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UNIVAC I
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===Development and design=== In early 1946, months after the completion of [[ENIAC]], the [[University of Pennsylvania]] adopted a new patent policy, which would've required Eckert and Mauchly to assign all their patents to the university if they stayed beyond spring of that year. Unable to reach an agreement with the university, the duo left the [[Moore School of Electrical Engineering]] in March 1946, along with much of the senior engineering staff. Simultaneously, the duo founded the Electronic Control Company (later renamed the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation) in [[Philadelphia]].<ref>{{cite video|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGk9W65vXNA|date=May 14, 2015|title=Computer History: ENIAC - The First Electronic Computer|author=Computer History Archives Project|work=[[YouTube]]|access-date=November 11, 2024|url-status=live}}</ref> When the duo was given a $300,000 deposit for research by the [[United States Census Bureau]], the conception of the UNIVAC I began in April 1946, a month after they founded their company.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/the-history-of-the-univac-computer-1992590|date=March 5, 2019|title=The History of the UNIVAC Computer|author=Mary Bellis|work=[[ThoughtCo]]|access-date=November 11, 2024}}</ref> Later in August of that year, during the last of the [[Moore School Lectures]], the Moore School team members were proposing new technological designs for the [[EDVAC]] computer (which was also in development at the time) and its [[stored program]] concept. They were also simultaneously conceiving ideas for a potential successor model to the EDVAC, which were under the working titles of "Parallel-Type EDVAC," "Statistical EDVAC," and simply, "EDVAC II."<ref name="UNIVAC DEV">{{cite web|url=https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=659|date=December 31, 2014|title=Key Events in the Development of the UNIVAC|work=History of Information|access-date=November 28, 2024}}</ref> <!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Screenshot 20241204-184404 YouTube.jpg|thumb|Brad Sheppard (left) and chief engineer James R. Weiner (right) with EMCC's first Mercury Memory Demonstration Unit, circa 1947.<ref name="BINAC VID"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Screenshot_20241204-182806_YouTube.jpg#mw-jump-to-license|title=File:Screenshot 20241204-182806 YouTube.jpg|work=[[Wikipedia]]}}</ref>]] --> In April 1947, Eckert and Mauchly created the tentative instruction code, C-1, for their potential successor model to the EDVAC, which was the earliest document on the programming of an electronic digital computer intended for commercial use. A month later, they renamed their next project to "the UNIVAC." Later in October of that year, the duo drafted {{US patent|2629827}}, which was a mercury acoustic delay-line electronic memory system.<ref name="BINAC VID">{{cite video|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udJUWenPK4w|date=September 16, 2018|title=BINAC at the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation|author=Computer History Archives Project|work=[[YouTube]]|access-date=December 1, 2024}}</ref> The patent was eventually accepted in February 1953 as the "first device to gain widespread acceptance as a reliable computer memory system." Meanwhile, in November 1947, the Electronic Control Company began advertising the UNIVAC I (which wasn't shown as it wasn't fully conceptualized at that point). In 1948, the company, renamed the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, secured a contract with the United States Census Bureau to begin construction on the UNIVAC I. At the same time, [[Harry L. Straus|Harry Straus]], impressed with the development of the duo's next invention, convinced the directors of [[American Totalisator]] to invest $500,000 to shore up the financially troubled Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation.<ref name="UNIVAC DEV"/> In early 1949, [[Betty Holberton]], one of the developers of the project, made the UNIVAC Instructions Code C-10, the first software to allow a computer to be operated by keyboarded commands rather than dials and switches. At the same time, [[Grace Hopper]] left the [[Harvard Computation Laboratory]] to join the EMCC as a senior mathematician and programmer to help develop the UNIVAC I. Later in June of that year, Mauchly conceived [[Short Code (computer language)|Short Code]]—the first high-level programming language for an electronic computer—to be used with the [[BINAC]]. The Short Code was later tested on the UNIVAC I in early 1950.<ref name="UNIVAC DEV"/> Meanwhile, in September 1949, by the time the BINAC was delivered to [[Northrop Aircraft]], Eckert and Mauchly received six new orders for the UNIVAC I, so they decided to focus on finishing the UNIVAC I. Unfortunately for them, a month later, Harry Straus was killed when his [[twin-engine]] airplane crashed, causing American Totalisator to withdraw their promise of financial support. This was quickly undone when [[Remington Rand]] bought the duo's company in February 1950 to help finish construction on the UNIVAC I. The company then became Remington Rand's "Eckert-Mauchly Division." Construction of the UNIVAC I was completed by December 1950, and it was later delivered to the [[United States Census Bureau]] in March 1951 so data could be processed more quickly and accurately.<ref name="BINAC VID"/>
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