Description
This is one of the classic photographs of ENIAC, taken in 1946 while the machine was still at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering in Philadelphia.
The original U.S. Army photograph shows Cpl. Irwin Goldstein at one of ENIAC’s function tables, surrounded by the cabinets, wiring, switches and equipment that made up one of the first general-purpose electronic digital computers.
You’ve probably seen the black-and-white version. It has been reproduced in computer-history books, articles and websites for decades.
This version has been rebuilt as a large colorized PNG, with the original room and composition used as the basis for a modern restoration.
Included:
- 1 colorized ENIAC historical image
- PNG format
- 1448 × 1086 pixels
- Restored contrast and clarity
- Reconstructed period color
- Suitable for desktop use, web publishing and moderate-size printing
The color is interpretive. The 1946 source is black and white, so nobody dug a box of authentic RGB values out of a Pentagon basement. Clothing, equipment and room colors have been reconstructed rather than recovered.
Source / Rights
The underlying photograph is an unidentified U.S. Army photographer’s work from 1946. Wikimedia Commons identifies it as a work created by a U.S. Army employee in the course of official duties and therefore public domain in the United States.
Original credit: U.S. Army Photo.
This product is the colorized and restored presentation shown here, not a claim of ownership over the original historical photograph.
A small piece of computer history from when a computer needed a room, several people, and enough wiring to make a modern network administrator quietly leave the building.
