History
During World War II, International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) funded the construction of an Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC) for Howard H. Aiken at Harvard University. The machine, formally dedicated in August 1944, was widely known as the Harvard Mark I. The President of IBM, Thomas J. Watson, Sr., did not like Aiken's press release that gave no credit to IBM for its funding and engineering effort. Watson and Aiken decided to go their separate ways, and IBM began work on a project to build their own larger and more visible machine. Astronomer Wallace John Eckert of Columbia University provided specifications for the new machine; the project budget of almost $1 million was a fortune for the time. Francis "Frank" E. Hamilton (1898–1972) supervised both construction of the ASCC as well as its successor. Robert R. "Rex" Seeber Jr. was also hired away from the Harvard group, and became known as the chief architect of the new machine. Modules were manufactured in IBM's facility at Endicott, New York under Director of Engineering John McPherson after the basic design was ready in December 1945.
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