Computer built in 1952 for Los Alamos Scientific Lab
The MANIAC's arithmetic unit nearing completion in 1952.
TheMANIAC I (Mathematical Analyzer Numerical Integrator and Automatic Computer Model I)[1][2] was an early computer built under the direction ofNicholas Metropolis at theLos Alamos Scientific Laboratory. It was based on thevon Neumann architecture of theIAS, developed byJohn von Neumann. As with almost all computers of its era, it was a one-of-a-kind machine that could not exchange programs with other computers (even the several other machines based on the IAS). Metropolis chose the name MANIAC in the hope of stopping the rash of silly acronyms for machine names,[3] althoughvon Neumann may have suggested the name to him.
The MANIAC weighed about 1,000 pounds (0.50 short tons; 0.45 t).[4][5]
The first task assigned to the Los Alamos MANIAC was to perform more precise and extensive calculations of the thermonuclear process.[6] In 1953, the MANIAC obtained the first equation of state calculated by modifiedMonte Carlo integration over configuration space.[7]
In 1956, MANIAC I became the first computer to defeat a human being in a chess-like game. The chess variant, calledLos Alamos chess, was developed for a 6×6 chessboard (no bishops) due to the limited amount of memory and computing power of the machine.[8]
The MANIAC ran successfully in March 1952[9][10][11] and was shut down on July 15, 1958.[12] It was succeeded byMANIAC II in 1957. MANIAC I was[13][14]transferred to theUniversity of New Mexico in bad condition, and was restored to full operation by Dale Sparks, PhD. It was featured in at least two UNM Maniac programming dissertations from 1963.[15] It remained in operation until it was retired in 1965.
MANIAC project leader Nicholas Metropolis (standing) and the MANIAC's chief engineer Jim Richardson in 1953.
Marjory Jones (Devaney), a mathematician and programmer, is shown here in 1952, punching a program onto paper tape to be loaded into the MANIAC.
Operators are pictured here in 1952 in front of the MANIAC. The horseshoe on the pillar on the right was hung for luck.
Paul Stein and Nicholas Metropolis playLos Alamos chess against the MANIAC, a simplified version of the game without bishops. The computer still needed about 20 minutes between moves.
^"Daybreak of the Digital Age".Princeton Alumni Weekly. Published in the April 4, 2012 Issue. 2016-01-21. Retrieved2018-05-25.MANIAC was a single 6-foot-high, 8-foot-long unit weighing 1,000 pounds.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
^"Computing and the Manhattan Project".Atomic Heritage Foundation. July 18, 2014. It's a MANIAC.MANIAC was substantively smaller than ENIAC: only six feet high, eight feet wide, and weighing in at half a ton. 1 short ton (2,000 lb)
Metropolis, Nicholas; Rosenbluth, Arianna W.; Rosenbluth, Marshall N.; Teller, Augusta H.; Teller, Edward (1953), "Equation of state calculations by fast computing machines",The Journal of Chemical Physics,21 (6):1087–1092,Bibcode:1953JChPh..21.1087M,doi:10.1063/1.1699114,OSTI4390578,S2CID1046577
Pritchard, D. B. (2007). "Los Alamos Chess". In Beasley, John (ed.).The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. John Beasley.ISBN978-0-9555168-0-1.
