Pioneering computer scientist – Harry Huskey, dies at the age of 101. He was known as one of the greatest computer geniuses of the world.
Harry Huskey played an elemental role in developing ENIAC, or the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer in early 1946. The ENIAC was built at the University of Pennsylvania where Dr Huskey was involved in teaching mathematics to the naval students.
The ENIAC was developed for calculating the trajectory of shells for the US Army. The computer weighed 30 tonnes and consisted of 18,000 valves and 1,500 relays. Programming the massive computer to do different computational tasks involved rewiring its various units. Dr Huskey developed the punch card readers that were important for the machine to function. He also wrote the instruction manual for the ENIAC, which was surely as lengthy as the size of the computer itself.
Dr Huskey also helped Alan Turing develop his “Ace” computer, which when finished in 1950, was the fastest computer to run a computer program.
Dr Huskey was involved in developing the SWAC and the G-15 that is technically supposed to be the first personal computer needing only a single person to operate it.
