J. Presper Eckert - Revision history

Jnc: Links fix

2025-02-27T13:56:16Z

Links fix

Jnc: /* Further reading */ link AHC

2024-12-06T00:47:39Z

‎Further reading: link AHC

Jnc: Mention that Wilkes had uncovered evidence that showed that Pres had come up with the idea of the stored program before von Neumann

2024-12-01T14:49:49Z

Mention that Wilkes had uncovered evidence that showed that Pres had come up with the idea of the stored program before von Neumann

Jnc: /* External links */ Note coverage of the division of credit between Pres and von Neumann for the EDSAC ideas

2024-12-01T03:40:01Z

‎External links: Note coverage of the division of credit between Pres and von Neumann for the EDSAC ideas

Jnc: A blatant ripoff of the Mauchly page

2024-12-01T03:28:22Z

A blatant ripoff of the Mauchly page

New page

'''J. Presper "Pres" Eckert''' was an American [[computer scientist]] (although the term did not yet exist when he did his most consequential work). His major accomplishments were:

* Being the chief engineer of the [[ENIAC]] project, the first general-purpose [[electronic]] [[computing device]].
* Thereby helping to convincing people generally that electronic computing devices were feasible, desirable, and useful. (The prior classified [[Colossus]] device in the UK had convinced insiders there of that, but knowledge of it was limited, although it generated numerous descendants, starting with the [[Manchester Baby]] and [[Manchester Mark I]].)
* With a team including [[John Mauchly]] and [[John von Neumann]], he co-designed the [[EDVAC]], whose design document was the inspiration for most of the first generation of computers; almost all computers now are its descendants.
* With his co-worker, John Mauchly, he founded the [[Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation]], from which several important manufacturers descended (among them [[Remington Rand]], which acquired EMCC; Remington Rand also acquired [[Engineering Research Associates|ERA]], and the group produced even more important descendants, including [[Control Data Corporation|CDC]]).
** That organization produced the [[UNIVAC I]], the first commercially available computer in the US.

==Further reading==

* Herman H. Goldstine, ''The Computer from Pascal to von Neumann'', Princeton University, Princeton, 1972
* Nancy Stern, ''From ENIAC To UNIVAC: An Appraisal of the Eckert-Mauchly Computers'', Digital Press, Bedford, 1981
* Arthur Lawrence Norberg; ''Computers and Commerce: A Study of Technology and Management at Eckert-Mauchly Computer Company, Engineering Research Associates, and Remington Rand''; MIT Press, Cambridge, 2005
* Peter Eckstein, "J. Presper Eckert", Annals of the History of Computing, Volume 18, Number 1, Spring 1996, pp. 25-44

==External links==

* [https://americanhistory.si.edu/comphist/eckert.htm Presper Eckert Interview] - oral history interview at the Smithsonian Institution
* [https://www.computer.org/profiles/presper-eckert J. Presper Eckert] - biography at the [[IEEE]] Computer Society History Committee; contains an excellent bibliography
* [https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/223248.223253 A Tribute to Presper Eckert] - an informed tribute from another pioneer, [[Maurice Wilkes]]
* [https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/j-presper-eckert-and-john-mauchly J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly] - biography at the Lemelson Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

{{DEFAULTSORT: Eckert, J. Presper}}
[[Category: People]]

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 * Thereby helping to convincing people generally that electronic computing devices were feasible, desirable, and useful. (The prior classified [[Colossus]] device in the UK had convinced insiders there of that, but knowledge of it was limited, although it generated numerous descendants, starting with the [[Manchester Baby]] and [[Manchester Mark I]].)
 * With a team including [[John Mauchly]] and [[John von Neumann]], he co-designed the [[EDVAC]], whose widely-distributed design document was the inspiration for most of the first generation of computers; almost all computers now are its descendants.
-* With his co-worker, John Mauchly, he founded the [[Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation]], from which several important manufacturers descended (among them [[Remington Rand]], which acquired EMCC; Remington Rand also acquired [[Engineering Research Associates|ERA]], and the group produced even more important descendants, including [[Control Data Corporation|CDC]]).
+* With his co-worker Mauchly he founded the [[Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation]], from which several important manufacturers descended (among them [[Remington Rand]], which acquired EMCC; Remington Rand also acquired [[Engineering Research Associates|ERA]], and the group produced even more important descendants, including [[Control Data Corporation|CDC]]).
 ** That organization produced the [[UNIVAC I]], the first commercially available computer in the US.
@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 * Nancy Stern, ''From ENIAC To UNIVAC: An Appraisal of the Eckert-Mauchly Computers'', Digital Press, Bedford, 1981
 * Arthur Lawrence Norberg; ''Computers and Commerce: A Study of Technology and Management at Eckert-Mauchly Computer Company, Engineering Research Associates, and Remington Rand''; MIT Press, Cambridge, 2005
-* Peter Eckstein, "J. Presper Eckert", [[Annals of the History of Computing]], Vol. 18, No. 1, Spring 1996, pp. 25-44
+* Peter Eckstein, "J. Presper Eckert", [[Annals of the History of Computing]], Vol. 18, No. 1, Spring 1996, pp. 25-44 - a fairly extensive biographical note; contains an excellent bibliography
 ==External links==
 * [https://americanhistory.si.edu/comphist/eckert.htm Presper Eckert Interview] - oral history interview at the Smithsonian Institution
-* [https://www.computer.org/profiles/presper-eckert J. Presper Eckert] - biography at the [[IEEE]] Computer Society History Committee; contains an excellent bibliography
+* [https://www.computer.org/profiles/presper-eckert J. Presper Eckert] - brief biography at the [[IEEE]] Computer Society History Committee
 * [https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/223248.223253 A Tribute to Presper Eckert] - an informed tribute from Maurice Wilkes; covers particularly the division of credit between Pres and von Neumann for the EDVAC ideas
 * [https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/j-presper-eckert-and-john-mauchly J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly] - biography at the Lemelson Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

@@ Line 18: / Line 18: @@
 * [https://americanhistory.si.edu/comphist/eckert.htm Presper Eckert Interview] - oral history interview at the Smithsonian Institution
 * [https://www.computer.org/profiles/presper-eckert J. Presper Eckert] - biography at the [[IEEE]] Computer Society History Committee; contains an excellent bibliography
-* [https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/223248.223253 A Tribute to Presper Eckert] - an informed tribute from another pioneer, [[Maurice Wilkes]]
+* [https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/223248.223253 A Tribute to Presper Eckert] - an informed tribute from another pioneer, [[Maurice Wilkes]]; covers particularly the division of credit between Pres and von Neumann for the EDSAC ideas
 * [https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/j-presper-eckert-and-john-mauchly J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly] - biography at the Lemelson Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
 {{DEFAULTSORT: Eckert, J. Presper}}
 [[Category: People]]