Harvard University, founded in 1636, is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. It played a pivotal role in early computing history as the home of the Harvard Mark I, one of the first large-scale automatic computers.
Computing History
Harvard’s most significant early contribution to computing was the Mark series of computers:
Harvard Mark I (1944):
- Designed by Howard Aiken and built by IBM
- One of the first large-scale automatic digital computers
- Grace Hopper programmed it and wrote its 561-page manual
- Used for wartime calculations including the Manhattan Project[1]
Harvard Mark II-IV (1947-1952):
- Successive improvements on the original design
- Mark II was where the famous “first computer bug” was found
Harvard Architecture
The Mark I’s design gave rise to the term “Harvard architecture”—a computer architecture with physically separate storage for instructions and data. This contrasts with the “von Neumann architecture” where instructions and data share memory. Modern CPUs often use modified Harvard architectures for performance[2].
Modern Computer Science
Today, Harvard’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences continues computing research in:
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning
- Systems and networks
- Theory of computation
- Privacy and security
Sources
- Harvard Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments. “Harvard Mark 1.” History and specifications.
- Wikipedia. “Harvard architecture.” The architectural distinction named for the Mark I.