MARK I at Harvard- First 3-Second Calculating Machine
Howard Aiken 1900-1973


Howard Aiken, a professor of applied mathematics at Harvard, was frustrated at the endless hours spent calculating massive number problems. So Aiken invented a calculating machine that could do arithmetic, multiply, and represent negative and positive numbers. Aiken's machine, known as the MARK I, became the first programmable computer able to calculate in 3 seconds.

Completed in 1944 with the assistance of IBM engineers, the computer was 8 feet tall, 51 feet long, and weighed 5 tons. During World War II, the MARK I proved vital to the U.S. government by simulating missile launches, breaking secret codes, and working out the equation for the first atomic bomb. Aiken went on to design the MARK II, an electronic computer, and the first computer science degree program at Harvard.

	Howard Aiken: Portrait of a Computer Pioneer by Bernard I. Cohen, 2000