ENIAC

A 2014 paper revisits how Los Alamos scientists turned to the ENIAC computer between 1947 and 1948 to run Monte Carlo simulations for nuclear weapons research. The work marked one of the earliest uses of electronic computing for statistical modeling in physics. Readers are sharing the historical account, noting how foundational this period was for modern computational science.

Columbia University's computing history page on programming the ENIAC is drawing fresh attention. The piece recounts how the earliest electronic computer was programmed in the 1940s, when operators had to physically rewire the machine rather than write software, work largely done by the women later known as the ENIAC programmers. Readers are sharing and discussing the account of this foundational moment in computing history.

A Columbia University computing history page on programming the ENIAC has drawn renewed attention. The 2011 piece recounts how the machine, one of the earliest electronic general-purpose computers built at the University of Pennsylvania in the 1940s, was programmed by hand-switching cables and setting switches, work famously carried out by six women mathematicians. Readers are revisiting the story as an early milestone in computing and a notable moment in the history of women in technology.

A newly circulated paper recounts how Los Alamos scientists turned to the Eniac in 1947–1948 to run some of the earliest Monte Carlo simulations, using the pioneering computer to model nuclear processes through random sampling. The episode is widely seen as a founding moment of computational science, showing how wartime computing hardware was repurposed for peacetime physics research and helped establish a technique now used across finance, engineering and beyond.

A 2011 essay from Columbia University's computing history archive on programming the ENIAC is circulating again among tech readers. The piece recounts how the pioneering electronic computer, completed in the 1940s, was programmed by physically rewiring and configuring its components rather than by stored software. Readers are sharing it as a reminder of how radically programming has changed since the earliest days of modern computing.