Once a year the computer industry comes together to celebrate these amazing machines!
Global Events and Celebrations on World Computer Day 2023
University City Science Center, Philadelphia Host. Wednesday, February 15th, 5PM - 7PM eastern USA
Welcome to World Computer Day 2023 Archive Overview
This was organized by the University City Science Center, Philadelphia as a special event.
This was a Virtual Zoom Event - Free; courtesy of Sponsor generosity.
5PM-7PM (eastern USA) Zoom platform on Wednesday, February 15th, 2023
This event has already occurred.
You can watch a recording of the event here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/w2gzodoeiz7lwob/World%20Computer%20Day%20%282%29.mp4?dl=0
World Computer Day, February 15, 2023
Agenda for World Computer Day "Zoom" speakers for February 15th, 2023 with the focus on Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, the world's first computer company utilizing all electronics. See the organizing web site here https://worldcomputerday.org/. And social media outreach platform here: https://linktr.ee/worldcomputerday
Speakers and TOPICS
Jim Scherrer, Compuseum, brief kickoff remarks
o Worlds First Computer Company - Eckert Mauchly Computer Corporation, EMCC: Dr. Tom Haigh, Co-Author "A New History of Modern Computing" with Dr. Paul Ceruzzi, 2021.
o Shipping the First Computer of the First Line of Commercial Computers, the Univac 1: Dr. Paul Ceruzzi, Author book "Computing: A Concise History" (MIT Press).
o People of Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation: Kathy Kleiman, Author "Proving Ground: The Untold Story of the Six Women Who Programmed the World’s First Modern Computer".
o Funding EMCC, the Sad State of Venture Capital in the Computer Age: Dr. Margaret O'Mara, author of "The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America." Confirmed.
o "Scenes from a Technical Camelot" - Original Footage from the Eckert & Mauchly Computer Corporation (EMCC) plant during the making of BINAC and UNIVAC. Vintage videos presented by Mr. Bill Mauchly (son of John Mauchly) narration.
o Stories from My Father - Walking Down Memory Lane with Mr. Chris Eckert (son of Presper Eckert) regarding the building in which the first all-electronic, programmable computers were created.
o The Census Bureau- Project 1951- Counting the US Population with Computers for the First Time: Dr. Sharon Tosi Lacey, Ph.D, Chief Historian, US Census Bureau.
o How Computers Changed Election Night Forever, starting in 1952 with the UNIVAC; Speaker Dr. Ira Chinoy, Professor, University of Maryland, Author of "Battle of the Brains: Election-Night Forecasting at the Dawn of the Computer Age." Prior director of computer-assisted reporting at The Washington Post.
Backgrounder on Wikipedia of the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eckert%E2%80%93Mauchly_Computer_Corporation
This event will be hosted in the Zoom virtual networking platform including images, chat, and breakout rooms. We highly encourage utilizing Google Chrome and joining via laptop or desktop rather than from a mobile device for the best user experience.
About Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation
Video Footage of EMCC- the first computer company factory site... special playlist.
THIS IS A YOUTUBE PLAYLIST OF IMPORTANT ECKERT-MAUCHLY COMPUTER CORPORATION "FOOTAGE".
See ENIAC, BINAC, UNIVAC: John W. Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert (EMCC and Remington Rand)
Provided courtesy of the "Computer History Archives Project"
Watch 11 videos selected and curated for inclusion in World Computer Day 2023, theme of the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation
These are Videos of early work by Dr. John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert, from 1946 (ENIAC), to BINAC and early UNIVAC. Eckert and Mauchly formed the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation (EMCC), the first company formed specifically to create computers.
At first its name was in dispute.
Seems like this happens to all companies in formation. Apple Computer was supposed to be some other name.
Check out these Supporting Documents
Christies auction of Business Plan of Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation
https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-4443706
Battle of the Brains: Election-Night Forecasting at the Dawn of the Computer Age; Overview https://drum.lib.umd.edu/handle/1903/10504
Battle of the Brains; Election- Night Forecasting. Thesis in Dropbox
The Night A Computer Predicted The Next President- NPR podcast
1952 Election Night Podcast - Jill Lepore spoke to Bob Schieffer, famed TV newsman of CBS, about how computers and the Internet changed the way we report on elections. https://www.thelastarchive.com/season-1/episode-5-project-x
The Classic 1952 CBS video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHov1Atrjzk&t=12s.
Grab this Book!
Computers and Commerce: A Study of Technology and Management at Eckert-Mauchly Computer Company, Engineering Research Associates, and Remington Rand, 1946-1957 (History of Computing) Illustrated Edition
by Arthur L. Norberg (Author), William Aspray (Editor)
The history of a crucial decade in the early development of digital technology, focusing on both technical and business issues at two key firms.
Between 1946 and 1957 computing went from a preliminary, developmental stage to more widespread use accompanied by the beginnings of the digital computer industry. During this crucial decade, spurred by rapid technological advances, the computer enterprise became a major phenomenon. In Computers and Commerce, Arthur Norberg explores the importance of these years in the history of computing by focusing on technical developments and business strategies at two important firms, both established in 1946, Engineering Research Associates (ERA) and Eckert-Mauchly Computer Company (EMCC), from their early activities through their acquisition by Remington Rand. Both ERA and EMCC had their roots in World War II, and in postwar years both firms received major funding from the United States government. Norberg analyzes the interaction between the two companies and the government and examines the impact of this institutional context on technological innovation. He assesses the technical contributions of such key company figures as J. Presper Eckert, John Mauchly, Grace Hopper, and William Norris, analyzing the importance of engineering knowledge in converting theoretical designs into workable machines. Norberg looks at the two firms' operations after 1951 as independent subsidiaries of Remington Rand, and documents the management problems that began after Remington Rand merged with Sperry Gyroscope to form Sperry Rand in 1955.
Order this book, now!
All there is to know about the history of computing!
A highly recommended book about how the computer became universal.
Over the past fifty years, the computer has been transformed from a hulking scientific supertool and data processing workhorse, remote from the experiences of ordinary people, to a diverse family of devices that billions rely on to play games, shop, stream music and movies, communicate, and count their steps. In A New History of Modern Computing, Thomas Haigh and Paul Ceruzzi trace these changes. A comprehensive reimagining of Ceruzzi's A History of Modern Computing, this new volume uses each chapter to recount one such transformation, describing how a particular community of users and producers remade the computer into something new.
Authors Haigh and Ceruzzi ground their accounts of these computing revolutions in the longer and deeper history of computing technology. They begin with the story of the 1945 ENIAC computer, which introduced the vocabulary of "programs" and "programming," and proceed through email, pocket calculators, personal computers, the World Wide Web, videogames, smart phones, and our current world of computers everywhere--in phones, cars, appliances, watches, and more. Finally, they consider the Tesla Model S as an object that simultaneously embodies many strands of computing.
