Title
Declaring February 15 as "Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer (ENIAC) Day" in Philadelphia and honoring the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Body
WHEREAS, In 1941, John Mauchly, a physics professor at Ursinus College, came to the University of Pennsylvania to learn about the latest electronic devices and techniques through a course sponsored by the War Department and offered at the Moore School; and
WHEREAS, In 1941, Mauchly was hired by the University of Pennsylvania Moore School as a professor where he met J. Presper Eckert, Jr. who was also teaching there; and
WHEREAS, Discussions between Mauchly and Eckert on Mauchly's ideas about electronic computation lead to Mauchly's memo "The Use of Vacuum Tube Devices in Calculating," which became the basis of a memo submitted to the U.S. Army's Ballistic Research Laboratory detailing an innovative approach for producing artillery firing tables with electronic speed and digital accuracy; and
WHEREAS, At the time, ballistic computation for artillery trajectory was performed by desktop calculators, taking numerous days to complete a single artillery firing table; and
WHEREAS, Mauchly's memo argued that electronic computers could compute firing calculations within a second and thus, complete a set firing table within 30 minutes rather than a month-long process using desktop calculators; and
WHEREAS, Mauchly's memo was turned into a proposal and submitted to the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps during World War II; and
WHEREAS, On June 5, 1943, the U.S. Army financed the design and construction of the Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer or "ENIAC" by Penn's Moore School of Electrical Engineering, with Mauchly as the project's principal consultant and Eckert as chief engineer; and
WHEREAS, The ENIAC was constructed by a team of engineers during wartime to serve the ballistic needs of the Army; however, the w...
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