But question asks only for ENIAC: 25 - High Altitude Science

Acronym Full Form: ENIAC stands for Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer—reflecting its original mission in calculating artillery firing tables.

Birthplace: Developed between 1943 and 1946 at the University of Pennsylvania’s Moore School of Electrical Engineering.

Inventors: J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly led the design and construction team.

Launch Date: Officially unveiled on February 14, 1946, though it had been operational for key tests since late 1945.

Size and Weight: ENIAC occupied over 1,800 square feet and weighed nearly 30 tons.

Power Consumption: Drained over 150 kilowatts—enough to illuminate several homes at once.

Components: Comprised around 17,468 vacuum tubes, 7,200 switches, 1,500 relays, and 70,000 resistors.

Clock Speed: Operated at about 0.1 MHz (100 million cycles per second), extremely slow by today’s standards.

Function: Primarily designed to calculate ballistic firing tables for U.S. military artillery.

Speed Improvement: Once fully operational, ENIAC could perform complex calculations thousands of times faster than manual methods.

First Fully Electronic Computer: Unlike earlier mechanical computers, ENIAC used electronic circuits, eliminating slow mechanical parts.

Programming Challenges: Programming ENIAC required physically rewiring and setting switches—no stored-program capability.

Manual Setup: Each new computation task required hours of preparation by technicians.

Cost: Developed at a cost of roughly $500,000—equivalent to over $8 million today.

Women Programmers: Six pioneering women—Kathleen Antonelli, Jean Bartik, Betty Holberton, Marlyn Meltzer, Frances Spence, and Ruth Teitelbaum—programmed ENIAC and pioneered software engineering.