Harvard Mark I

The Harvard Mark I was an electromechanical automatic calculator completed in 1944 through a collaboration between Harvard University and IBM. It used punched tape and relays to carry out long calculations.

Punched tape: A strip of paper or other material that stores information as patterns of holes. The Mark I’s instructions and data were represented on punched tape.
Howard Aiken: An American physicist and computer pioneer who led the design of the Harvard Mark I. Aiken proposed the machine and directed its development at Harvard.
Ballistic trajectory: The path followed by a projectile moving under gravity and other forces. The Mark I was used for calculations related to projectile trajectories.
ENIAC: An early electronic general-purpose computer completed in 1945 at the University of Pennsylvania. ENIAC used electronic circuitry and was substantially faster than the electromechanical Mark I.
Relay: An electrically operated switch that uses a control signal to open or close a circuit. Relays formed the Mark I’s switching logic and controlled its operations.
IBM: An American technology company founded as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company in 1911. IBM manufactured the Mark I and contributed engineering resources to its construction.
Manhattan Project: The United States-led research and engineering program that developed the first atomic bombs. Mark I calculations supported work associated with the wartime atomic-bomb program.
Z3: A programmable electromechanical computer built by Konrad Zuse in Germany and completed in 1941. The Z3 offers a contemporary comparison in programmable electromechanical computing.
Mechanical calculator: A machine that performs arithmetic through moving mechanical parts. The Mark I extended mechanical calculation through automatic sequencing.
Grace Hopper: An American computer scientist and naval officer who worked on the Harvard Mark I. Hopper helped program the machine and documented its operation.

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