Univac

(processor, company)

A brand of computer.

There is a historical placard in the United States Census Bureau that has the following, "The Bureau of the Census dedicated the world's first electronic general purpose data processing computer, UNIVAC I, on June 14, 1951. Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation".

The Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation designed and built Univac. Over the years, rights to the Univac name changed hands several times. Circa 1987, Sperry Univac merged with the Burroughs Corporation to form Unisys Corporation.

This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)

UNIVAC I

(UNIVersal Automatic Computer) The first mass produced and commercially successful computer, introduced in 1951 by Remington Rand. Over 40 systems were sold. Comprising some 5,000 vacuum tubes and weighing nearly eight tons, the memory in the UNIVAC I was made of mercury-filled acoustic delay lines that held 1,000 12-digit numbers. Storage was magnetic tape reels that held 1MB of data at a density of 128 cpi.

In 1952, the computer predicted Eisenhower's victory over Stevenson, and, for a while, UNIVAC was synonymous with "computer." UNIVAC I machines were in use until the early 1960s. See delay line memory and early memory.

UNIVAC I

The circuitry that filled up the walk-in CPU of the UNIVAC I now fits on your finger. This photo illustrates the 1952 news coverage on the night of Eisenhower's victory, which the UNIVAC I predicted. (Image courtesy of Unisys Corporation.)

Very Impressive Console

John Mauchly, one of the UNIVAC's designers, is leaning on the "high-tech" console that wowed audiences. Notice the typewriter (right) and oscilloscope (left). (Image courtesy of Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Pennsylvania.)

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References in periodicals archive

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My first real experience with being afraid of being gay came when I worked on the UNIVAC at NYU, which was mostly subsidized by the government and used primarily by the Atomic Energy Commission.

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Initially, BPR used computers owned by others, including the Univac I at the Bureau of the Census and the IBM 705 owned by the DuPont Company in Wilmington, DE.

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David worked for the Electric Boat division of General Dynamics in Groton, Connecticut, and Sperry UNIVAC, which built one of first mainframe computers.

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Once the UNIVAC was unveiled, research institutions and the private sector began clamoring for mainframes of their own.

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She went on to work on the BINAC and UNIVAC I computers.

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Many companies based in Minnesota emerged in those years: Univac, Cray Research, IBM Rochester, Honeywell and others.

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He became the commissioning Supply Officer of USS Oklahoma City after duty at the Electronics Supply Office, where he helped install the Navy fist UNIVAC II computer system.

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"Programming on the Univac 1: A Woman's Account." IEEE: Annals of the History of Computing 25.1 (2003): 48-59.

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The "library of tomorrow" was equipped with a Univac computer.

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