What Happened on December 14th

Joe Thompson, one of the two first Whirlwind operators, in 1951
Joe Thompson, one of the two first Whirlwind operators, in 1951
 
december 14, 1952 US Navy Approaches MIT to Create Whirlwind

The US Navy issues a formal Letter of Intent to MIT for development of the Airplane Stability and Control Analyzer (ASCA) program, the beginning of the project Whirlwind. Constructed under the leadership of Jay W. Forrester, the Whirlwind was the first high-speed electronic digital computer that was able to operate in real time with electronic reliability. By December 1954, the computer comprised 12,500 vacuum tubes and 23,800 crystal diodes, occupying a two-story building. It operated until 1959.

Whirlwind served as an experimental prototype for the IBM AN/FSQ-7, the controlling computer for the SAGE continental air defense system.

Whirlwind, the first real-time, parallel-processing computer with core memory
Whirlwind, the first real-time, parallel-processing computer with core memory
 
december 14, 1954 Whirlwind Computer Appears on National TV

Edward R. Murrow’s See It Now program features the Whirlwind computer. Designed at MIT by Jay Forrester and a team of engineers, the computer was noted for its reliability: it had the capability to run 35 hours a week at 90-percent utility using an electrostatic tube memory (Williams Tube). The machine was started in 1945 and completed in 1951 and took up 3,100 square feet of floor space.