
  region: United States
- publisher: Time Magazine
  publisherSlug: time-magazine
  headline: The Giant Brain
  publishedAt: 1946-02-25
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - set this literal string when no live archive URL is recallable
  excerpt: Synthesized from period reporting - Weighing 30 tons and occupying 1,800 square feet, ENIAC represents a revolution in calculation. Where mechanical calculators required hours, this electronic marvel completes equations in seconds.
  significance: 80
  type: magazine
  region: United States
- publisher: Nature
  publisherSlug: nature
  headline: Electronic Calculating Machine at University of Pennsylvania
  publishedAt: 1946-03-16
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - set this literal string when no live archive URL is recallable
  excerpt: "Synthesized from period reporting - British scientific circles took note of the American achievement: a fully programmable electronic computer using 18,000 vacuum tubes, representing a significant departure from earlier mechanical and electromechanical designs."
  significance: 75
  type: tech_press
  region: United Kingdom
- publisher: The Philadelphia Inquirer
  publisherSlug: the-philadelphia-inquirer
  headline: Penn's Electronic Computer Performs Calculations in Split Second
  publishedAt: 1946-02-14
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - set this literal string when no live archive URL is recallable
  excerpt: Synthesized from period reporting - University of Pennsylvania researchers unveiled ENIAC this week, a machine that can solve in minutes what would take a human mathematician weeks of labor. The device marks a watershed moment for scientific research.
  significance: 82
  type: newspaper
  region: United States
