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.
Read more about this topic: IBM SSEC
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The disadvantage of men not knowing the past is that they do not know the present. History is a hill or high point of vantage, from which alone men see the town in which they live or the age in which they are living.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)
“It is remarkable how closely the history of the apple tree is connected with that of man.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now.”
—Richard M. Nixon (b. 1913)