On this day in 1950 the SEAC or Standards Eastern Automatic Computer was dedicated by its makers, the U.S. National Bureau of Standards (NBS). Initially known as the National Bureau of Standards Interim Computer, the SEAC was originally designed to be built quickly and for temporary use while the NBS waited on more powerful computers to be completed.
The SEAC had 747 vacuum tubes that were later expanded to 1,500 tubes, and 10,500 germanium diodes later expanded to 16,000 diodes. It was able to perform all logic functions and was the first computer to do so with solid state devices. It was also the first stored-program computer to be completed in the U.S.
The SEAC was dedicated in Washington and used for testing components and systems for setting computer standards.