The first electronic computer was called ENIAC (short for Electronic Digital Integrator and Computer), and it was born in the United States on1February 5, 946.
The idea of developing electronic computers came into being during the Second World War. At that time, the fierce fighting was in full swing, and the weapons and equipment of various countries were far worse than now. The main strategic weapons were airplanes and cannons, and there were no Scud missiles, Patriot air defense missiles and Tomahawk cruise missiles. Therefore, it is very necessary and urgent to research and develop new artillery and missiles. To this end, the U.S. Army Ordnance Department set up a "Ballistic Research Laboratory" in Aberdeen, Maryland.
The U.S. military requires the laboratory to provide six fire tables to the army artillery corps every day for technical appraisal of missile development. Don't underestimate these six firepower lists, they need an amazing amount of work! In fact, each firepower meter has to calculate hundreds of trajectories, and do you know what the mathematical model of each trajectory is? A set of very complicated nonlinear equations. These equations can't be solved accurately, so they can only be calculated approximately by numerical methods.
But it is not easy to approximate the solution by numerical method! According to the calculation tools at that time, even if the laboratory hired more than 200 calculators to work overtime, it would take about two months to calculate a firepower list. In the era of "time is victory", how can such a slow speed work? I'm afraid the defeat is set before advanced weapons are developed.
In order to change this unfavorable situation, John Mauchly, who worked in Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania at that time, put forward the initial idea of trial-producing the first electronic computer in 1942-"the use of high-speed electronic tube computing device", hoping to use electronic tubes instead of relays to improve the computing speed of the machine.
Upon learning of this idea, the U.S. military immediately allocated funds to support it, and set up a research team headed by Moxili and Eckert to start research and development, with a budget of $150,000, which was a huge sum at that time. If it weren't for the war, who would be willing to pay so much money! Although war is evil, it did not occasionally promote the development of science and technology.
Fortunately for the development work, Feng, a mathematician who was a consultant at the Ballistic Research Institute at that time and was participating in the development of the first atomic bomb in the United States? Neumann (v? N weumann (Hungarian-American) joined the development team in the middle of the development process with a large number of calculation problems encountered in the development of atomic bombs. He made important contributions to solving many key problems of computers, thus ensuring the smooth appearance of computers.
Although ENIAC is huge and consumes an amazing amount of power, its operation speed is only a few thousand times (the current supercomputer has the fastest operation of trillions of times per second! ), but it is 1000 times faster than the existing computing devices at that time, and it also has the function of automatically executing arithmetic operations, logical operations and storing data according to pre-programmed programs. ENIAC announced the beginning of a new era. Since then, the door to scientific computing has also been opened.
Where was the world's first electronic computer born? Many people will say that ENIAC computer (electronic digital integrator and computer) was born in the United States, and that it was the first electronic computer in the world. However, careful readers will find that the birthplace of this computer, the University of Pennsylvania in the United States, only calls it the world's "first all-electronic digital computer" in its official documents. Why does its owner not call it the world's first electronic computer?
1997 10/2 1 day, the Imperial War Museum on the south bank of the Thames in London, England, began to hold an exhibition on password decoding during World War II, in which the words "Crosas, the world's first electronic computer" suddenly appeared. It is said that "Crosas" came out more than two years earlier than ENIAC computer. During World War II, it deciphered a large number of German secrets. After the war, it was secretly destroyed.
1 1 month 14, the reporter drove to the Blackley Park, 80 kilometers north of London, where he interviewed Tony, director of the Blackley Park Foundation. Mr. Thayer. Blackley Park was the main force for deciphering codes in Britain during World War II ... > >
Question 2: Who invented the computer? Why did you invent the computer? Who invented it: The original meaning of puter is "calculator", that is to say, human beings will invent computers with the original purpose of helping to deal with complex digital operations. The concept of manual calculator can be traced back to Pascal, a great French thinker in the 17th century. Pascal's father served as the director of taxation. At that time, the currency system was not decimal, which was very troublesome in calculation. Pascal invented the first calculator that can perform addition and subtraction by using the gear principle to assist his father. Later, the German mathematician Leibniz improved it and invented a calculator that can do multiplication and division. After that, although the function of the calculator was improved and refined, the real electric calculator had to wait until AD 1944 to be manufactured. The first machine that can really be called a computer was born in the United States in 1946, and was invented by Mao Qili and Eckert. Its name was ENIAC. This computer uses vacuum tubes to process signals, so it is huge (occupying a room) and consumes high power (everyone in the town knows when it is used, because the lights in every household are dimmed! ), and the memory capacity is very low (only 100 words), but it has been a great progress in human science and technology. And we usually call this kind of computer using vacuum tube the first generation computer. The first generation of computers was as big as two classrooms, which is much smaller than the personal computers we usually use now. At that time, the computer part was a vacuum tube (now it can't be found) and the archived thing was a punched card. Without the design concept of predecessors and the invention of computers, it is still difficult to define who invented computers. There are two items below, I don't know which one is correct. It was invented for war 1. 1940, Walter of the United States? Aiken made the first new computer, named "Mark 1". This computer is very huge, it makes a loud noise when operating, and it can only handle two additional problems per second, but it is the earliest computer after all. 2. Generally speaking, the first computer in the world was designed and developed in 1945 by two professors of the University of Pennsylvania-Mochili and eckert, whose English name is ENIAC, which is actually an electronic literacy computer. However, before this, people have been studying computers for a long time.
Question 3: Why did scientists invent computers? The significance of informatization Many countries in the world have put forward their own informatization strategies, scrambled to build their own information superhighways, and spared no effort to develop and popularize information technology. The fundamental reason is that informatization can have great effects on their own economic and social development and can help improve the quality of life of their citizens. This chapter starts with the analysis of the characteristics of information technology, then discusses the social impact of informatization, and finally discusses the significance of China's choice to accelerate the informatization strategy in combination with China's situation. Section 1 Characteristics and Functions of Information Technology The various effects of informatization on social and economic development are rooted in the characteristics of information technology. Compared with other technologies, the author believes that information technology mainly has the following characteristics: Wang Xiangdong: Information Technology Progress and Industrial Development, see Cross-century: Technological Progress and Industrial Development written by Zheng Youjing, Ming Anshu, Wang Xiangdong and Liu Manqiang, etc. ① More extensive applicability and stronger permeability. Information is the essential factor that all production activities, economic activities and social life can't be separated from, and it shows its importance more and more with the passage of time. Therefore, modern information technology has a wider application. At present, the key application fields of emerging electronic information technology have covered many aspects, such as manufacturing, product design, office business, family life, medical care, education, transportation and communication, commerce, scientific research, entertainment, security, finance, meteorology, resource survey, military, mass communication and so on. It is estimated that 65% of the world's gross national product (GNP) is related to integrated circuits and computers. Wu Xijun and He Guoping: High-tech ―― Cross-century Strategic Issues, Jiangsu Science and Technology Press, 1992. If so, no other technology in history has had such a wide and profound impact on human society as modern information technology. ② Highly knowledge-intensive, with remarkable economic and social benefits. If other technologies are the extension of human physical strength, then information technology is the enhancement of human intelligence. The popularization and application of information technology is conducive to replacing and saving the consumption of energy and other raw materials and reducing pollution. For example, papermaking consumes a lot of wood and water resources, and sewage will be discharged during the manufacturing process, causing environmental pollution. According to a survey in the United States, the annual cost of printing various forms in the world is120 billion dollars, of which 1/3 forms are wasted due to content changes and other reasons. The survey was organized by the American magazine Happiness. See1September, 997 15 Computer World. Now, the conditions for replacing paper with electronic media as the information carrier have not only been initially met, but have also begun to become a reality. The application of information technology is also conducive to improving the technical performance of labor tools, improving people's ability to regulate and control production and labor processes and actual management level, optimizing the allocation and rational flow of production factors, and closely linking production with market and supply with demand. All these will bring remarkable economic and social benefits. ③ The development speed is faster, the update cycle is shorter, and it has strong timeliness. For example, the development and production of integrated circuits in the world follows the "G.Moore's Law". Gordon Moore is a famous expert of Intel, and the law of computer integrated circuit technology development discovered by him is called Moore's Law. That is, since the 1960s, the integration has doubled every 18 months, while the cost has been reduced by half; Although the computer was invented less than 50 years ago, the development of the sixth generation products has become a hot spot. It has only been more than 20 years since the appearance of microcomputer. Not only has the design technology been revolutionized, but also new models have come out. Optical communication, satellite communication, mobile communication and multimedia communication promote the continuous development of communication technology; In particular, the current digital technology revolution is promoting the great integration of computers, telecommunications, television, information content and other aspects, and making all aspects of the information industry present a changing scene. (4) large investment and high risk. The development, update and popularization of modern information technology require investment. Now, in the field of information technology, technical design and manufacturing are becoming more and more complex and sophisticated, technical difficulty is increasing, and the coverage of information network is becoming wider and wider. Therefore, related R&; D The demand for expenses and capital construction investment, especially initial investment, is often huge (see Chapter II, investment plans for building information superhighways in some countries). However, considering the strong timeliness of information technology, huge investment means huge risks at the same time. Once the decision-making is wrong, it will not only incur heavy losses, but also delay the historical opportunity of development. Japan has spent more than 20 years and invested a huge sum of money to develop a simulation-based > >
Question 4: What is the significance of inventing computers? Marx said that all tools are extensions of the human body, and computers are extensions of the human brain.
The invention of the computer has enhanced the computing ability of human beings and liberated them from endless mental activities. At first, computers were specially used by the military (such as calculating the trajectory of artillery shells) and cutting-edge scientific and technological departments (such as satellite orbit calculation). With the development of science and technology, computers gradually entered the lives of ordinary people, greatly improving the utilization rate of human labor. Now there is almost no office without a computer, and the functions of computers are becoming more and more perfect. Whether it's complex 3D modeling and rendering or simple tabular text typesetting, computers play an important role.
Summary: The significance of inventing computers is to make better use of human labor.
Question 5: Why did humans invent computers? How boring it is not to invent the computer?
Question 6: How was the computer invented? The world's first electronic computer was born in 1946 at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, USA. Her name is "Eniac".
The first computer in the world was invented in World War II. Because it is used to draw ballistic maps for the US Navy. It is half the size of a football field and contains 500 miles of wires. It uses electromagnetic signals to move mechanical parts. Its running speed is very slow, running every 3-5 seconds, and its adaptability is poor, so it is only suitable for special fields. He is just a general-purpose computer.
In just a few decades, computers have miraculously multiplied for four generations. The first generation was a computer running with vacuum tubes. Eleven years later, the second generation transistor calculator appeared. Seven years later, the third generation integrated circuit computer was updated. Ten years later, a large-scale integrated circuit computer was invented. In the past few decades, computers have made such great progress, and each time they are more advanced and more widely used. So that it has become the favored son of modern society.
Question 7: Why did humans invent computers? It's all because of laziness. At first, in order to calculate quickly and conveniently and calculate a lot of data, there was a computer, so the computer was also called a computer.
Question 8: Why did humans invent the convenient way of work communication and data processing management brought by computers? File search methods also bring laziness, viruses, computer syndrome, and computer game/chat maniacs. A new way of plagiarism. New ways of media communication and hype. Also, your chance to ask questions now. . .