CALDIC
CALDIC was an electronic digital computer built with the assistance of the Office of Naval Research at the University of California, Berkeley between 1951 and 1955 to assist and enhance research being conducted at the university with a platform for high-speed computing.
CALDIC was designed to be constructed at a low cost and simple to operate. It was a serial decimal machine with an, 10,000-word magnetic drum memory. It contained 1,300 vacuum tubes, 1,000 crystal diodes, 100 magnetic elements, and 12 relays. It weighed about. It was capable of speeds of 50 iterations per second. CALDIC was a stored program computer with a six-digit instruction format.
The computer was initially planned by Paul Morton, Leland Cunningham, and Dick Lehmer; the latter two had been involved with the ENIAC at the University of Pennsylvania, and Lehmer had given one of the Moore School Lectures. Morton oversaw the design and construction with a team comprising electrical engineering graduate and undergraduate students at the university, more than 35 in total, including Doug Engelbart and Al Hoagland.
The machine was first ready for use in the summer of 1953 and mostly operational in 1954. Development cost through July 1955 was approximately $150,000.
