Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1950-01-27
New EIectronic Calculator
Will Surpuss All Others
Machine Designed to Add and Subtract
In 100,O00th of Second
By Thomas z. Henry

An electronic calculating machine ten times
as fast as the best now in use is under con-
Struction at the Princeton Institute of Ad-
vanced studies.
1t will be able to add and subtract in
100,000th of a second and multiply and
divide in a 10,000th of a second
The ENIAC constructed for the Army at
the University of Pennsylvania during the
war, requires at least 10,000th of a second
to add and subtract and two of three thou
sandths of a second to multiply. 1t was
designed, moreover. to solve problems in
ballistics which otherwise would require
months of the time of scores Of clerks.
While it can be used for other problems it
is not especially adapted for them.
Designed by Mathematician.
The new machine has been designed by
Prof John Won Neuman of the Princeton
Institute, one of the foremost living mathe-
maticians. The construction OF the new
machine is revealed in a report just issued
by UNESCO, the scientific and cultural Or
ganization of the United Nations, in connec-
ton with proposals to set up an international
computing laboratory.
The new machine, according to the report
will be able to do about anything in mathe-
matics-except pose the problems and supply
the data-many thousands of times faster
than the human brain. 1nput and output OF
data will be in the form of magnetlzed tape,
of the kind now coming into use Tor sound
recording. 1t will have elaborate memory
devices for storing of figures and automatic
checking devices to detect and locate any
errors.
A somewhat similar machine also is being
constructed by the British governments De-
partment of Scientific and Industrial Re-
search. Its memory" is planned to carry
$4,000 figures. Its construction will eliminate
all necessity for switching and plugging
which are necessary preliminaries to any
computation on earlier machines.
This British automatic computing en-
gine' will be supplied with its data on stacks
of punched cards. Its speed will be only
slightly greater than ENIAC. but there will
be great saving of time in setting it up to
solve problem. 1t also will be adapted to
a far wider range of calculations
French, German Variations.
Both French and German variations Of
the mechanical brains" are coming into the
field, the report states Several have been
set up in Russia, but nothing has been re-
yealed OF the principles of their construction.
Also, it is revealed, enormous progress has
been made in more conventional types of
machines of the punched-card variety. Re-
markable use was made of machine of this
sort in catching German war criminals. The
eoSeueidl udId oIi Tile physical CIldTaCGerlSClcS
of the man wanted were entered on punched
cards. Similar cards were prepared for the
great, nondescript horde of prisoners gath
cred at the end of the war. The machine
simply matched cards, thus putting its finger
in few seconds on many who otherwise
might have escaped.
Another remarkable use is in determining
the moons motion from the year 1885 to
5000 AID. This required seven months with
the machine adding figures at the rate of
20 second Half million cards, in which
10000, 900 holes had been punched. were used
and at least 10000, 900 figures were added.