First Draft of the report on the EDVAC. Johnny von Neumann applies the theories of Turing and Gödel to computation, essentially laying the foundations of computer science: it also contains the description of what would become known as the “von Neumann architecture” of computers. The EDVAC computer was shaped by the need to calculate the fluid dynamics equations of the atomic bomb (while the ENIAC was designed for fire trajectories). A large section of the report is dedicated to an ingenious analog delay system to make the radar signal usable. In practice, the radar’s electrical signal is transformed into an acoustic signal, transferred to a mercury-filled tube (a mercury delay line), and transformed back into an electrical signal at the end of the tube. The length of the tube is calculated so that the delay matches the time it takes the radar to complete a 360-degree rotation scanning the horizon. There will never be a “Final Version of the Report,” as Goldstine, without notifying von Neumann, Mauchly, or Eckert (the document’s authors), will send copies of the report to dozens of scientists and engineers, including Alan Turing. Furthermore, the copy circulated by Goldstine will only mention von Neumann’s name, omitting Mauchly and Eckert, who will accuse von Neumann himself of having sold the secrets to IBM (with whom von Neumann will collaborate, but only from 1951). Johnny von Neumann may indeed have had a noble motive for doing so: to accelerate development as much as possible, disseminating the knowledge to the widest possible audience of professionals. The legal battle over intellectual property will drag on for years, and on October 19, 1973, it will be established that the intellectual property of digital computers is in the public domain. The judge also established that there was a precedent for the invention of the digital computer: the Atanasoff-Berry Computer built by Dr. John Vincent Atanasoff at Iowa State College between 1939 and 1942 (and Mauchly actually met Atanasoff in 1941).
