SEAC (computer)

SEAC (Standards Eastern Automatic Computer or Standards Electronic Automatic Computer) was a first-generation electronic computer, built in 1950 by the U.S. National Bureau of Standards (NBS) and was initially called the National Bureau of Standards Interim Computer, because it was a small-scale computer designed to be built quickly and put into operation while the NBS waited for more powerful computers to be completed (the DYSEAC). The team that developed SEAC was led by Samuel N. Alexander and Ralph J. Slutz. SEAC was demonstrated in April 1950 and was dedicated in June 1950; it is claimed to be the first fully operational stored-program electronic computer in the US.

SEAC (Standards Eastern Automatic Computer or Standards Electronic Automatic Computer) was a first-generation electronic computer, built in 1950 by the U.S. National Bureau of Standards (NBS) and was initially called the National Bureau of Standards Interim Computer, because it was a small-scale computer designed to be built quickly and put into operation while the NBS waited for more powerful computers to be completed (the DYSEAC). The team that developed SEAC was led by Samuel N. Alexander and Ralph J. Slutz. SEAC was demonstrated in April 1950 and was dedicated in June 1950; it is claimed to be the first fully operational stored-program electronic computer in the US. ==Applications== On some occasions SEAC was used by a remote teletype. This makes it one of the first computers to be used remotely. With many modifications, it was used until 1964. Some of the problems run on it dealt with: digital imaging, led by Russell A. Kirsch computer animation of the city traffic simulation meteorology linear programming optical lenses a program for Los Alamos National Laboratory tables for LORAN navigation statistical sampling plans wave function of the helium atom designing a proton synchrotron File:SEACComputer 008.jpg|SEAC block diagram File:SEACComputer 011.jpg|SEAC input/output diagram File:SEACComputer 030.jpg|Magnetic wire drives and cartridges File:SEACComputer 025.jpg|Offline magnetic wire to paper tape & print station File:SEACComputer 031.jpg|SEAC scanner File:NBSFirstScanImageRestored.jpg|First image scanned into SEAC, son of Russell A. Kirsch File:SEACComputer 018.jpg|Samuel N. Alexander with SEAC File:SEACComputer 047.jpg|Horace Joseph and George A. Moore using the SEAC image scanner to analyze metallurgical photographs in 1960. Moore was legally blind. File:SEACComputer 039.jpg|SEAC wiring File:SEACComputer 024.jpg|Ethel Marden at the control console of SEAC in 1959 ==See also== SWAC (Standards Western Automatic Computer) List of vacuum-tube computers Manchester Baby ==References== Williams, Michael R. (1997). A History of Computing Technology. IEEE Computer Society. Metropolis, N; Howlett, J.; Rota, Gian-Carlo (editors) (1980). A History of Computing in the Twentieth Century. Academic Press. (The chapter "Memories of the Bureau of Standards' SEAC", by Ralph J. Slutz.) Astin, A. V. (1955), Computer Development (SEAC and DYSEAC) at the National Bureau of Standards, Washington D.C., National Bureau of Standards Circular 551, Issued January 25, 1955, U.S. Government Printing Office. Includes several papers describing SEAC, its technical details, and its operation. In particular, see "SEAC", by S. Greenwald, S. N. Alexander, and Ruth C. Haueter, on pp. 5–26, for an overview of the SEAC system. ==Further reading== ==External links== SEAC and the Start of Image Processing at the National Bureau of Standards, (Archived) – At the NIST virtual museum Margaret R. Fox Papers, 1935-1976, Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota. collection contains reports, including the original report on the ENIAC, UNIVAC, and many early in-house National Bureau of Standards (NBS) activity reports; memoranda on and histories of SEAC, SWAC, and DYSEAC; programming instructions for the UNIVAC, LARC, and MIDAC; patent evaluations and disclosures; system descriptions; speeches and articles written by Margaret Fox's colleagues; and correspondence of Samuel Alexander, Margaret Fox, and Samuel Williams. Boxes 6-8 of the Fox papers contain documents, reports, and analysis of the NBS's SEAC. SEAC ("Standards Eastern Automatic Computer") (1950) (Archived), from History of Computing: An Encyclopedia of the People and Machines that Made Computer History, Lexikon Services Publishing Timeline of Computer History at CHM

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