Voting Station

J. Presper Eckert

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Computer Tech

The Resume

    (April 9, 1919-June 3, 1995)
    Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
    Birth name was John Adam Presper Eckert, Jr.
    With John Mauchly, designed the early computers ENIAC (1945) and UNIVAC (1950)
    With Mauchly, founded the first commercial computer company, the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation (1946)
    Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame (2002)

Why he might be annoying:

    He was driven to elementary school by a chauffeur.
    ENIAC was such a power hog that when it was turned on, lights throughout Philadelphia reportedly dimmed.
    He and Mauchly left the University of Pennsylvania in a dispute over whether they or the school should own the patent rights to ENIAC.
    Eckert-Mauchly was repeatedly in financial trouble, eventually forcing its sale to Remington Rand.
    As a result of a lawsuit between Honeywell and Sperry Rand, his patent for ENIAC was declared invalid (1973).

Why he might not be annoying:

    He recieved his first patent at age 21 while in college, and eventually earned 85 more patents.
    ENIAC could complete in 30 seconds calculations that took 20 hours for a person with a mechanical calculating machine.
    UNIVAC was the first computer sold commerically and the first to use magnetic tape instead of punch cards to store data.
    The original UNIVAC went on display at the Smithsonian Institute.
    He noted about one influence of his computers, 'Every science fiction machine since has had flashing lights all over it.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 7 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 10 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 8 Votes: 37.50% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 20 Votes: 50.0% Annoying