Systems

BINAC

Early Computer

Citation Formats

General Reference

Computing Atlas. "BINAC." Accessed August 31, 2026. https://dev-computing.interactiveatlas.org/systems/binac.

APA Style

Computing Atlas. (n.d.). BINAC. Retrieved August 31, 2026, from https://dev-computing.interactiveatlas.org/systems/binac

BibTeX

@misc{computingatlas-binac,
  author = {Computing Atlas},
  title = {BINAC},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-computing.interactiveatlas.org/systems/binac},
  note = {Accessed August 31, 2026}
}

BINAC is an early electronic computer that was designed for Northrop Aircraft Company by the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation (EMCC) in 1949. Eckert and Mauchly had started the design of EDVAC at the University of Pennsylvania, but chose to leave and start EMCC, the first computer company in the United States. BINAC was their first product, the first stored-program computer in the United States. BINAC is also sometimes claimed to be the worlds first commercial digital computer, even though it was limited in scope and never fully functional after delivery.

Facts

Disputed

Significance

Sometimes claimed as the world's first commercial digital computer, a claim this atlas states honestly alongside the article's own record that BINAC was limited in scope and never fully functional after delivery, the same debated-attribution voice this atlas already applies to ENIAC and Colossus. 1

The claim of being the first commercial digital computer is the article's own qualified framing (sometimes claimed), set against its own statement that the machine never worked fully after delivery.

Year

1949 1

Cross-Tradition Connections

Held Differently

Ferranti Mark 1

Not a settled priority dispute in either machine's favor: BINAC is sometimes cited as preceding the Ferranti Mark 1 as a commercial digital computer, but it never operated successfully after delivery to its customer, which is the usual basis for crediting the Ferranti Mark 1 as the first commercially successful general-purpose computer instead.

Source Wikipedia: Ferranti Mark 1

Sources

1. Wikipedia: BINAC

Wikimedia FoundationLead section

Quote, Lead section

BINAC is also sometimes claimed to be the world's first commercial digital computer even though it was limited in scope and never fully functional after delivery.

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Wikipedia: Ferranti Mark 1

Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Ferranti Mark 1, Lead section

Quote, Associated With: Ferranti Mark 1, Lead section

Although preceded as a commercial digital computer by the BINAC and the Z4, the Z4 was electromechanical and lacked software programmability, while BINAC never operated successfully after delivery.

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