Which company delivered the first commercial electronic computer, the UNIVAC I, in 1951?

Remington Rand delivered the first commercial electronic computer, the UNIVAC I, in 1951.

The machine was designed by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, whose Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation began the project. Remington Rand acquired that company in 1950 and completed the computer through its Eckert-Mauchly Division. The first UNIVAC was formally accepted by the U.S. Census Bureau on March 31, 1951, and dedicated on June 14.

A common mix-up concerns the meaning of “delivered.” The first system was needed for demonstrations and was not physically shipped until December 1951; the second system was installed at the Pentagon in June 1952. Thus, Remington Rand is the company associated with delivering the first UNIVAC, even though the original design work began at Eckert-Mauchly.

The UNIVAC became famous when CBS used a later machine to predict Dwight Eisenhower’s victory in the 1952 presidential election. Only 46 UNIVAC I systems were eventually built and delivered.