A series presented by Mark Whitakertelling the stories of four computer pioneers. 2: Saluting the Moose. Best known for mechanical calculators, Remington Rand's postwar move into computers was fiercely opposed by senior executives as few people then thought businesses would ever need computers. Yet by 1949 they had more orders for the first model, the Rand-409, than they could cope with. Meanwhile, two brilliant engineers, but hopeless businessmen, were building their own machine over a clothes shop in Philadelphia.
Bought up by Rand when they ran out of money, their Univac burst into public consciousness by correctly predicting a landslide victory for
Eisenhower in the 1952 presidential election. Producer Mike Hally. EMAIL: scirad@bbc.co.uk