The First Paper on Electronic Digital Computers, The ENIAC, an Electronic Computing Machine, First Edition, 1946

HARTREE, Douglas R. The ENIAC, an Electronic Computing Machine. London: Nature, Vol. 158, October 12, 1946, pp. 500-506. First edition. Octavo. Illustrated with text figures. Extracted article, without wrappers. This article is widely recognized as the first paper on an electronic digital computer published in a large-circulation international scientific journal, marking a decisive moment in the public and scientific acknowledgment of electronic computing. Written by Douglas R. Hartree-one of Britain's most influential applied mathematicians-the paper provides the first authoritative account of the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) to an international readership. ENIAC, developed during World War II by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Engineering for the U.S. Army's Ballistic Research Laboratory, was the world's first large-scale, general-purpose electronic digital computer. Hartree first encountered the machine in 1945 while it was still under construction, and in 1946 he returned to the Moore School as a participant in the Moore School Lectures, advising on non-military applications and becoming the first Englishman to work directly with ENIAC. The article occupies a pivotal position in the history of computing because it served as the primary conduit through which knowledge of ENIAC entered British and European scientific discourse. Hartree's lucid explanation of ENIAC's architecture, arithmetic organization, and operational principles translated a classified wartime technology into a framework intelligible to physicists, engineers, and mathematicians worldwide. Although Hartree did not himself invent new calculating machines, his advocacy of electronic digital computation strongly influenced postwar British computer development, particularly at Cambridge University, where his work helped stimulate the creation of EDSAC under Maurice Wilkes. In this sense, the article functions not merely as reportage but as a catalytic text that accelerated the international diffusion of electronic computing concepts at the dawn of the computer age. The extract is complete, with text and illustrations intact. Light handling wear consistent with age is present, but the paper remains clean and legible throughout. Issued without wrappers. Overall very good condition. This first-edition Nature article is a cornerstone document for institutional collections concerned with the origins of electronic computing, the transition from wartime secrecy to scientific openness, and the transatlantic transmission of ideas that directly shaped the development of the modern computer.