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⚙️ A Machine Called ENIAC
Long before laptops, smartphones, and smartwatches, there was ENIAC — the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer.
It was enormous: 30 tons, 150 kilowatts of power, and 17,468 vacuum tubes.
It didn’t fit on a desk — it was the desk. In fact, it filled an entire room at the University of Pennsylvania.
On December 19, 1945, ENIAC was completed. It could perform calculations that once took humans days — in just seconds. And with that, the digital age quietly began.
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🧠 Built by Brilliance
ENIAC was designed by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert, but behind its success was a team of six brilliant women:
Kay McNulty, Betty Jennings, Betty Snyder, Marlyn Wescoff, Fran Bilas, and Ruth Lichterman.
These women were the first computer programmers — long before “programmer” was a real job title. They used switches, wires, and plugboards to “code” instructions manually, turning math into machine logic.
Their work wasn’t recognized for decades, but today, they’re finally getting the credit they deserve as the pioneers of programming.
⚡ Speed That Changed Everything
ENIAC was built to help the U.S. Army calculate artillery tables — but it did much more. It could solve thousands of equations per second, simulate physics problems, and even help design the hydrogen bomb.
Its success proved that machines could process information faster than humans — and that speed could change science, business, and eventually, everyday life.
🧮 From ENIAC to Everything
ENIAC’s design inspired the next generation of computers, which used transistors instead of vacuum tubes, making them smaller, faster, and cheaper.
By the 1960s, computers moved from government labs to offices. By the 1980s, they were in homes.
Today, your smartphone has more processing power than millions of ENIACs combined — yet fits in your pocket and takes selfies.
🌍 What If ENIAC Never Existed?
Without ENIAC, the world would’ve stayed analog much longer.
No internet, no spreadsheets, no digital art, no AI. The “Information Age” might have arrived decades later.
You’d still be doing math on paper, newsrooms would use typewriters, and entire industries — from finance to filmmaking — wouldn’t exist in their current form.
💡 What We Can Learn
The story of ENIAC reminds us that big innovations start with even bigger imagination — and often, a few people in a small room daring to think differently.
So next time your computer freezes or your phone lags, take a breath — and remember: the first one needed its own power plant just to run. ⚡