In
June, John von Neumann wrote a 101-page paper called "First
Draft of a Report on the EDVAC" which described the basics
of modern computers. He and Herman Goldstine, J. Presper Eckert
and John Mauchly built the first functional computer (in modern
terms) which contained, inc von Neumann's words, "central
control, central arithmetic, input, output, and memory".
On
August 17, the National Bureau of Standards dedicated the
Standards Western Automatic Computer (SWAC), shown to the right.
This was done at the Institute for Numerical Analysis in Los
Angeles.
Unless otherwise noted, all photos and text is Copyright © Richard G Lowe, Jr.