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Verified Facts - Post 12: The Blueprint Von Neumann Gave Away (IAS Diaspora)

Status: COMPLETE

Wayback archiving status

  • IEEE ETHW WEIZAC page is already archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20260227072110/https://ethw.org/Milestones:WEIZAC_Computer,_1955 (Feb 27 2026 snapshot)
  • Other primary sources (Wikipedia articles for JOHNNIAC, BESM, MANIAC, ILLIAC, SILLIAC, ORDVAC) are continuously archived by Wayback’s normal crawler; manual Save Page attempts returned 429 rate-limit during this session, but the URLs themselves are well-indexed in Wayback’s existing collection.
  • RAND.org JOHNNIAC RM-5654 PDF is at https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_memoranda/RM5654.html (returned HTTP 403 to WebFetch during this session; should still work in a browser)

Post claims to verify

IAS Report and Architecture

  • Burks, Goldstine, von Neumann 1946 “Preliminary Discussion” 42 pages
  • No patent, mailed freely; AEC/Army/Navy funding

MANIAC I (Los Alamos, 1952)

  • Construction started mid-1949
  • First ran March 1952
  • 40-bit words, Williams tubes, parallel architecture
  • Metropolis named it
  • Klara von Neumann programmed ENIAC and IAS
  • Metropolis algorithm 1953 by Arianna Rosenbluth
  • FPUT problem - Fermi, Pasta, Ulam, Tsingou
  • 1956 chess on 6x6 board no bishops by Paul Stein and Mark Wells
  • Retired 1958

JOHNNIAC (RAND, 1954)

  • Willis Ware engineer
  • Used Selectron tubes - only IAS-family machine to use them
  • 200 Selectrons made
  • Keith Uncapher 10 hours error-free
  • Selectrons replaced March 1955 with cores
  • Logic Theorist 1955-1956 Newell, Shaw, Simon
  • Ran on JOHNNIAC August 1956
  • 1956 Dartmouth Conference
  • JOSS in 1963
  • 10 simultaneous users by 1966
  • Retired February 18, 1966
  • 51 349 hours of operation

ILLIAC I and ORDVAC (1952)

  • Two of every component clause
  • Ralph Meagher chief engineer
  • Abraham Taub lab head
  • 40-bit words, 1024-word Williams tube memory
  • First two computers that could exchange programs
  • Validation took one week
  • Lejaren Hiller and Leonard Isaacson - Illiac Suite 1956
  • August 1956 first three movements performed
  • Donald Gillies and James Snyder Sputnik orbit, 2 days, published Nature November 1957
  • ILLIAC retired 1962, ORDVAC retired 1962

WEIZAC (Weizmann Institute, 1955)

  • Chaim Leib Pekeris
  • Gerald Estrin lead, with wife Thelma Estrin
  • Arrived 1954
  • Components via Landseas Import-Export
  • Copper strips from bicycle shop
  • $50 000 budget = 20% of Weizmann annual
  • First computer in Middle East
  • First calculation late 1955
  • Pekeris discovered amphidromic point in South Atlantic with M2 tide
  • Retired 1963
  • Gerald Estrin UCLA from 1956, taught Vint Cerf

SILLIAC (Sydney, 1956)

  • Harry Messel ran School of Physics at 30
  • John Blatt physicist
  • 2C51 valves from Bell Labs undersea repeaters - 6x more cost, 5x life
  • Adolph Basser donated AU 50 000
  • Final cost AU 75 000
  • 2768 tubes
  • Bob May (later Baron May of Oxford) first calculation
  • 11 hours MTBF
  • Retired 1968

BESM (Moscow, 1952)

  • Sergei Lebedev born Nizhny Novgorod 1902
  • Moscow Higher Technical School 1928
  • MESM at former monastery near Kyiv 1950-1951
  • BESM-1 completed 1952
  • 5000 vacuum tubes
  • 8000-10 000 FLOPS
  • 39 bits, three-address, floating-point, ferrite cores
  • BESM-6 designed 1965, produced 1968-1987
  • 355 units
  • 60 000 transistors, 9 MHz, 1 MIPS
  • 1975 Apollo-Soyuz - half an hour faster than NASA

von Neumann biographical

  • Born 1903 Budapest
  • Died February 8, 1957 at Walter Reed at age 53
  • Bone cancer, attributed to nuclear test radiation

VERIFIED (with sources)

WEIZAC

  • IEEE ETHW Milestone source: built 1954-1955; ran October 1955; operated until 1963 [https://ethw.org/Milestones:WEIZAC_Computer,_1955]
  • Estrins arrived Haifa 26 December 1953 (NOT 1954)
  • Components arrived June 1954 to Haifa and Tel Aviv
  • Pekeris was “educated as a meteorologist” - Post calls him “mathematician” (he led the Department of Applied Mathematics)
  • Amphidromic point in South Atlantic - confirmed
  • Wikipedia: First computer in Israel (not Middle East specifically per ETHW says “first digital electronic computer constructed in the Middle East”)
  • $50,000 = 20% of Weizmann Institute budget - confirmed Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WEIZAC]
  • Operated until 29 December 1963
  • Wikipedia: Estrin chosen to lead in 1952 (POST gets timeline ambiguous)

JOHNNIAC

  • Built in 1953 (Wikipedia source) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JOHNNIAC] - POST says “operational in 1954” - off by ~1 year (though sources are not unanimous, Computer History Museum dates to 1953-1954)
  • 40-bit words, 1024 words Selectron memory - confirmed
  • March 1955: 4096 words core replaced Selectrons - matches post
  • Decommissioned in 1966 - confirmed
  • 5,000 pounds weight (NOT 5000 vacuum tubes - POST CONFUSION RISK)
  • JOSS programming language confirmed
  • Note: Wikipedia doesn’t mention 51,349 hours or Feb 18, 1966 - need RAND source

MANIAC I

  • Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MANIAC_I]
  • MANIAC ran March 1952 - confirmed
  • Shut down July 15, 1958 - confirmed
  • 1956 first computer to defeat human in chess-like game - confirmed
  • 6×6 chessboard no bishops - confirmed
  • Paul Stein AND MARK WELLS programmed - confirmed (Wells is on Wikipedia notable programmers list)
  • Klara von Neumann wrote first programs for MANIAC I - confirmed
  • Arianna W. Rosenbluth “wrote the first full implementation of the widely used Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm” - confirmed
  • Mary Tsingou - FPUT algorithm - confirmed
  • MANIAC weighed 1,000 pounds
  • TUBES: Wikipedia does NOT list a tube count for MANIAC. Post claims ~2500. Need to verify.

ILLIAC I and ORDVAC

  • ILLIAC I [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ILLIAC_I]
  • ILLIAC operational September 1, 1952 - matches POST 1952
  • ILLIAC retired 1962 - confirmed
  • 2,800 vacuum tubes for ILLIAC - confirmed POST 2800
  • Williams tube memory - confirmed (POST: “Williams tube memory”)
  • Ralph Meagher and Abraham Taub leaders - confirmed
  • Hiller/Isaacson Illiac Suite: “1955” Wikipedia says they “used ILLIAC I to compose” - POST says they “began” 1955, performed August 1956. Generally consistent.
  • Sputnik orbit “within two days of launch” - confirmed
  • “1956… ILLIAC had more computing power than all of Bell Telephone Laboratories” - confirmed
  • ORDVAC [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ORDVAC]
  • ORDVAC passed acceptance tests March 6, 1952
  • ORDVAC used 2718 vacuum tubes - POST CLAIMS ~2200 - DISCREPANCY (~500 off)
  • 1024 words 40-bit Williams tubes - confirmed
  • ORDVAC reassembly took 1 week - confirmed
  • Telephone access up to 8 hours per night - confirmed

SILLIAC

  • [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SILLIAC]
  • SILLIAC genesis late 1953 - confirmed
  • Harry Messel + John Blatt - confirmed
  • 2C51 valves Bell Labs undersea, 5x life, 6x cost - confirmed
  • Adolph Basser donated AU£50,000 (POST writes “AU 50 000” with no symbol)
  • Final cost AU£75,000 - confirmed
  • Cost ~10x suburban Sydney house - confirmed
  • 2768 valves initially - confirmed
  • 11 hours MTBF average - confirmed
  • Bob May (later Baron May of Oxford) first computation June 1956 - confirmed
  • Retired May 17, 1968 - confirmed
  • POST CURRENCY ISSUE: Should be AU£ (Australian pound), not AU$ or AU (the currency in 1953-1956 was pound, decimalized in 1966)

BESM and Lebedev

  • Wikipedia Sergei Lebedev: Born 2 November 1902 Nizhny Novgorod - confirmed [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Alekseyevich_Lebedev]
  • Graduated Moscow Higher Technical School 1928 - confirmed
  • “In 1948, Lebedev learned from foreign magazines that scientists in western countries were working on the design of electronic computers, although the details were secret” - confirms post’s claim
  • MESM “fully completed by the end of 1951” - POST says 1950-1951 (slightly ambiguous but defensible)
  • POST says MESM was at “former monastery outside Kyiv” - common claim, confirmed elsewhere
  • DISCREPANCY: BESM-1: Wikipedia BESM article says completed 1952; Sergei Lebedev article says “In April 1953 the State commission accepted the BESM-1 as operational”
  • POST says “BESM-1 was completed in 1952” - matches one Wikipedia source
  • 5,000 vacuum tubes - confirmed [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BESM]
  • 8-10 KFlops - confirmed
  • 39-bit floating-point words - confirmed
  • 1024 words ferrite core memory - confirmed
  • BESM-6: design completed 1965, production 1968-1987 - confirmed [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BESM-6]
  • BESM-6: 355 units total - confirmed
  • BESM-6: 48-bit processor at 10 MHz - POST claims “9 MHz” - Infobox says 9 MHz but article body says 10 MHz - mixed sourcing
  • BESM-6: 1 MIPS - confirmed
  • 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission: BESM-6 finished half-hour before NASA - confirmed
  • POST does not mention 60,000 transistors explicitly in Wikipedia BESM-6 article. Source needed.
  • POST claim: “Lebedev introduced instruction pipelining” / “Principle of Water Pipe” - Wikipedia BESM-6 says “two instruction pipelines, separate for the control and arithmetic units” - confirmed pipelines exist; the “Water Pipe” metaphor appears in Malinovsky

MANIAC tubes

  • WebSearch confirms MANIAC I had ~2500 vacuum tubes [Flickr caption: “Some of the 2500 tubes used in”] - POST claim ~2500 - confirmed

Logic Theorist / JOHNNIAC AI

  • Wikipedia: “Logic Theorist is a computer program completed in 1956 by Allen Newell, Herbert A. Simon, and Cliff Shaw” [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logic_Theorist]
  • POST says “Allen Newell, Clifford Shaw, and Herbert Simon developed the Logic Theorist” - matches but with names: Wikipedia says “Cliff Shaw” not “Clifford” - both are correct (full name Clifford)
  • POST says “Running on the JOHNNIAC in August 1956, it proved mathematical theorems from Whitehead and Russell’s Principia Mathematica” - Wikipedia: “Eventually Shaw was able to run the program on the computer at RAND’s Santa Monica facility” (no exact date). The August 1956 date matches some accounts; the Dartmouth Conference summer 1956 was about timing.
  • Logic Theorist proved 38 of the first 52 theorems in chapter 2 of Principia
  • 1956 Dartmouth Conference: “John McCarthy, Marvin Minsky, Claude Shannon and Nathaniel Rochester organized a conference” - POST names same four; confirmed [Note: post says “Nathaniel Rochester” - Wikipedia article uses “Nathan Rochester” but other sources say Nathaniel]

JOHNNIAC

  • WebSearch confirms: “JOHNNIAC was taken offline on 11 February 1966, and officially retired on 18 February”
  • POST says “JOHNNIAC was retired on February 18, 1966” - confirmed
  • Operated “from 1953 for over 13 years” - 1953 operational, NOT 1954 (POST table says “JOHNNIAC (1954)”)
  • 51,349 hours - approximately matches “over 50,000 operating hours” reported

Illiac Suite

  • Wikipedia: Illiac Suite is a 1957 composition (final dating) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illiac_Suite]
  • POST claim “In 1955… began feeding the machine rules of musical counterpoint” - matches Wikipedia ILLIAC article “1955 – Lejaren Hiller and Leonard Isaacson used ILLIAC I to compose the Illiac Suite”
  • POST claim “In August 1956, a student quartet at the University of Illinois performed the first three movements” - widely reported; confirmed in other sources
  • Wikipedia Illiac Suite article describes four movements: first uses cantus firmi (POST says “strict Palestrina-style counterpoint” - close, since Palestrina used cantus firmi), second four-voice rules (POST: “four-part writing”), third rhythm/dynamics (POST: “rhythmic Markov chains”), fourth Markov chains (POST: “controlled randomness”). Some content sequence may be transposed.

Klara von Neumann

  • Wikipedia: “Klára Dán von Neumann … noted as one of the first computer programmers” [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klára_Dán_von_Neumann]
  • “She was the first woman to execute modern-style code on a computer.”
  • “Dán made significant contributions to the world of programming, including work on the Monte Carlo method, ENIAC, and MANIAC I.”
  • POST says “wrote code for both the ENIAC and the IAS machine” - Wikipedia only mentions ENIAC and MANIAC I; doesn’t specifically mention IAS machine
  • POST says she “wrote MANIAC’s first programs” - “And so, after the war, Dán joined von Neumann in New Mexico to program the MANIAC I machine” - confirmed
  • The Wikipedia article does NOT specifically say she programmed the IAS machine. The POST claim of “the ENIAC and the IAS machine” appears to mix up MANIAC with IAS. DISCREPANCY

IAS machine itself

  • [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAS_machine]
  • IAS machine: started 1946, “limited operation summer 1951”, “fully operational on June 10, 1952”, “in operation until July 15, 1958”
  • POST says “The IAS machine itself was shut down in 1958” - confirmed
  • Used 1,700 vacuum tubes
  • 1024 words 5kB Williams tubes
  • POST says IAS “1946-1958” - 1946 is design start, but the machine wasn’t operational until 1952

von Neumann death

  • Wikipedia: “Died February 8, 1957 (aged 53) Washington, D.C.” [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann]
  • POST says “Von Neumann died in 1957, at the age of 53, of bone cancer likely caused by his presence at nuclear tests in the Pacific” - confirmed (Wikipedia death year/age confirms; Walter Reed Army Hospital is in DC area, so “Walter Reed” is consistent with “Washington DC” listed in Wikipedia)
  • Born December 28, 1903 in Budapest - confirmed (matches POST claim of “born 1903 Budapest”)

Pekeris

  • POST calls Pekeris “a mathematician at the Weizmann Institute of Science”
  • IEEE ETHW source: Pekeris was “educated as a meteorologist” and led Department of Applied Mathematics
  • More precisely, Pekeris was an applied mathematician and geophysicist with meteorology background. Calling him “mathematician” is defensible but oversimplifies.

SUMMARY OF DISCREPANCIES

Definite errors

  1. JOHNNIAC date - POST table says “JOHNNIAC (1954)” but JOHNNIAC was operational in 1953
  2. ORDVAC tube count - POST says ~2200; Wikipedia/manual says 2718 tubes (also reported as 2178 in some sources; not 2200)
  3. WEIZAC date of arrival - POST says Estrins arrived 1954; they arrived in Haifa 26 December 1953 per IEEE primary source
  4. Klara von Neumann IAS programming - POST claims she wrote code for “ENIAC and IAS machine”; her documented work is on ENIAC and MANIAC I (not IAS machine)

Less serious / ambiguous

  1. Illiac Suite year - POST says 1955 (composed) but Wikipedia categorizes it as “1957 composition” (completed)
  2. SILLIAC currency - POST writes “AU 50 000” / “AU 35 200” / “AU 75 000” without the £ symbol; should be AU£ (Australian pound)
  3. Pekeris - POST calls him “mathematician”; primary source says “educated as a meteorologist”
  4. BESM-6 clock - POST says 9 MHz; Wikipedia article body says 10 MHz (infobox says 9 MHz)

Stylistic / cosmetic

  1. MANIAC tubes - Post says “~2500”; confirmed
  2. Adolph Basser - POST says “Jeweler and horse-racing enthusiast”; widely-known fact but not in Wikipedia article on SILLIAC
  3. POST claims “By 1956, ILLIAC I had more computing power than all the computers at Bell Labs combined” - Wikipedia: “in 1956, it had more computing power than all of Bell Telephone Laboratories” - confirmed