New Computer

The successful operation of a new electronic digital computer, designed and constructed by staff members of the physics division of the Argonne National Laboratory, was announced at the end of January. The $250,000 computer, based on an instrument recently constructed at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, New Jersey, has been named AVIDAC, which is reported to stand for “Argonne’s Version of the Institute’s Digital Automatic Computer”. AVIDAC is expected to facilitate the solution of mathematical problems of Argonne scientists engaged in reactor engineering and theoretical physics research. In the past, the lack of such a computing device has meant that many complex problems had to be solved by time‐consuming methods or by the use of existing machines in other parts of the country. An additional computer is now being constructed at Argonne for use at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Another member of the same family of computers is the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory’s MANIAC, a device that was designed and constructed by members of the Los Alamos scientific staff.

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