February 14, 1946: The birth of the information age

PENNPRINTOUT VOLUME 12:4 MARCH 1996

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Printed on acid-free, recycled paper.Please recycle this issue.

Judy Smith, managing editorRandall Couch, art direction

Teresa Leo, designCeleste Stewart, design

Edda Katz, editingCaroline Ferguson, editing

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Front cover: Public announcement of ENIAC, 1946. From left: J. Presper Eckert, Chief Engineer;

Prof. J. G. Brainerd, project supervisor; Sam Feltman, Chief Engineer for Ballistics, Ordnance Dept.;

Captain H. H. Goldstine, Liaison Officer;Dr. J. W. Mauchly, Consulting Engineer;

Dean Harold Pender, Moore School of Electrical Engineering;General G. M. Barnes, Chief, Ordnance R&D Service;

Colonel Paul N. Gillon, Chief, Research Branch, ORDS.(Photo: John Mauchly Papers, Dept. of Special Collections,

University of Pennsylvania Library)Below: Detail of the circuit design for the accumulator

sections of the ENIAC II chip (see page 7).Back cover: Test fabrication of the accumulator sections

of the ENIAC II chip. The actual test chip (center)measures less than a quarter of an inch square.

features3 a golden anniversary

Gregory C. Farrington and Peter C. Patton toast ENIAC

4 abacus to eniacHighlights in the history of computing

7 eniac-on-a-chipJan van der Spiegel cuts 30 tons down to size

8 crackpot notionsDilys Winegrad tells the story of ENIAC

12 john w. mauchly: the man and the machineMichael T. Ryan on the Penn Library’s exhibition

15 eniac golden anniversary eventsHighlights for February and March

16 a birthday card to eniacA gallery of greetings

18 cybersociety 2046Jill Maser asks students about computing’s next 50 years

22 eniac‘s recessive geneMitch Marcus and Atsushi Akera on ENIAC’s progeny

24 jackNorman I. Badler animates a model virtual employee

26 media powerJohn MacDermott finds new technology in education

departments21 announcements

28 electronic calendar

30 random bits

31 q & a

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goldenValentine’s Day 1996 marks the 50th anniversary

of the ENIAC, the world’s first general-purposeelectronic computer, created at the Moore

School of Electrical Engineering at the University ofPennsylvania. Many historiansdate the beginning of the infor-mation age to the hushed mo-ment when the ENIAC’s 18,000vacuum tubes first began to glow.

The subsequent history ofcomputing parallels the historyof printing. The development ofthe rotary press in the early 1800s,some 300 years after Gutenberginvented moveable type, madeinexpensive printing possible andgave birth to the great informa-tion age of print. Literacy ratesrose dramatically, and universaleducation became economicallyfeasible.

What took centuries forprinting took only a few decadesfor the computer. By the early1980s, miniaturization had madepossible powerful, inexpensivedesktop computers. Only a de-cade ago, computers made thetransition from machines forcomputation to machines forcommunication. Desktop com-puters have become inexpensivetelecommunications centers, transmitting data, print, sound,and video around the world.

When George Orwell created his nightmare vision,1984, new communications tools were feared as instru-ments for enslavement. Now they are more frequentlyseen as engines of freedom. Many argue that the BerlinWall fell and the governments in Eastern Europe and theSoviet Union collapsed because of fax machines andPCs. With these new technologies it is no longer possibleto wall out information and isolate people. Politicallyand economically computers have become the revolution-ary artillery of the 21st century.

Now a global economy is developing, made possibleby rapid, computer-based telecommunications. Similarlypolitics, health care delivery, and the structure of thecorporation are being transformed as the information age

gathers momentum.How we educate and learn

is also changing. Wheninformation can be anywhereand everywhere, instantly, andstudents and faculty caninteract wherever they mightbe, not just in the classroom,the stage is set for a transfor-mation in how students learnand how schools serve society.Technology gave us the“information society.”Humans can now create amore democratic “learningsociety” in which informationaccess and a quality educationwill increasingly becomeavailable to all. The richestinformation resources fromthe largest libraries can bebrought to the middle of thesmallest town. Computers donot care if you are witty,handsome, rich or poor, blackor white—or live in the centerof New York or the middle ofPeru. You can be connected to

the world, learn and teach, run a business, make money orlose it, or just talk to colleagues and friends around theworld.

The real revolution the ENIAC created is not one ofnumbers and bytes, but one in which people, regardless ofgeography and politics, can communicate with and learnfrom each other. The computer has become a tool ofpersonal liberation, and the revolution has only begun.

GREGORY C. FARRINGTON is Dean, School of Engi-neering and Applied Science; PETER C. PATTON is ViceProvost, Office of Information Systems and Computing.

anniversarya goldenBY GREGORY C. FARRINGTON AND PETER C. PATTON

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1300 The abacus, using beads strung on wires and mounted in aframe, was in widespread use in China.

1500 The quipu, a system of knotted strings, was in extensive use byPeruvian Incas.

1614 John Napier described logarithms.

1617 Napier described his calculating rods, or “bones,” in a bookpublished the year he died.

1623 Wilhelm Schickard, in a letter to Johannes Kepler, gave the firstknown description of an automatic adding machine.

1642 Blaise Pascal invented an adding machine; it is the oldestsurviving example of a true adding machine where tens carry.

1673 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz’s calculator mechanized multiplica-tion as well as addition.

1803 Joseph Marie Jacquard began work on an automatic loom thatused punched cards to control the manufacturing process.

1822 Charles Babbage completed a model of the difference engine, adevice that linked adding and subtracting mechanisms to oneanother to calculate the values of more complex mathematicalfunctions.

1834 Babbage turned from construction of the difference engine to afar more ambitious analytical engine: a machine that embodiedin its design most of the features of a modern digital computer.

1843 Ada Augusta, Countess of Lovelace, published a description ofBabbage’s analytical engine that incorporated many of theconcepts of modern computer programming.

1851 Victor Schilt exhibited a key-driven adding machine at theCrystal Palace Exposition in London.

1853 The Scheutz difference engine, the world’s first printingcalculator, was completed.

1854 George Boole published Laws of Thought, which led to whatwould be called Boolean algebra. His rules for manipulatinglogical expressions would be adopted by computer designers asthe basis for the electronic circuits or “logic” of computers.

1879 James and John Ritty patented a cash register.

1884 John H. Patterson and his associates acquired the Ritty patentsand established National Cash Register Company (NCR).

1885 Dorr Felt constructed the “macaroni box” prototype for his key-driven adding machine.

a b a c u s t o e n i a c

highlights in the history of computing

From ancient times, people haveused digital devices as computa-tional aids. Fingers and toes, thequintessential digital devices,gradually gave way to sticks andpebbles. Stone counters, used bythe Greeks before 450 B.C., werean early form of abacus that theRomans adopted around 50 B.C.and which later developed intothe medieval European countingboard. Some of the highlightsalong the road that led to theENIAC are listed here; thechronology is based on materialin Landmarks in Digital Comput-ing: A Smithsonian PictorialHistory by Peggy A. Kidwell andPaul E. Ceruzzi (1994).

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1890 Hollerith punched-card equipment was used in the U.S. census.

1891 William S. Burroughs began commercial manufacture of hisprinting adding machine.

1893 The Millionaire calculator, introduced in Switzerland, alloweddirect multiplication by any digit and was used by governmentagencies and scientists, especially astronomers, well into the20th century.

1911 Charles Flint founded the Computing-Tabulating-RecordingCompany (C-T-R), which produced and sold electronic Holler-ith tabulating equipment, time clocks, and other businessmachinery. James Powers began manufacturing a mechanicalpunched-card system that competed with Hollerith’s. Hismachines eventually were made and sold by the Remington-Rand Corporation.

1917- At Aberdeen Proving Ground, in Maryland, mathematicaltechniques for computing and printing firing tables for newtypes of advanced ordnance used in WWI were developed.

1918 Charles Kettering developed the Kettering Bug—an unmannedflying bomb guided by internal gyroscopes.

1919 Early versions of the Enigma cipher machine were built inEurope.

1924 Thomas Watson, President of C-T-R, changed the company’sname to International Business Machines Corporation.

1928 IBM adopted the 80-column punched card, the standard for thenext 50 years.

1930 Vannevar Bush of MIT developed the differential analyzer, alarge analog computer.

1936 Alan Turing, a British mathematician, published “On Comput-able Numbers...,” a description of a “machine” that could inprinciple solve any mathematical problem presented to it insymbolic form. His proof of the feasibility of building a“general purpose machine” provided the theoretical basis formodern computer software.

1937 George Stibitz, a research mathematician at Bell TelephoneLaboratories, built a binary adder out of a few light bulbs,batteries, and wire on his kitchen table. His Model K (for“kitchen”) demonstrated the feasibility of mechanizing binaryarithmetic.

1938 Claude Shannon of MIT showed in theory what Stibitz haddemonstrated with the (continued on next page)

1918

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Model K: that the two-valued algebra developed by GeorgeBoole could be implemented electrically by telephone relays.Konrad Zuse, a German mechanical engineer, began building amechanical computer in his parents’ Berlin apartment. Indepen-dently of Shannon, he developed a form of symbolic logic toassist in the design of the binary circuits.

1939 The World’s Fair in New York featured many exhibits showingthe promise of technology. Among them were Electro, a robotman that exhibited simple intelligence. J.V. Atanasoff beganwork on an electronic computer at Iowa State University.George Stibitz and Samuel Williams of Bell Labs completed theComplex Number Computer (later known as the Bell LabsModel I), which used telephone relays and coded decimalnumbers as groups of four binary digits each.

1940 Stibitz demonstrated the Bell Labs Model I at DartmouthCollege, with a terminal in New Hampshire and the Model I inNew York. Twenty years later Dartmouth would become acenter for time-sharing and remote use of computers.

1941 Within a few days of America’s entry into WWII, Konrad Zusedemonstrated a working, programmable calculator to Germanmilitary authorities. His Z3 used surplus telephone relays andwas programmed by holes punched into discarded 35mm moviefilm.

1942 J. Presper Eckert and John W. Mauchly, of the University ofPennsylvania, proposed an electronic version of the Bushdifferential analyzer for the Army, which would operatedigitally instead of by analog means. The proposal led to thecreation of the ENIAC.

1943 Electromechanical Bombes were built in Britan and the U.S. todecipher German messages encrypted by Enigma.

1944 The first of several Colossus machines was completed inBritain, using vacuum tubes instead of relay circuits to decipherGerman messages. The ASCC, also known as the HarvardMark I, was unveiled at Cruft Laboratory in Cambridge,Massachusetts.

1945 The ENIAC was completed and tested at the Moore School ofElectrical Engineering, University of Pennsylvania. KonradZuse completed the Z4, a large electromechanical program-mable machine, shortly before VE-day (May 8). The “FirstDraft of a Report on the EDVAC,” by John von Neumann,summarized discussions at the Moore School concerning theproposed successor to the ENIAC. Von Neumann’s reputationas a world-class mathematician, as well as his description of theEDVAC in symbolic rather than engineering terms, helped winwidespread acceptance of this design.

1946 February 14: The public unveiling of the ENIAC took place inPhiladelphia. Summer: A series of lectures on the “Theory andTechniques for Design of Electronic Digital Computers” wasgiven at the Moore School. The course led to widespreadadoption of the EDVAC-type design, including stored programs,for nearly all subsequent computer development.

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Take the ENIAC, an 80 by 3 foot giant, and shrinkit to fit a silicon chip the size of your fingernail.Place the chip on a tiny circuit board. Connect

the circuit board to a PC running graphical softwaresimulating the ENIAC’s look and feel. This is the recipethat students and faculty at the School of Engineeringand Applied Science—with support from the NationalScience Foundation and Atmel Corporation—are using tocreate the ENIAC-on-a-Chip Kit, a teaching tool thatdramatically illustrates the performance improvementsbrought about by semiconductor technology.

The chip preserves the ENIAC’s original architectureand basic circuit building blocks as much as possible. Torecreate the giant computer using modern technology, theENIAC’s 18,000 vacuum tubes and 170,000 resistorswere modeled with 250,000 tiny transistors, mechanicalswitches were replaced with electronic ones, and digitand programming trunks were implemented as tiny metallines interconnected through cross-point switches. Thechip performs the same functions that its 30-ton prede-cessor pioneered 50 years ago. ENIAC-on-a-Chipincludes the following units:

• 20 accumulators—the arithmetic workhorses, whichalso serve as memory elements

• constant transmitter—the module that allows initializa-tion of the accumulators to a constant integer

• cycling unit—the master clock that synchronizes theoperation of all modules

• initiation unit—the element that tells all modules whento start computation

• function table—the module that gives arbitraryfunctional dependence for the input

• master programmer—the higher level arithmeticcoordinator that allows more sophisticated program-ming of the chip

• high-speed multiplier—the module that manipulatesthe accumulators to perform multiplication

• divider—the module that manipulates the accumulatorsto perform division

• square rooter—the module that manipulates theaccumulators to perform square roots

The chip, fabricated in a technology whose smallestfeatures are .8 micrometers, is due back from the siliconfoundry in mid-April. Following is a comparison betweenthe ENIAC and ENIAC-on-a-Chip:

ENIAC ENIAC-on-a ChipVacuum tubes 18,000 noneTransistors none 250,000Resistors 170,000 noneCapacitors 10,000 noneFootprint 80x3 ft 8x8 mmClock speed 100 kHz 20 MHz*Power 174 kW 0.5 W*

*estimated

Once back from the foundry, the chip will be mountedon a small, printed circuit board and connected to a PC.The PC will be equipped with a graphical interface thatallows a user to interact with the chip. The interface willdisplay the front panels of the the ENIAC with its program-ming switches, control switches, and interconnectioncables (digit lines and programming lines). The user willselect the switches to generate the proper program settingsand interconnections to create a data file. The file will besent to the chip and the output of the chip (lights indicatingthe output of the accumulators) will be read back into thePC for display, allowing the user to evaluate results.

The ENIAC-on-a-Chip Kit, consisting of chip, printedcircuit board, PC software, and a set of demonstrationprograms (data files), will be available to a variety oforganizations and institutions, including the NationalScience Foundation and the Smithsonian. The multidi-mensional educational and intellectual benefits of the kitwill not only inspire students in engineering and sciencebut will reach out to a larger audience ranging fromhistorians to high school students and the public at large.

For more information about ENIAC-on-a-Chip, theKit, and the student and faculty developers, see http://www.ee.upenn.edu/~jan/eniacproj.html.

JAN VAN DER SPIEGEL is Professor of ElectricalEngineering at the School of Engineering and AppliedScience.

ENIAC-on-a-ChipBY JAN VAN DER SPIEGEL

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On February 14, 1946, The New York Timesannounced the unveiling of “an amazingmachine which applies electronic speeds for the

first time to mathematical tasks hitherto too difficult andcumbersome for solution.” “Leaders who saw the devicein action for the first time,” the report continued, “her-alded it as a tool with which to begin to rebuild scientificaffairs on new foundations.” With these prophetic words,the world’s first large-scale electronic general-purposedigital computer, developed at the Moore School ofElectrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvaniain Philadelphia, emerged from the wraps of secrecyunder which it had been constructed in the last years ofWorld War II.

The Times reporter went on to predict that the adventof a flexible computer would revolutionize all areas ofscience. A great many mathematical models that hadbeen around for generations were suddenly practicalpropositions available for use by engineers and physi-cists. Once the new invention had been put through itspaces in public, there was widespread interest in seeinghow it worked. In the summer of 1946 an expertaudience attended the famous Moore School Lectures, atwhich the speakers constituted a veritable who’s who ofcomputing. The significance of the ideas was variouslyreceived, some participants remaining less than con-vinced. Nonetheless, the National Bureau of Standardswas sufficiently persuaded to begin building its owncomputers. And Project Whirlwind at the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology finally changed from analog todigital technology.

Skepticism was by no means confined to proponentsof rival technologies. Banks and insurance companies,far from grasping the potential of the computer, seem tohave been put off by the notion of turning decisions, even

repetitive ones, over to a machine. Adolph Matz, aWharton School professor, predicted that “completion ofthe first all-electronic general-purpose computingmachine [would open] the future to the development ofbusiness machines heretofore undreamed of . . . and maywell also revolutionize methods and systems of dealingwith everyday business transactions.” But in 1945 hisideas on applications to commercial enterprise weredismissed as “too ephemeral,” and his article, “Electron-ics in Accounting,” was initially rejected by the officialmagazine of the Association of Accountants. As JohnMaynard Keynes observed, “The difficulty lies not in thenew ideas, but in escaping the old ones.” In this spirit,Lord Kelvin in 1887 observed that radio had no future,the telephone was described in 1876 as “only a toy”—and John Logie Baird was kicked out of an office in 1925as a possibly dangerous lunatic for claiming to have “amachine for seeing by radio.”

In the 1940s, however, the nation had been ready fora breakthrough in computer technology. Not surpris-ingly, the quantum leap in computer developmentoccurred during World War II in response to urgentmilitary needs. During the national emergency, theMoore School’s differential analyzer—the most sophisti-cated computing instrument available for scientific usebefore the ENIAC—was in constant use working outballistic tables. A course in the design of electrome-chanical instruments had also been instituted at theSchool. At any other time the ideas that were elaboratedand put into effect at the University of Pennsylvaniawould have been dismissed as interesting, impractical—and certainly too expensive.

A variety of personnel had arrived at the MooreSchool to serve in the war effort. Large numbers of“human computers”—young women with mathematics

the story of ENIAC notionscrackpot notions

BY DILYS WINEGRAD

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degrees, supplemented by other specially trained re-cruits—were engaged in computing the ballistic tables,and select students attended the Moore School’s Engi-neering, Science, Management War Training course(ESMWT) at government expense. Several PhDs amongthem were hired to replace the Penn professors who hadbeen called up. One of these, John W. Mauchly, whotaught physics at neighboring Ursinus College, hadoriginally signed up for a course on the theory and designof computing instruments.

The graduate student responsible for running the labassociated with the ESMWT course, John Presper Eckert,Jr., was described at the time as “undoubtedly the bestelectronic engineer in the Moore School.” Still in hisearly twenties, Eckert had already secured a patent forrecording sound on film. The Navy adopted a device hehad developed to check the effectiveness of magneticmine sweeping airplanes. Eckert and Mauchly foundtime to chat about the ideas that fascinated both.

Because his primary research interest in meteorologyinvolved enormous amounts of statistical data, Mauchlywas constantly looking for ways to speed up computa-tion. He had already investigated the use of cold cathodetubes—much slower than vacuum tubes and with apoorer margin of safety, but with the advantage that theydissipated less power and were far more economical. Forhis meteorological investigations, he had constructed ananalog device that he named a “harmonic analyzer.”

Eckert soon decided that Mauchly’s ideas onelectronic computation were technically feasible. Heimmediately set about applying his engineering ingenuityand native genius to the problems that would have to beworked out. Encouraged by Eckert’s receptivity to his

theoretical ideas and spurred by the serious considerationthat they might be implemented, Mauchly wrote a five-page memo entitled “The Use of Vacuum Tube Devicesin Calculating.” Among other things, he pointed out thatan electronic machine performing 1,000 multiplicationsper second would be able to compute complete trajecto-ries in minutes rather than days. This memo becamethe basis of the report subsequently submitted by theMoore School to the Army’s Ballistic ResearchLaboratory (BRL).

The meteorological community consideredMauchly’s theories crackpot notions, which was much

the response that greeted his proposals for developing anelectronic computer. Knowing this, when the AmericanAssociation for the Advancement of Science met at Pennin 1940, Mauchly had opted to deliver his paper onweather statistics to the physics section. In the audiencewas John Atanasoff, a professor from Iowa State Univer-sity, who, together with his graduate student Clyde Berry,was at work on an electromechanical rotary dynamicstorage register. Mauchly and Atanasoff discussed theirmutual interests then and on subsequent occasions.

The machine Atanasoff proposed permitted a numberto be added to another number that had previously been“stored” in the form of electrostatic charges. Designed tosolve a single class of problems, not at electronic speeds,it had no programming. Like many ingenious inventions,it was never finished. Although not a computer in anyuseful sense, years later when the importance of comput-ers had been fully recognized, this device was adjudged“prior art” by a Federal court. The decision, whichdenied eligibility for patent protection to the Eckert/Mauchly invention, came in the context of businessinterests and a rapidly expanding computer industry.

Before the war, researchers at the Moore School hadused the School’s version of the differential analyzer,then the largest mechanical computing machine in theworld, to study nonlinear and varying-parameter differen-tial equations. When the Army took over operations in1942, the Moore School became something of anextension of the BRL for the remaining war years—anearly model of university/government cooperation. Thehuman computers working on ballistics using hand-heldcalculators came under the supervision of LieutenantHerman Goldstine, a young, Chicago-trained

mathematician stationed at the BRL.A trajectory that could take up to 40 hours to

calculate using a desktop calculator could be computed in30 minutes or so on the differential analyzer. But, sinceeach firing table involved hundreds of trajectories, itmight still require the best part of a month to complete atable. In 1943 the Allies landed in North Africa, an eventthat presented the military with totally new terrain and awhole new set of problems for operating ordnance. Thegrowing backlog of firing tables provided thefinal impetus for serious experimentation in the fieldof computers. (continued on next page)

It seems barely credible that scientists, engineers,and businessmen five scant decades ago did notgrasp the implications of the new technology.

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Aware that the military were more likely than othergovernment agencies to take a calculated risk in time ofwar, Goldstine saw a possible solution to the problemsbesetting them in the enthusiastic discussions of elec-tronic digital computing going on at the Moore School.He briefed his superior at the Aberdeen Proving Groundin Maryland, and a presentation was arranged at whichPenn Professor John Brainerd submitted a proposal to thehead of the BRL and its chief scientist, Oswald Veblen.To forestall anticipated skepticism, Brainerd, whochaired the faculty committee that supervised theanalyzer, proposed an “electronic diff. analyzer,” inten-tionally associating the proposed computer with theexisting differential analyzer. (As a digital device, theproposed computer would solve differential equations bydifferencing rather than differentiation—a deliberatedouble entendre.) The computer described would be ablecompute a trajectory in under five minutes. Unlike allprevious models, it would be fully electronic.

After delivering their report the inventors continuedto work around the clock to produce supporting argu-ments and data and to prepare answers to possiblequestions. A few days later, on Eckert’s 24th birthday,April 9, 1943, they presented a more detailed proposal.In May agreement was reached, and on June 5 contractNo. W-670-ORD-4926 was signed by the Trustees of theUniversity of Pennsylvania and the U.S. Army OrdnanceDepartment with Brainerd as project supervisor, Eckertas chief engineer, Mauchly as principal consultant, andGoldstine as technical liaison. The machine was offi-cially named the Electronic Numerical Integrator AndComputer, ever after to be known as ENIAC.

Among the wonders of the “new electronic speedmarvel” reported in The New York Times after theENIAC’s demonstration run in February, 1946, was theabsence of any moving mechanical parts associated with

the high-speed computational aspects of the machine,which consisted of “18,000 vacuum tubes and severalmiles of wiring.” All prior machines had relied on suchparts to perform their calculations, and these limited theircompactness and reliability, not to mention the speedwith which operations were executed. Astoundingly—for the time—the ENIAC could perform 5,000 additionsor subtractions or 360 multiplications of two 10-digitdecimal numbers in a second. In the same space of time,it could call up 1,000 values of a function from functiontables that were included. Problems that would havetaken months of simple hand calculation and hours, evendays, with the help of the differential analyzer could nowbe dispatched in minutes.

At a certain stage in its development it becamenecessary to “freeze” the classified design in the interestof completing the project at hand. Nonetheless, as theend of the war approached, engineers at the MooreSchool were beginning to think intensively aboutdeveloping a more sophisticated computer. From thefirst Mauchly had envisaged a general-purpose machine,and he continued to work towards its construction.Eckert proposed ways to overcome what he recognizedas the ENIAC’s major shortcoming: The computerintroduced almost every fundamental hardware conceptof modern computing—with the exception of internallystored instructions.

The inventors focused on methods to increase themachine’s memory. Having experimented with acousticdelay lines earlier on, extrapolating from those developedby William Shockley at Bell Laboratories, Eckert and hisengineers now investigated the possibility of developinga mercury delay line suitable for computer memory. Forthe time being it was not possible to implement the storedprogram they proposed, but the mercury delay linebecame an element of the next generation of computers

Scenes from the dedication.The original press releasedescribing the ENIAC’sphysical aspects and opera-tion; J. Presper Eckert posesat the console; an invitationto the dedication ceremoniesand dinner; and the develop-ment team and sponsors(identified on page 2).Photos: John MauchlyPapers, Department ofSpecial Collections, Univer-sity of Pennsylvania Library.Documents: University ofPennsylvania Archives.

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at the Moore School and elsewhere. These included theEDVAC, the second large computer developed at Pennand the first in the country to incorporate a storedmemory; the EDSAC developed by Maurice Wilkes inEngland; and the computers designed by Mauchly andEckert after leaving the Moore School. The concept ofstoring the program in the same memory unit as the datawas introduced when the Institute for Advanced Studies(IAS) computer was built a few years later by a teamheaded by John von Neumann. While commuting be-tween Los Alamos and the Institute for Advanced Studyin the last year of the war, von Neumann had participatedin the highly classified discussions at the Moore School.When it was built, the IAS computer used a so-calledWilliams electrostatic storage tube for the memory.

The Moore School team started work on the EDVACin late 1944 when the Army Ordnance Departmentgranted the ENIAC contract a supplement for an im-proved design. As a stored program device, the Elec-tronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer (EDVAC)was the true forebear of all subsequent computingdevices. All of the early computers, including one calledthe MANIAC, acknowledged their relationship to theMoore School computers through their shared suffix.While the letter “A” had only stood for and in theElectronic Numeral Integrator and Computer (ENIAC),in the successor machine—and ever afterwards—itfinally indicated a fully automatic device.

The ENIAC was completed too late to be utilized forits original purpose of calculating firing and ballistictables. Instead, the first task assigned on its test run in1945 involved the many thousands of computationsconnected with top-secret studies on thermonuclearreactions. While many projects had to be scrapped at theend of the war, ENIAC was not among them. Thecomputer had proved to be significant for military

research at Los Alamos in the West as well as at theBallistic Research Laboratory in the East. Indeed, thesuccessful simulation of a nuclear blast resulted in theFederal government’s supporting a nascent computingtechnology, soon to spawn a new industry.

Today it is impossible to think of a world withoutcomputers or to imagine that the ideas from which theydeveloped, and which we now take for granted, mighthave been strenuously resisted when they were firstproposed. It may seem barely credible today thatscientists, engineers, and businessmen five scant decadesago might not have immediately grasped the implicationsof the new technology. But this has been the case moreoften than not throughout the course of human endeavor;variations on the theme of “Who needs it?” are quicklyfollowed by reasons why it can’t be done. Notableexamples range from Nobel laureate Robert Millikan’sassurances that man could never tap the power of theatom to Harry M. Warner’s skepticism about the marketfor talking movies. As late as the 1950s Britain’sAstronomer Royal dismissed the notion of space travel as“utter bilge.”

With the development of the ENIAC at the Univer-sity of Pennsylvania, the City of Philadelphia acquired asecond site where ideas produced a revolution. Notunlike Independence Hall, the Moore School providedsurroundings in which abstract theories became reality,opening paths to new technologies that have changed ourability to investigate the world and conduct everytransaction imaginable in ways that continue to evolve.The first operating computer of its sort is justly famedand a reason for celebration as the events related herebecome remote, though hardly ancient, history.

DILYS WINEGRAD is Director/Curator of Arthur RossGallery at the University of Pennsylvania.

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In Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, Valentine, a young scientist, muses over a conundrum: “The ordinary-sized stuff whichis our lives, the things people write poetry about – clouds – daffodils – waterfalls – and what happens in a cup of coffeewhen the creme goes in – these things are full of mystery, as mysterious to us as the heavens were to the Greeks. We’rebetter at predicting events at the edge of the galaxy or inside the nucleus of an atom than whether it’ll rain on auntie’sgarden party three Sundays from now. Because the problem turns out to be different. We can’t even predict the next dripfrom a dripping tap when it gets irregular. Each drip sets up the conditions for the next, the smallest variation blows theprediction apart, and the weather is unpredictable the same way, will always be unpredictable.”

No one would have appreciated the force of Valentine’s remarks more than John W. Mauchly. Attempting to solve“the problem of the weather” was an issue he wrestled with for a good part of his career. It was one of a number ofprojects that fueled his interest in computing machines, and one of several problems that the ENIAC was to have solved.

Yet if the ENIAC could not predict the weather, it could do a lot of other things, enough to earn Mauchly and hiscollaborator Presper Eckert a distinguished place in the pantheon of 20th-century scientists and engineers whose workhas made a difference. Mauchly’s career and achievements are the subject of a major exhibition in the RosenwaldGallery of the Van Pelt Library, which is being mounted as part of the Year of the Computer activities. Curated byAtsushi Akera and Asaf Goldschmidt of the Department of the History and Sociology of Science, with assistance fromDr. Nancy Shawcross, the Library’s Curator of Manuscripts, John W. Mauchly and the Development of the ENIACComputer is based primarily on the Mauchly Papers in the Library and on the ENIAC project records in the UniversityArchives. It presents an intelligent and sympathetic view of the man who designed the world’s first digital electroniccomputer and offers a fresh assessment of the nature of his achievement.

The son of a physicist, Mauchly received a PhD in Physics from Johns Hopkins in 1932. Finding an academicposition during the depths of the Depression was not easy, but Mauchly was able to secure an appointment at UrsinusCollege, a small liberal arts school outside of Philadelphia. However, Mauchly soon came to realize that conductingresearch in a small college was difficult, if not impossible. The annual operating budget of his Physics Department wasaround $50! The exhibit pays close attention to Mauchly’s professional development in the years before the war,

john w. mauchly

BY MICHAEL T. RYAN

the man and the machinethe man and the machine

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The exhibit portrays Mauchly not as the isolated, romanticgenius, but in the context of wider developments in thehistory of science that helped shape the career of thisprotean individual.

portraying for us a deeply committed and inventive scientist who made a virtue of scarcity. The very absence of equipment,colleagues, and funding seemed to move him to look for new and faster ways to do the complex and laborious calculationsneeded to solve a variety of problems based on accumulating and manipulating larger and larger amounts of data. What wasneeded to process the data was a rapid, accurate, multifunctional calculating device.

Mauchly came to the Moore School of Electrical Engineering as an adjunct faculty member to take up the slack left bythose who had joined the war effort. At that time, one of the School’s principal areas of military support research wascalculating ballistics trajectories. Mauchly became involved with this research, and it proved to be the ideal stimulus for hisown interests in developing a high-speed calculating machine that could handle huge amounts of data quickly and accu-rately. He was joined by his lab assistant Presper Eckert, whose job it was to translate Mauchly’s ideas into implementableform. It was Mauchly the physicist, Eckert the engineer. The road to ENIAC was in view.

The heart of the exhibit is the development of the ENIAC itself. The exhibit provides a clear and accessible descriptionof the device and its place in the history of computers. Although its unveiling came after the war had been concluded, itspurpose was still framed in terms of national defense. On Valentine’s Day, 1946, the ENIAC entered history by performinga large, complicated calculation to determine the feasibility of a hydrogen bomb.

The story of the ENIAC, however, was only one chapter—though the major one to be sure—in the career of a creativeand dedicated scientist. Mauchly’s stay at Penn was brief. No sooner had the ENIAC been successfully tested thanMauchly and Eckert became involved in a dispute with the University over patent rights to the ENIAC. The dispute led totheir departure from Penn and to their pioneering ventures in the commercial development and application of computingsystems. Although they worked for Remington Rand for a short time, during which the UNIVAC was developed, Mauchlyand Eckert preferred a risky independence to the more secure and financially remunerative environment of a corporation.Moreover, many in government and industry saw the enormous research and business potential of the ENIAC and itssuccessors; Mauchly and Eckert quickly found themselves in an intensely competitive and crowded field. To the end, theirown research interests remained more important to them than the profits of the marketplace.

Unlike many such exhibits, John W. Mauchly and the Development of the ENIAC Computer (continued on next page)

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is not simply a celebration of a man and an event. Akera and Goldschmidt conceive it more as a case study of the natureof scientific research and invention in the 20th century. Time and again the exhibit poses fundamental questions in thehistory of science: What is creativity? What does it mean to “discover,” “to invent,” in science? To what extent isscientific achievement a social, collaborative, and cumulative process? The exhibit portrays Mauchly not as the isolated,romantic genius, but in the context of wider developments in the history of science that helped shape the career of thisprotean individual. The enormous importance of the ENIAC in the history of computing as well as for the marketplacehas made it a natural arena for priority disputes: Who really got there first? However, the exhibit takes a more balancedand nuanced approach. It encourages us to think less in terms of questions of priority and more about complex paths ofdiscovery, paths connecting multiple pasts to multiple presents. The construction of the ENIAC triggered more than adecade of claims, counter-claims, and law suits regarding invention and attendant proprietary rights. Akera andGoldschmidt view these contests as characteristic of the ways in which the intrinsic complexity of scientific research canfrustrate, if not undermine, the apparent clarity of the law and the appeal of simple narrative answers to difficult questions.

On one issue, though, the exhibit is straightforward and insistent: It was the genius of Mauchly, his singularly uniquecontribution, to have designed not only the first electronic digital computer, but to have grasped intuitively the manyrelated functions such a device could perform. If Mauchly had limited his vision to what the Army wanted, he might havecreated a single-purpose machine with no wider applicability. It was because the ENIAC was so functionally rich that ithas come to occupy an important position in the history of science and technology. And who knows? Perhaps someValentine’s Day in the future will herald a solution to Valentine’s conundrum in Arcadia that recognizes the role played byMauchly in making it possible finally to predict the weather.

The exhibit formally opens on February 14 and runs through March in the Rosenwald Gallery. Gallery hours areMondays–Fridays, 9 AM–5 PM, and from 10 AM–2 PM on Saturdays. Those who cannot come to the Library to see theactual show can see its virtual version on the Web at http://www.library.upenn.edu/special/events.html.

MICHAEL T. RYAN is Director of Special Collections for the University of Pennsylvania Library.Photos: John W. Mauchly Papers, Department of Special Collections, University of Pennsylvania Library.

The exhibit encourages us to think less in terms of questions of priority and more aboutcomplex paths of discovery, paths connecting multiple pasts to multiple presents.

march 1996 15

eventsanniversary golden

The detailed calendar of events planned for the 18-monthlong celebration of the ENIAC and the birth of theinformation age is available on the Penn Web (http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~museum/calendar.shtml). Here is abrief look at some of the events scheduled for Februaryand March.

Computer Technology in Art exhibitionFebruary 2–25A presentation of two- and three-dimensional works of artthat utilize computer technology. Nexus Foundation forToday’s Art, 137 N. 2nd Street. Information: Dina Ward(215/629-1103).

Institute of Contemporary Art exhibitionFebruary 5–19A celebration of the impact of computers and informationtechnology on art and culture by Gary Hill. Institute ofContemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, 36th andSansom Streets. Information: Patrick Murphy (215/898-7108).

ENIAC 50th anniversary exhibitionFebruary 9–17“From Vacuum Tubes to Microchips” at the Shops atLiberty Place, 16th and Market Streets. Information:Expert Events (215/724-6644).

IBM’s Deep Blue versus Garry KasparovFebruary 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, and 17 at 3 PMThe chess tournament between World Chess FederationChampion Garry Kasparov and IBM’s Deep Blue com-puter. Pennsylvania Convention Center. Information:(800/342-6626).

ACM Computing Week ’96February 14–20ACM, the first society in computing, celebrates its 50thanniversary. Information: http://www.acm.org/conferences/computing_week/.

ENIAC 50th anniversary day eventsFebruary 1410 AM–3PM: Educational Technology Showcasefeaturing Penn faculty, students, and staff demonstrating

locally developed, state-of-the-art projects. HoustonHall, Bodek Lounge.

noon–1 PM: A press conference features the reactivationof part of the original ENIAC, exactly 50 years after itwas first unveiled to the public.

1:30–3 PM: “ENIAC in Context,” the first session of theACM History Program, deals with the development ofthe ENIAC within the social, cultural, and intellectualenvironment of its time. Philadelphia Marriott, 12th andMarket Streets.

3–4:30 PM: Connaissance Presents: a major presenta-tion by a nationally known technology leader. IrvineAuditorium.

3:30–5 PM: “ENIAC’s Legacies,” the second session ofthe ACM History Program, deals with the significanthardware and software developments of the past 50years, as well as the people involved. PhiladelphiaMarriott, 12th and Market Streets.

6:30–9:30 PM: A “Celebration Honoring the Creationof Modern Computing” features a speech by VicePresident Al Gore, the announcement of the 1996Bower Award winners, and the announcement of the1996 ACM Alan M. Turing Award winner during areception and dinner at the Philadelphia Marriott, 12thand Market Streets. Information: Greater PhiladelphiaFirst (215/575-2200).

International Literacy ConferenceFebruary 15–17“New Technologies for Adult Learning,” sponsored bythe National Center on Adult Literacy, University ofPennsylvania. Information: Dan Wagner (215/898-2100).

American Music Theater FestivalMarch 20–24“CrossWaves ’96” highlights the use of new technologiesin theater art. Annenberg Center, 36th and WalnutStreets. Information: Marjory Samoff (215/893-1570).

ENIAC

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—Stanley Chodorow, Provost, University of Pennsylvania

—Judith Rodin, President, University of Pennsylvania

—Edward G. Rendell, Mayor of Philadelphia

—John A. Fry, Executive Vice President, Universityof Pennsylvania

thanks to robert smith, john derrickson, and paul shaffer

Happy Birthday ENIAC

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—Al Gore, Vice President, United States of America

—Peter C. Patton, Vice Provost, Information Systems& Computing

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—Kay Mauchly Antonelli, widow of John Mauchly,Consulting Engineer, ENIAC project

—Herman H. Goldstine, Liasion Officer, ENIAC project

—Judith R. Eckert, widow of J. Presper Eckert, ChiefEngineer, ENIAC project

Your progeny have changed research in chemicalengineering and the practice of chemical engineering.May the next 50 years be as revolutionary and exciting.

—Raymond Gorte, Chair, Chemical Engineering

Your descendants have carried us to the shores ofunexpected new worlds of connection and information.Because of you, we have become pioneers, just begin-ning a vast transformation of how we work, create, learn,and interact with one another.

—Mitch Marcus, Chair, Computer & Information Science

—James A. Unruh, Chairman of Unisys

—Gregory Farrington, Dean, School of Engineering& Applied Science

You were conceived for the purposes of war. How wonder-ful to see children learning to read from your progeny.

—Ira M. Cohen, Chair, Mechanical Engineering& Applied Mechanics

From vacuum tubes and vicious conflict, to global villagesand virtual toys dancing in the mind of a child. Your birthis celebrated every time your progeny are used to unitehumankind in community and creativity.

—Patrick T. Harker, Chair, Systems Engineering

Futurists predicted computers might make us less human.Instead, they have given birth to a new age of informationand freedom. Happy birthday to the 30 ton beginning ofit all!

Dear ENIACAlthough you’re turning 50And your tubes are old and grayYour I/O is outdatedAnd your memory’s just 2KYou’re still the inspirationFor the WWW and CrayAnd for all the computationsThat we carry out today

—Gershon Buchsbaum, Interim Chair, Bioengineering

Born half a century ago and still an infant, you have hada most profound effect on our generation. May wehave the wisdom to use you in the pursuit of the goalsthat are the most noble in humankind.

—Sohrab Rabii, Chair, Electrical Engineering

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cybersociety 2046

BY JILL MASER

Earth has only two classes of society: the techno-haves and the techno-have-nots. The techno-haves visit friendsacross the globe, cavort on sun-drenched beaches, and enjoy the best of Broadway’s plays—all without leaving theirhomes. The have-nots exist underground in crime-ridden decay. They have no access to the technology that makesthe good life possible, nor to education, the key to survival in the year 2046. Is this the stuff of science fiction?

photo and graffiti: meak

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Not so, according to several groups of Penn studentsassembled recently to discuss how the world will look inthe year 2046. Although each group articulated virtuallythe same vision of a frightening underground uprising bythe have-nots, all the students remain optimistic thattechnology will also bring forth changes for the good ofsociety and the planet.

Some of the students’ thoughts mirror those thataccompanied the advent of the VCR. It was thought thenthat “nesting” would become prevalent, that peoplewould spend less time outside the home, opting insteadfor the comfort of home theater. But while video storeshave proliferated, movie theaters continue to rake in ourentertainment dollars. We may prefer nesting at times,but as one student said, “We are inherently social, weneed to socialize.” Indeed, many of the students seetechnology opening new channels for us to meet peoplewe would not normally meet. While “a small percentageof the population will remain Internet freaks,” technologywill allow efficiencies in everything we do, includingsocializing.

In the 50 years since the birth of the ENIAC, theworld has already become a smaller place. Communica-tion is easier and faster, and media coverage of worldevents is instantaneous. The students see a continuallyshrinking world, one where real-time capabilities, such ascoverage of news and financial markets, will infringe onour “down-time.”

But technological advances will also allow us moretime to think and be creative, which will in turn lead to

innovation and better technology. Economic growth willoccur, some world problems will be solved, and excitinginnovations in the arts, sciences, business, and govern-ment will take place.

We will, for example, enjoy viewing three-dimen-sional murals. We will be able to call up the name of aplaywright and view a production of the play we select.The medical profession will change. Specialists will notneed to come to the hospital, and surgeons will performtheir miracles from remote locations. Virtual diagnoseswill be possible, and animated programs will show us ourailments and how we might overcome them. We will beable to make sophisticated decisions about our care.

Mechanical language translators will eliminateembarrassing faux pas as we communicate withcolleagues around the world. We might see privatizedmining operations set up on nearby planets. And wemight elect our President and Congress by voting onthe Internet.

A more disturbing scenario is the social division andturmoil that the students foresee. As technology invadesevery aspect of our lives, those who have access to it andto education will rise to the top of society, and those whodo not will become the “slave class of the technologicallyliterate elite.”

The situation will generate two responses. Sometechno-haves will break away and “get back to basics.”One graduate student imagines that “people will opt outof the techno race and create communes where they canexperience real human contact and diversity. Spiritualcommunities will spring up on the coasts.”

Those less privileged, the techno-have-nots, willbecome a rebel class. All the students envision somekind of backlash against the “haves.” They believe thatas the gap widens, the have-nots will go to greaterlengths to commit crimes to get a share of money andpower. Instruments of crime will become more deadly.Just as warfare has become less personal with theintroduction of computer-launched and tracked missiles,instruments of personal and corporate crime will alsobecome remote. People will create viruses to disabletechnology. People will kill for fun.

The students also see a parallel divergence between

countries that have money and technology and those thatdo not. While technology makes information readilyavailable and leads the way for movements such asglasnost, some nations will remain outside the informa-tion age because free access to information makes itharder to control their citizens. As one student noted,technological advances are easy compared to the diffi-culty of changing people—especially people responsiblefor governing a populace they fear.

The students picture a couple of large, technologi-cally advanced countries dominating the world. Willthese countries help the rest of the world or exploitothers? Here the students (continued on next page)

All the students agree that regardless of the outcome oftechnological innovations over the next 50 years, some levelof social responsibility needs to accompany the advances.

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diverge. One group thinks that powerful countries willsimply invade “uncooperative” countries and take whatthey need or want. “It all boils down to politics versusresources,” said a student who believes that exploitationwill be the only way to survive a critical time when therewill not be enough food, space, or money to go around.Other students see good relations among countries, fos-tered by the improved communication capabilities. Indus-tries of the future may not have to be located in today’sfirst-world countries. New technology will allow infor-mation—and perhaps even products—to be sent aroundthe world in new ways. Powerful hubs such as those inthe United States and Europe may become obsolete.

How will some of the horrific elements of this visioncome about? As one student noted, “People who developthe technology aren’t necessarily concerned with its

implications; people use technology to increase powerand wealth.” Another student, concerned that technologyprovides the means for us to “abuse our anonymity,”noted that “cruelty to others and taking no responsibilityfor our actions are products of a dehumanized, desensi-tized society.” All the students agree that regardless ofthe outcome of technological innovations over the next50 years, some level of social responsibility needs toaccompany the advances. If society does not considerthe implications of the uses of technology, some of themore frightening scenarios described by the studentscould easily become reality. Let us hope thatCyberSociety 2046 is indeed the stuff of science fiction.

JILL MASER is Director of Operations Analysis in theOffice of the Executive Vice President.

The graffiti picturedin this article cover citywalls in Philadelphia.They, along with otherexamples of graffitiaround the world, canbe found at the ArtCrimes site on the WorldWide Web. URL:http://www.graffiti.org/.

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Exploitation will be the only way to survive a critical time whenthere will not be enough food, space, or money to go around.

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ENIAC in the news

Recent research by Penn computer historians hasuncovered the fact that the ENIAC was one of the firstelectronic devices to have a conditional branch. Moderncomputer languages use IF...THEN...ELSE for branching.

The wires that ran around the ENIAC carried twokinds of pulses: number-pulses and control-pulses. Thenumber-pulses represented numbers from zero (no pulses)to nine (nine pulses). The control-pulse was used totrigger the next step of the calculation.

The ENIAC operators found that if they connected anumber-pulse wire to the control-pulse input, it could beused to control the execution of the program. Here is howit worked: If the output on the number-pulse wire was anon-zero number (one or more pulses), then it could beused to start another step. But, if the output was zero (nopulses), then the operation would halt.

Some scholars contend that it is the ability to branchthat separates a computer from a calculator. Here isanother way to say it:

IF a machine has the ability to branch,THEN

it’s a computer,ELSE

it’s just a calculator.

Penn wins Web awards

Three World Wide Web services at Penn, the PennWeb itself, Oncolink, and the African Studies Web, haveall been rated among the top 5 percent of all sites on theInternet by Point Survey, a free service that rates andreviews only the best sites on the Web.

PennNet services and support

Data Communications and Computing Services(DCCS) is developing a new set of “official” Web pagesthat contain information about major PennNet services aswell as product information for network software. Thenew pages are available from the DCCS home page(http://www.upenn.edu/dccs/).

Penn wins supercomputing award

The National Scalable Cluster Project (NSCP), acollaboration of the Universities of Pennsylvania, Illinois,and Maryland, won the award for “High Performance DataManagement and Mining” at the Supercomputing ’95conference last December. Data mining, extracting usefulinformation from extremely large collections of data, isbecoming increasingly interesting as many scientific andcommercial groups struggle with the increasingly data-intensive needs of modern computing.

Researchers at the three universities linked computerstogether using special high-speed communication tech-niques that form the basis of many plans for new nationalcommunications infrastructures. These new techniques,called asynchronous transfer mode or ATM, are thespecialty of several researchers at Penn, particularlyJonathan Smith in the Department of Computer & Infor-mation Science. Professor Robert Hollebeek’s group inPhysics specializes in the configuration of large computersor large numbers of computers to simultaneously “minedata.” Examples of data mining at Penn include fast, real-time analysis of images (Professor Ruzena Bajcsy), verylarge linguistics samples (Professor Mark Liberman), andlarge databases from particle physics (Professor Hollebeek).

The award resulted from a competition called the“High Performaance Computing Challenge,” which wasjudged by a national panel of experts. The competitionfeatured groups seeking to outdo each other in comman-deering the largest number of processors in a race towardthe first demonstration of “teraflop” computing.

Conference on “Networked Information”

Penn will again host a CAUSE-Coalition for Net-worked Information conference on “Networked Informa-tion” on May 30–31 at the Penn Tower Hotel. For moreinformation: http://www.upenn.edu/ccni96/.

New Vi-Spy release

To get the latest release of Vi-Spy, version 12.0 release10.95, bring a blank, unformatted, high-density diskette tothe Computing Resource Center, 3732 Locust Walk.

announce ments

The ENIAC demonstrated to the world that large-scale, high-speed, electronic computation waspossible, triggering a wave of new computer

designs and the birth of the computer industry. Despite theENIAC’s success, one fundamental aspect of its design isonly now becoming part of the design of everyday comput-ers, after remaining dormant for nearly 50 years.

At the heart of the ENIAC was a set of 20 independentaccumulators, each an electronic adding machine thatcould take in a number and add it to an existing total every200 microseconds. In principle, a programmer couldarrange that all 20 of these adding machines do newadditions in parallel, allowing the ENIAC to perform not5,000 but 100,000 additions a second. In this way, theENIAC was fundamentally a parallel machine.

Almost immediately the ENIAC’s programmersdecided, in the words of J. Presper Eckert [chief engineeron the ENIAC project] that parallel programming intro-duced “a number of inconveniences and difficulties” sothat “in programming a machine, it is undesirable to try todo several operations in parallel.” Eckert noted thatbecause there was no mechanism to allow a third operationto continue only after two parallel sets of operations hadboth completed, the two paths had to take exactly the samelength of time. Although SEAS researchers have recentlyshown that there is a simple trick that would solve thisproblem, it now appears that the ENIAC programmerswere actually uninterested in parallel programming. Why?

Betty Hoberton, one of the two programmers of thedemonstration program executed on February 14, 1946,recently noted that setting up a complex parallel algorithmwas simply too time consuming, given that it took nearly aday to move heavy digit trays and connect cables to set upeven a simple problem on the ENIAC. Also, since themachine’s operation was unaffected by tube failures inaccumulators that weren’t being used, the smaller theprogram, the longer it would run until a tube failed.Parallel computing disappeared for 25 years.

In the late 1960s parallel computing burst forth oncemore, now called supercomputing, driven by the very highcomputational needs of a range of important engineering,scientific, and military problems. To simplify both

ENIAC’s recessive

hardware and software, many supercomputers use a verylimited kind of parallel processing, where the sameoperations are performed in parallel on many differentdata points.

Most surprisingly, the inside of the Intel Pentiumhas a close resemblance to the ENIAC’s accumulators.Internally the Pentium converts machine instructions intooperations that are given to any free arithmetic unit, eachof which operates in parallel; some of these units areinterconnected so that results from one can go directlyinto others.

A closer successor to the ENIAC can be found insideevery CD player. Converting the stream of numbers storedon a CD back into music involves many different steps.Each step is actually a computer program executed onspecial-purpose computer chips in the CD player calleddigital signal processors (DSP). The key operation inmany of these programs, performed again and again,involves multiplying together the results of two additions.To speed up the conversion of numbers into music, eachDSP contains two accumulators whose outputs are fed intoa single multiplier unit so that two adds and a multiply areall performed in parallel. Programming these algorithmson the ENIAC would have been very natural.

Finally, although not usually recognized as such,research in what are now called data flow machines isattempting to recreate in modern, general form the originalflexibility of the ENIAC. A data flow machine has manydifferent processing units connected together exactly as theprogrammer wishes, but now reconfigurable under high-speed computer control. The ENIAC was exactly such adata flow machine, only externally programmed.Developing an effective data flow architecture will requirethe development of new methods to provide high-speedswitching at very low cost, but the payoff will be latter-day ENIACs that run many times faster than currentcomputers.

MITCH MARCUS is Chair of the Computer and Informa-tion Science Department of the School of Engineering andApplied Science; ATSUSHI AKERA is a graduate studentin the Department of History and Sociology of Science.

gene BY MITCH MARCUS AND ATSUSHI AKERA

Background: The circuit design for theENIAC II chip follows the original’sarchitecture of independent accumulators.Opposite, inset: Programmer BettyHoberton was one of many women whocontributed to the original ENIACproject. Here, four programmers set upa calculation. Photo: John MauchlyPapers, Department of Special Collec-tions, University of Pennsylvania Library.

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Most virtual worlds have been populated by fairlysimple objects with simple appearance or motion. With theincrease in rendering and computational power of modernworkstations, more interesting inhabitants can now beadded to our virtual worlds: simulated humans. Creatingsimulated human agents that behave realistically is one ofthe research goals of Penn’s Center for Human Modelingand Simulation. The Center’s Jack™ visualization softwarecontains a powerful and extraordinarily interactive 3Dhuman model that is used to analyze how people willinteract with a wide variety of systems or environments.

One application for real-time human models is humanfactors analysis, which involves visualizing the appearance,capabilities, and performance of humans as they executetasks in a simulated environment. Human factors applica-tions serve a broad population that knows how to designthings but does not usually have prior skill in computeranimation of people. Human models can also be applied totraining situations. For example, in medical training Jackcan be both patient and medic in an emergency caresimulation.

The Jack model contains almost all the essential humanskeletal joints and it can be scaled to different body sizesbased on population data. The figure can be manipulated sothat it moves in several directions simultaneously: Forexample, it can grip a moving steering wheel with bothhands while sitting in a car, looking out the rear-viewwindow and pressing the floor pedals with its feet. Jack canwalk and turn naturally, grasp objects, and follow objectswith his eyes. He can even tell you if the load he iscarrying exceeds NIOSH guidelines or his strength limits.

For a virtual reality experience, a Jack system can beconfigured with immersive VR glasses, digitizing glove,

and 3D magnetic body tracking, permitting the user tovisualize and move his or her entire body (not just a“disembodied” hand) in the virtual environment.

The Jack software runs on Silicon Graphics worksta-tions, which have 3D graphics features that aid interactionwith highly articulated figures. The environment providesstate-of-the-art 3D rendering through hardware, ray-trace, orRenderman interfaces. There is also an API (ApplicationProgrammer Interface) through which Jack acts like a serverfor human motion for other software or CAD systems.

Jack is presently the virtual employee of choice atinstitutions as varied as heavy equipment manufacturers,vehicle designers, and the military, making him clearly a“Jack-of-all-trades.” And along with his physical develop-ment, Jack’s cognitive capabilities are expanding. He canplay “hide and seek” and engage copies of himself in limitedconversation. Among the next steps in Jack’s evolution arespeech synthesis and understanding, nonverbal communica-tion, and personality development.

Jack has enjoyed funding from numerous sources,including ARPA, NSF, Army, Air Force, ONR, NLM, andseveral industrial sponsors. The software is licensedcommercially by the HMS Center and is available to thePenn community at no charge except for manuals andtraining costs. For more information, contact Karen Carter,Associate Director HMS, Computer and InformationScience, Moore Building, Philadelphia, PA 19103-6389(215/898-1488) or visit Jack’s home page on the Penn Web(http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~hms/jack.html).

NORMAN I. BADLER is Director of the Center for HumanModeling and Simulation in the School of Engineering andApplied Science.

BY NORMAN I. BADLER

jack

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Graphics available from Jack’s Web site. Above: Simulated driving tasks such as gripping amoving steering wheel and braking. Inset: Modeling an emergency care situation on abattlefield. Opposite left: Automatic reaching for and grasping an object using a variety ofgrip styles.

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Polyhedral explorations

“You start with a cube, you cut the corner off ... andyou stick it back in the hole, and then ... you cut theopposite corner off and turn that piece around ... andshove it back in the opening, that intersects with the firstpiece that you shoved in the other corner, so that you cutthe opposite corners off, you’re going along the diagonalof the cube, and you end up with a little cube inside.”

—Robinson FredenthalMost sculpture lasts a long time. Figures in bronze

or stone endure and no one needs to rely on verbaldescriptions to share an artist’s experiment in geometry.But what if sculpture is perishable? Must the experimentdisappear with the physical medium?

Sculptor and Penn alumnus Robinson Fredenthal hasexplored three-dimensional geometry not only in large,durable works but also in hundreds of fragile papermodels. In 1995 he approached Penn’s ArchitecturalArchives to see how his large body of perishable workmight be preserved. Director Julia Moore Converse,along with Jeff Cohen and Mark Aseltine of the GraduateSchool of Fine Arts and GSFA student Brian Phillips,decided to try using new media technologies to documentand analyze Fredenthal’s work.

Cohen and Phillips cataloged over 1,000 works,

identified several “families” of shapes, and photographedarrangements in Fredenthal’s studio. They recordedinterviews with Fredenthal, discussing the specific piecesand how they related to each other. Using 3D graphicssoftware, they reconstructed some of the shapesFredenthal had described and developed step-by-stepillustrations of how they were derived. They also usedApple’s QuickTime Virtual Reality (QTVR) software tosimulate the experience of handling a sculpture. QTVR“object movies” allow users to interactively rotate anobject on screen and view it from all sides. Cohen andPhilips have generated QTVR movies both from photo-graphs of sculptures and from their 3D graphics.

Phillips’ work on this project has become anindependent study course, and Aseltine is now his facultyadvisor. Phillips has created a Web site devoted toFredenthal that includes a photographic catalog of hisworks, videos, QTVR movies, text transcribed frominterviews, biographical material, and critical commen-tary (http://dolphin.upenn.edu/~gsfa/rf/). The site isorganized around families of shapes and offers detailedanalysis of key works.

This semester Phillips is photographing QTVRscenes of some of Fredenthal’s large outdoor pieces,including the “Black Forest” sculpture on Penn’s campus

BY JOHN MACDERMOTT

One of the most exciting aspects of newmedia technologies is the creativepower they have put in the hands ofscholars. The two Penn projectsdiscussed below illustrate how aca-demic inquiry and disciplined researchmethods are driving these technologiesinto the mainstream of education. Formore information about interactivemedia initiatives developed at Penn seehttp://www.upenn.edu/newmedia/projects/academic_projects.html.

media power

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at 34th and Walnut Streets. These QTVR scenes areinteractive, 360-degree photographic panoramas thatallow viewers to simulate the experience of viewing thesculpture in its surroundings. Phillips also continues tocreate QTVR object movies of the paper models and new3D graphics to illustrate selected geometric principles.

“Es que somos muy pobres”

Spanish Language Coordinator Julia Aguilar thinksthere’s something missing in the traditional readingexperience for intermediate Spanish students. For thoselacking a cultural context to draw upon, reading assign-ments can become rotetranslation exercisesand literary apprecia-tion is diminished.

Aguilar’s doctoralresearch has indicatedthat the reading processinvolves more than de-coding words to recon-struct a message. Be-cause a reader’s back-ground knowledge alsocontributes to under-standing, reading in asecond language can beconstrained not only byunfamiliar vocabularyand linguistic structuresbut by the reader’s lim-ited cultural knowledge.As part of her disserta-tion work, she has cre-ated a multimedia-en-riched reading exerciseto help her study howcultural empathy affectsreading comprehension.

She began by trav-eling to Mexico to vid-eotape footage tosupplement “Es quesomos muy pobres”(It’s because we’re poor),a story from Spanish 140about a farmer’s efforts to provide his daughter a dowryand keep her from a life of prostitution. Aguilar tapedinterviews with a campesino (farmer), a young girl, andwith prostitutes. Other footage showed the environmentof rural Mexico. Back at Penn, she worked with herdissertation committee to develop an instructional designand with Jay Treat at the SAS Prep Center to prepare themedia elements. Professor Ralph Ginsberg, one ofAguilar’s dissertation advisors, made his research

assistant, Ralph Ranjit Bhatnava, available to developHyperCard scripts.

The exercise begins with pre-reading activities thathelp students supplement their background knowledgeabout Mexico and develop awareness of issues in thestory. Students enter words they associate with Mexico:Calor, playa, sombrero, cerveza, mar, tacos, and pobreare commonly mentioned by students, who admit theirresponses are stereotypical.

Students then view pictures showing the realities ofrural Mexico. Students also record their associationswith the word campesino. They scan the story text,identify the characters, view video clips, and answer

questions about them.The clips include thematerial shot inMexico plus inter-views with criticsand the author JuanRulfo. Students canhear the first para-graph read aloud inthe voice of the story’snarrator, a youngMexican boy.

While reading thetext, students use anonline glossary. Theyclick on an unfamiliarword to obtain adefinition that may beeither written orpresented visuallywith photos and videoclips. To complete theexercise, they answernot only questionsabout events in thestory but also aboutthe Mexican world-view in general.Finally, students takeaway a printout oftheir word associa-tions, answers toquestions, andvocabulary inquiries.

Preliminary results have indicated positive effects oncomprehension compared to a control group, andsuperior vocabulary recall. Testing in full begins thissemester as students in several sections of Spanish 140use the program and provide the data on which Aguilarwill base her formal analysis.

JOHN MACDERMOTT is New Media Specialist forInformation Systems and Computing.

Multimedia provides students a window on ruralMexico in Julia Aguilar’s new CD-ROM for Spanish140. The CD-ROM enriches students’ understandingof the short story by Juan Rulfo, “Es que somos muypobres” (It’s because we’re poor).

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Electronic Calendar

ISC hands-on courses

These courses meet at the Computing Resource Center(CRC), 3732 Locust Walk. Call 573-3102 to register.Registration begins February 26. If you cannot attenda course, you must cancel 48 hours in advance.

Courses for DOS and Windows users

Introduction to WordPerfect for WindowsMarch 7, 9:30 AM–12:30 PM

Includes creating, saving, retrieving, editing, andprinting files. Prerequisite: Windows course ortutorial.

Intermediate Word for WindowsMarch 14, 1–4 PM

Covers features used in complex documents, such asmerging, using templates, creating macros, andcustomizing toolbars. Prerequisite: Introduction toWord for Windows or equivalent.

Intermediate WordPerfect for WindowsMarch 19, 9:30 AM–12:30 PM

Covers features used in complex documents, such ascustomizing the button bar, merging documents,creating macros, using templates, and creatingtables. Prerequisite: Introduction to WordPerfectfor Windows or equivalent.

Courses for Macintosh users

Introduction to Microsoft WordMarch 12, 9:30 AM–12:30 PM

Includes creating, saving, retrieving, editing, andprinting files.

Intermediate Microsoft WordMarch 25, 1–4 PM

Covers features and functions needed to producecomplex documents, such as creating style sheets,merging documents, setting up tables, customizingtoolbars, and creating glossaries. Prerequisite:Introduction to Word or equivalent.

Introduction to Excel SpreadsheetsMarch 27, 1–4 PM

Covers the basic functions of an electronic spread-sheet. Includes entering, editing, and formattingdata; using functions; writing formulas; printing.

Special Courses

Introduction to HTML—Penn faculty & staff onlyMarch 5, 9:30 AM–12:30 PM; March 21, 1–4 PM

Covers basic HTML formatting, creating hot links,and moving files to and from a World Wide Webserver. Prerequisites: Familiarity with Web browsersand an understanding of URL syntax.

ISC B&P seminars

Bits & Pieces seminars meet at the CRC, 3732 Locust Walk,unless otherwise noted. Registration is not required.

Introduction to NetscapeMarch 4, noon–1 PM; March 20, noon–1 PM;March 25, 1–2 PM

Covers configuring Netscape to launch the PennHome Page, setting preferences, creating hotlists,and navigating to popular Internet sites.

Introduction to WS_FTP (Windows)March 13, noon–1 PM

Introduction to file transfers over the Internet usingWS_FTP. Covers starting a connection to a host,short cuts, and viewing and downloading files.

Introduction to Fetch (Mac)March 28, 1–2 PM

Introduction to file transfers over the Internet usingFetch. Covers starting a connection to a host, shortcuts, and viewing and downloading files.

Human Resources

Registration is required. Call 898-6176.

Overview of the Personnel/Payroll SystemMarch 11, 3–5 PM5th Floor Conference Room, 3401 Walnut St.

Covers personnel/payroll terminology, processes,time frames, and contact offices. For new employees.

Online Personnel ProcessingMarch 12, 9 AM–noon, Suite 265C, 3401 Walnut St.

Hands-on workshop covers how to use the UMIScomputer to maintain employee records. Prerequisite:Basic understanding of employee types, job class codes,accounts, and subcodes.

march 1996 29

Van Pelt Library

All sessions except individualized training and “Surf theElectronic Library” meet in Room 502, Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center. Registration required. Sign upat Van Pelt Reference, call 898-8118, send e-mail tolibrefer@pobox, or use an electronic form (http://www.library.upenn.edu/vanpelt/forms/workshop.html).

LEXIS/NEXIS Noontime Training—Penn students &faculty onlyMarch 4, noon–1 PM; March 11, noon–1 PM; March 18,noon–1 PM; March 25, noon–1 PM

Internet Resources Noontime TrainingElections: March 5, noon–1 PMWomen’s Studies: March 19, noon–1 PMGay & Lesbian Studies: March 27, noon–1 PM

DIALOG Energy, Environmental & Geology DatabasesMarch 6, noon–1 PM

Britannica OnlineMarch 7, noon–1 PM

Surf the Electronic Library (hands-on course) March 19, 7–8 PM; March 28, 7–8 PM

How to connect to Franklin, Penn’s online catalog,and databases like WLS and LEXIS/NEXIS; how tolocate online help for electronic resources; and howto surf the “net” through the Library Web page.

RLIN/Eureka Noontime TrainingMarch 20, noon–1 PM

Electronic Library DemonstrationMarch 21, 3–4:30 PM

An overview of the Library’s electronic resources,including the Franklin online catalog, WILS, RLIN/Eureka, and LEXIS/NEXIS, and Internet Resourcesavailable through the Library Web page.

Individualized Training on Electronic ResourcesMonday to Friday, 9:30–10 AM, Moelis Online SearchRoom. Advance registration is required.

For Penn students, faculty, or staff who want indi-vidualized training on a specific electronic resourcesuch as Franklin (Penn’s online catalog), a CD-ROMdatabase, a commercial online system such asDIALOG, or a networked resource such as RLIN/Eureka or LEXIS/NEXIS. (Note: LEXIS/NEXIStraining is for faculty and students only.)

Biomedical Library

All courses meet in the Biomedical Library Lab.Call 898-5817 or register online via http://www.library.upenn.edu/biomed/.

Biomedical Information on the InternetMarch 6, 4–6 PM; March 28, 11 AM–1 PM

An overview of basic Internet activities and applica-tions. Network ID and password required.

Biomedical Database Searching Using OVID SoftwareMarch 5, 4–6 PM; March 22, 2–4 PM;March 27, 10 AM–noon

Advanced OVID Subject SearchingMarch 20, 2–4 PM

Searching the World Wide WebMarch 8, 10 AM–noon; March 25, 2–4 PM

Finding biomedical information using Lynx andNetscape Web browsers.

Reference Manager/EndNote PlusBy appointment. Call 898-9905

End-user Searching using Grateful MedBy appointment. Call 898-9905

Lippincott Library

Lippincott Online TrainingFor information, call Lippincott Reference, 898-5924; sende-mail to lippinco@wharton; or check Lippincott Library’s Webpage (http://www.library.upenn.edu/lippincott/).

Interest Groups

Digital Media and Publishing Group meetingMarch 5, noon–1:30 PM. Place to be announced.

This new group encompasses the old DesktopPublishing and Interactive Technologies InterestGroups. Info: http://www.upenn.edu/newmedia/ orJohn MacDermott, 898-3046 or macderm@isc, orRandall Couch, 898-6243 or couch@isc.

Super User Group meetingMarch 11, noon–1:30 PM. 285-6 McNeil Building.

Info: Donna Milici, 898-0426 or donna@isc.

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Each week the Library selects and anno-tates sites considered especially useful toPenn faculty and students for its “CoolNew Sites” list. The sites are also in-cluded in the Library’s Internet Resourceslisting under the appropriate category.

o bD snRa im t

Modems with similar specifications don’t work equallywell on PennNet. To eliminate a frequent source ofdifficulty in establishing a network connection, use a USRobotics 14.4. or 28.8 Sportster modem. These models,available at the Computer Connection, have been testedthoroughly and shown to work with PennNet.

Wharton students: If you’re having trouble withSPIKE, try to use the copy of Netscape installed withyour Internet applications (look in the “PennNet PPP”Program Manager group in Windows or in the folder youselected during installation on the Macintosh). IfNetscape doesn’t work, contact First Call, 57-FIRST. If

PPP for Windows users: Make sure you have only oneWINSOCK.DLL file and that it’s in the C:\NET\BIN sub-directory. Having more than one WINSOCK.DLL causesproblems with Internet applications, e.g., Netscape.

Penn’s Computer Connection has sold approximately51,500 computers and printers since 1984.

If you are having startup problems in Windows 3.1 orWindows for Workgroups, try starting Windows by typingwin /b . This creates a file in the Windows directorycalled BOOTLOG.TXT, which records the Windowsstartup procedure and any files or devices that fail to load.

Need the zip code for Crumpled Springs, ND? Searchthe Postal Service’s address and zip code site (http://www.usps.gov/ncsc/aq-zip.html).

Longing for WordPerfect’s blue screen? In Word 6 forMacintosh, select Options from the Tools menu, and inthe General section, check Blue Background, White Text.In Word 6 for Windows, select Options from the Toolsmenu, select the General tab, and check Blue Back-ground, White Text.

Netscape works but SPIKE doesn’t, contactWharton’s computer consultants, 898-8600.

Is Netscape freezing your Macintosh? TheDefrost system extension “defrosts” all ver-sions of Netscape and works on Macs andPower Macs running System 7 or later. Down-load it from http://cygnus.rsabbs.com/~ssykes/nsdefrost.html.

New Internet search engines offer muchmore functionality than their predecessors.Check Internet Search Tools on the Library’sInternet Resources page (http://www. l ib ra ry.upenn.edu/ resour ces /resources.html) for examples. Alta Vista, forexample, searches Web pages and Usenetmessages using Boolean operators, proxim-ity (phrase searches), and relevancy ranking.This full functionality increases your chancesof finding exactly what you want.

The DOS/Windows FTP site at OaklandUniversity now has a Web page front-end toits software archive, including subject categorizations, asearch engine, and file listings that include dates, bytesizes, and brief descriptions (http://www.acs.oakland.edu/oak.html).

It’s 1996—have you changed your password? Tochange your Dolphin or Pobox password, log in to youraccount, then at the [MAIN MENU]% prompt, typepasswd . You will be prompted to type your current(old) password, then your new password twice.

march 1996 31

Q A&

Somebody created aliases on my Mac. How can Ilocate the original files?

Macintosh alias files are small files that point tocomplete, original files that can be located on your harddrive, on diskettes, or on file servers. To locate anoriginal file, single-click on its alias and then select GetInfo from the File menu. From there you can click on theFind Original button to locate the original and pull it upin an active window on your screen. The path to theoriginal file also appears in the Original: field in the GetInfo window. For example, Original: MacintoshHD:Documents:Test tells you that the original file namedTest is on the volume (hard drive) called Macintosh HD,in the Documents folder. —Kristin Nelson, CRC

I’ve heard about new memory chips called DIMMs.What are they and will I be able to use them?

Currently, SIMMs (Single Inline Memory Modules)are the de facto standard for memory for most computers.However, some newer computers (most new Mac modelsand some high-end workstations) use DIMMs (DualInline Memory Modules), which can handle largeramounts of data at one time. Data handling is measuredby the number of bits in the data path, and the path usedby DIMMS is twice as wide as the path used by SIMMs.Because DIMMs are physically larger than SIMMs, theydo not fit into computers designed for SIMMs and viceversa. Because memory design changes periodically, it’salways advisable to check with the vendor from whomyou purchased your system before you add memory.

—Tom Gudmundsen, CRC

What are the files with the .grp file extension in myWindows directory?

These files are the program group files displayed inWindows Program Manager. They contain the icons foreach of your groups. For example, the file main.grpcontains all of the icons for the Main group. You maywant to make copies of the .grp files so you will not haveto recreate them if they are deleted accidentally ordamaged. —Caroline Ferguson, CRC

I had a problem running a program in Windows 3.1.A friend who had the same problem attributes it tolow System Resources in Windows. How can I checkto see what the available System Resources are?

System Resources is the area of memory that Win-dows sets aside to keep track of windows, icons, and otherfeatures. Each program you run, including Windows,takes up some System Resources. To check for availableSystem Resources select About Program Manager fromthe Help menu in the Program Manager window.

When System Resources get low, you will generallyhave problems with screen display and disappearing icons.Ultimately your computer may lock up. There isn’t a hardand fast rule for the amount of System Resources youshould have free, but you should be concerned if theamount drops below 50 percent. To free up SystemResources quit some open applications and close anyunnecessary windows. —Caroline Ferguson, CRC

When I try to sign on to PennLIN databases like WILSand OED, I get messages like “No patron exists forthis ID” and “Not a valid ID, try again.” What’swrong? I’m a Penn faculty member.

To use the PennLIN databases you must have acurrent patron record with the Library. You can registerimmediately by bringing your PennCard to one of theLibrary’s Circulation Desks, but there will be a 24-hourdelay before your ID will be recognised for access to thePennLIN databases. Once you’re registered, you’ll alsobe able to borrow books and take advantage of otherlibrary services. —Patricia Renfro, University Libraries

I upgraded to the more secure version of Netscape buthow can I tell if the sites I’m accessing are secure?

An unbroken key icon at the lower left corner of theNetscape window indicates a secure site; a broken key in-dicates an unsecured site. Even when you access a securesite, be careful of the kind of information you submit.Exercise the same care you would when using your creditcard over the phone. —Caroline Ferguson, CRC

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