We Bought the Patent to the First-Ever Electronic Computer
Channel: Arkive
Date: 2022-06-08

On April 22nd, 2022 in Marin County, California, Arkive, a decentralized physical museum, purchased and physically acquired the patent to the first-ever programmable electronic computer from legendary historian Jeremy Norman.

Increasing computing speed by 2,400 times and calculating a ballistics trajectory in seconds, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) is the beginning of a computing movement that would forever reshape our society. Before being struck by lightning in 1955, the ENIAC ran more calculations than had been performed by all of humanity up until that point.

The ENIAC patent is the first comprehensive description of the general purpose electronic computer and the first description in legal language of the operation and design of an electronic computer.

The only of its kind, the its 188 pages and 60 fold-out diagrams represent over 18,000 vacuum tubes, 7,200 diodes, and the groundwork for all computers that would come after. Held in excellent condition, the ENIAC’s patent is bound in library buckram originating from the 1950s.

Learn more about Arkive and apply for membership at Arkive.net