Ordvac

ORDVAC

The ORDVAC or Ordnance Discrete Variable Automatic Computer, an early computer built by the University of Illinois for the Ballistics Research Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground, was based on the IAS architecture developed by John von Neumann, which came to be known as the von Neumann architecture. The ORDVAC was the first computer to have a compiler. ORDVAC became operational in the Spring of 1951 at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. Its purpose was to perform ballistic trajectory calculations for the US Military.