Our initial investigation yielded a trilogy of articles for publication in IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. The links below give access to the articles as published and to a selection of technical reports and primary sources to support them. Material from these articles was revised and reworked to appear in ENIAC In Action.

1. Thomas Haigh, Mark Priestley & Crispin Rope, “Reconsidering The Stored Program Concept” IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 36:1(January-March 2014): 4-17. (abstract)
2. Thomas Haigh, Mark Priestley & Crispin Rope, “Engineering ‘The Miracle of the ENIAC’: Implement the Modern Code Paradigm” IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 36:2 (April-June 2014):41-59. (abstract and supporting materials)
3. Thomas Haigh, Mark Priestley & Crispin Rope, “Los Alamos Bets On ENIAC: Nuclear Monte Carlo Simulations 1947-48”  IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 36:3 (July-September 2014):42-63. (abstract and supporting materials)

As an online-only resource we prepared a new article, identifying and correcting a large number of ENIAC-related factual errors in Walter Isaacson’s widely read 2014 book The Innovators.

Another page describes and links to a number of the other articles we’ve published on topics concerning computing in the 1940s. This include a discussion of the origins of programming, an examination the connection of Alan Turing to the development of the modern computer, and a review of George Dyson’s quirky account of the computer project run by John von Neumann at the Institute for Advanced Studies.