Information Age Begins

June 14, 2009

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Profile America — Sunday, June 14th. Fifty-eight years ago today, a device was demonstrated in Philadelphia that sparked a revolution in the way most Americans now live and work. The device was the first commercial electronic computer — UNIVAC I — designed by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly. Built for the U.S. Census Bureau to tabulate the 1950 census, UNIVAC I ended the use of punch cards after many decades and heralded the information age. The public first became aware of the computer when it was used on television election night in 1952 to predict that Dwight Eisenhower would win the presidential contest. Nearly 86 percent of children now use computers in their school classrooms, and almost 69 percent of students have access to a computer at home. Profile America is in its 13th year as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau.

Sources: Chase's Calendar of Events 2009, p. 314
Statistical Abstract of the United States 2009, t. 253
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2009edition.html