In computer class, it is likely that the teacher will say: The world's first electronic computer, called "Eniac" (originally ENIAC, it was also translated into Chinese earlier as "Iliac"), was invented by Americans Mocheli and eckart Key in 1946. If you take the computer knowledge test, this answer is not wrong; But if you tell others about computer history, it is wrong to say so. Because that's not the case.
as early as 1947, that is, the year after "Enyak" appeared, Mocheli and eckart filed a patent application with the U.S. Patent Office, but the patent was not published until 1964, because the Patent Office still had doubts about their idea of "the world's first electronic computer". Moreover, after the publication of the patent, Hanniwei Company of the United States still produced the patent without buying it from the patentee, so the company was accused of violating the patent law.
But Hannibal refuses to accept it. They think that the real inventors of electronic computers are not Mocheli and eckart, but Atanasov. So the lawsuit hit the court. After 125 sessions, the court finally announced on October 19th, 1973: "Mocheli and eckart didn't invent the world's first electronic computer, but used the idea invented by Atanasov ..." Atan nosov is a physicist working in the University of Iowa in the United States. The heavy calculation process in the research made him have a hard time, so he decided to engage in the research of electronic computers. One night in the winter of 1937, he was depressed because a difficult problem in his research haunted him and could not be solved, so he drove to a roadside pub in Illinois to have a drink to relieve boredom. After he drank two glasses of wine in a row, the method of regenerating memory with capacitor as memory element suddenly flashed in his mind, and thus the most primitive concept now called "logic circuit" was obtained. Starting from this original idea, after two years of hard research and experiments, the world's first electronic computer with binary logic operation as its core was finally made in December 1939. However, at that time, it was World War II, and the University of Iowa did not apply for a patent. Later, it did not publish information. As for what this "already made" computer did, no one knew.
The lawsuit caused by patent infringement has triggered another dispute about who invented the "world's first electronic computer". After many investigations and verifications by the court, it was finally proved that the invention right of the world's first electronic computer should belong to Atanasov. Therefore, american society of mechanical engineers decided to award him the highest honor: the HOLLEY Medal.
Although it is often mentioned in many novels, movies and "unofficial history" describing the Second World War that the US military used the newly invented computer to decode the secret codes of the German and Japanese troops, firstly, there is no official document or file published by the state to support this. Second, even if the electronic computer was used in World War II, there is no literature to support it. Therefore, few people know whether the "world's first electronic computer" invented by Atanasov was really built and officially used, where it was built and what its appearance was like.
Another way of saying this is that the inventor of the world's first electronic computer was not an American, but an Englishman, and the time was also in the late 193s.
In p>194, the war maniac Hitler ordered his air marshal Goering to carry out the "Sea Lion" operation, and the deadline was September 17th to destroy the British air force. Since then, the most intense and cruel British air battle in history has begun. The British Air Force, under the command of Marshal Doding, defeated its enemies twice as much as its own at a very small price, and finally broke the myth that the Germans were invincible and shattered Hitler's ambition to invade the world.
Why can Marshal Dowding win such a great victory? For many years, it has been an unexplained mystery: because a few days after the unprecedented victory in the British air war, Marshal Doding, the number one hero, was inexplicably removed from his post as Air Force Marshal, and a year later, he was forced to retire. It was not until 1975 that the British authorities revealed the truth: it turned out that Britain had invented the world's first electronic computer at that time, and Dawding relied on this "magic weapon" to successfully decipher the top secret code issued by Hitler's proud cipher machine and master the major military plan of the German headquarters, thus winning the great victory of the British air war. In order not to let Hitler know that Britain has an electronic computer, Dowding carried forward the spirit of self-sacrifice and "retired".
So, why didn't Britain reveal this secret until 1975? It turns out that the British intelligence department has a very strict rule: no one is allowed to reveal any secrets within 3 years. It is precisely because of this provision that the honor of inventing the world's first computer fell to Americans, and the time was delayed for several years, but the inventor's name was not even handed down.
Of course, there are many sayings about this kind of "unofficial history", which is also widely circulated. Some people even say that the German army invented the "world's first electronic computer" earlier, but this legend, which has no legal documents to prove, can only stay in the legendary stage forever and cannot be recognized by people, especially the scientific community.
But in 1939, Atanasov made "the world's first electronic computer", but the conclusion was drawn after careful investigation by American courts, which should be said to be reliable and even authoritative. What is the "world's first computer" made by Atanasov, because there is no published information, most people can't know; No one can guess what the "world's first electronic computer" invented by an unknown British hero looks like. The "world's first computer" made by Mocelli and eckart in 1946 has been published. It's a real "giant machine": the whole machine uses 18, electron tubes, consumes 15 kilowatts per hour, covers an area of 167 square meters, and is as tall as a three-story building, but the operation speed is only 5, times per second. Moreover, the input calculation program is very complicated, and the long and numerous punch cards can make experts' heads ache. Once something goes wrong, the experts run from downstairs to upstairs, and then from upstairs to downstairs, sweating profusely, and it is difficult to diagnose the problem.
At that time, the huge Computers were expensive and difficult to build. They were mainly used for the complicated calculation of large numbers, such as the calculation of astronomical numbers and the calculation of deciphering secret codes. Therefore, it should be said that it was very appropriate to translate computer into "electronic computer" in the early days.