Come for ENIAC, Stay for UNIVAC and Skeduflo – Unique at Penn

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Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Come for ENIAC, Stay for UNIVAC and Skeduflo

Posted by

Holly Mengel

on

Aug 5, 2026

As you are reading this post, you are almost certainly looking at a computer … a desktop, a laptop, a tablet, or a smartphone. As I look around my shared workspace, I can see, without moving from my desk, 6 computers besides my own as well as a slew of smartphones. This is simply the world in which we live.

ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), first general purpose electronic computer (invented at Penn, 1946, by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert), Ms. Coll. 925, box 205, folder 4

But the world in which John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert were living in the early 1940s had no computers. The ENIAC, which they invented during the World War II years was from their imagination. Combined with math, engineering, and science knowledge and a pure will to solve problems, they created something utterly new. It is mind boggling when you really stop and think about it.

In  1982, Joel L. Shurkin wrote, “rarely have so few people altered the world as much as [ENIAC’s] inventors, yet gained so little for having done so,” (page 33). And yet, while Mauchly and Eckert absolutely gained less than they should have, they continued to innovate and developed no less than three unique computers (BINAC, first electronic stored-program computer ever sold commercially; EDVAC, first modern computer designed from the ground up to store both instructions and data in its internal memory; and UNIVAC, the first commercial electronic computer). Mauchly added one more computer, the Skeduflo, to his portfolio after he started his own company, Mauchly Associates. In an article following his death in 1980, it was stated that Mauchly “unlocked the secrets that spawned an industry which will continue to change our world in remarkable ways” (Sperry/UNIVAC News, volume 4, number 4, page 1).

Skeduflo, computer in a suitcase<br>" data-large-file="https://uniqueatpenn.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/skeduflo.jpg?w=699" width="699" height="947" data-id="28126" src="https://uniqueatpenn.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/skeduflo.jpg?w=699" alt="" class="wp-image-28126" srcset="https://uniqueatpenn.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/skeduflo.jpg 699w, https://uniqueatpenn.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/skeduflo.jpg?w=111 111w, https://uniqueatpenn.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/skeduflo.jpg?w=221 221w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 699px) 100vw, 699px" />Skeduflo, computer in a suitcase

UNIVAC I (Universal Automatic Computer), Ms. Coll. 925, box 172, Folder 9<br>" data-large-file="https://uniqueatpenn.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/univaccentralcomputer_172_9.jpg?w=1024" width="1024" height="767" data-id="28125" src="https://uniqueatpenn.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/univaccentralcomputer_172_9.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-28125" srcset="https://uniqueatpenn.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/univaccentralcomputer_172_9.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://uniqueatpenn.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/univaccentralcomputer_172_9.jpg?w=150 150w, https://uniqueatpenn.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/univaccentralcomputer_172_9.jpg?w=300 300w, https://uniqueatpenn.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/univaccentralcomputer_172_9.jpg?w=768 768w, https://uniqueatpenn.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/univaccentralcomputer_172_9.jpg 1263w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />UNIVAC I (Universal Automatic Computer), Ms. Coll. 925, box 172, Folder 9

EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer), Ms. Coll. 925, Box 205, Folder 3<br>" data-large-file="https://uniqueatpenn.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/edvac_205_3.jpg?w=664" loading="lazy" width="664" height="947" data-id="28124" src="https://uniqueatpenn.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/edvac_205_3.jpg?w=664" alt="" class="wp-image-28124" srcset="https://uniqueatpenn.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/edvac_205_3.jpg 664w, https://uniqueatpenn.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/edvac_205_3.jpg?w=105 105w, https://uniqueatpenn.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/edvac_205_3.jpg?w=210 210w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 664px) 100vw, 664px" />EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer), Ms. Coll. 925, Box 205, Folder 3

BINAC (Binary Automatic Computer), Ms. Coll. 925, Box 205, Folder 1<br>" data-large-file="https://uniqueatpenn.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/binac_205_1.jpg?w=658" loading="lazy" width="658" height="947" data-id="28120" src="https://uniqueatpenn.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/binac_205_1.jpg?w=658" alt="" class="wp-image-28120"...