Electrical engineer J. Presper Eckert invented the first general-purpose electronic digital computer, called the ENIAC, with John William Mauchly. Further collaboration between the two engineers led to the development of the first commercial digital electronic computer, the UNIVAC. Their combined efforts ushered in the commercial computer revolution in America, a revolution that continues to change the world in profound ways.

John Presper Eckert, Jr., was born on April 9, 1919, in Philadelphia, to John Presper Eckert and Ethel Hallowell Eckert. His father was a self-made millionaire businessman, whose business interests would strongly influence his son's future. Eckert was an only child, and spent much of his youth building radios and other mechanical and electronic gadgets. He wanted to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), but his mother, who was devoted to him, did not want him so far away from home. His father even made up a story that...