The IBM Naval Ordnance Research Calculator (NORC) was a one-of-a-kind first-generation (vacuum tube) computer built by IBM for the United States Navy's Bureau of Ordnance. It went into service in December 1954[1] and was likely the most powerful computer at the time.[2] The Naval Ordnance Research Calculator (NORC), was built at the Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory under the direction of Wallace Eckert.[3]
The computer was presented to the US Navy on December 2, 1954. At the presentation ceremony, it calculated pi to 3,089 digits, which was a record at the time. The calculation took only 13 minutes. In 1955, NORC was moved to the Naval Proving Ground[4] at Dahlgren, Virginia. It was their main computer until 1958, when more modern computers were acquired. It continued to be used until 1963.[5][6][self-published source] Its design influenced the IBM 701 and subsequent machines in the IBM 700 series of computers.
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