2017-07-10 Mon

J. Presper Eckert received the National Medal of Science in 1968, which sold for $20,000 at the Christe’s auction in New York. He was awarded the medal because of his contributions in creating a high-speed electronic digital computer.

The medal was placed in a velvet-lined black leather case and included a certificate signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson for the co-invention of ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), the world’s first large-scale multipurpose digital computer that contained nearly all the circuitry used in present-day high-speed digital computers. The lot also included a White House invitation and the program for the Jan. 17, 1969, presentation ceremony, along with two black-and-white photographs of the event.

The obverse depicted a man, surrounded by earth, sea and sky while trying to understand nature. The crystal in his hand represents the universal order of the basic units of living things while the formula outlined in the sand symbolizes scientific abstraction.

It was designed by Don De Lue and was based on a design by Richard H. Bolt, associate director for planning at the National Science Foundation.

The co-invention of ENIAC is the most important inventions of the past 200 years, as Christie’s notes in its description states “J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly began their work on ENIAC at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering in 1943, to aid the war effort by computing ballistic firing tables. The ENIAC was announced to the public in 1946 and it was the fastest computer known during that time as it was also capable of being re-programmed. Eckert and Mauchly went on to find the world’s first computer company and build BINAC and UNIVAC, the first commercial digital computers.

The items in the lot came from the Eric C. Caren Collection. In his introduction, the collector wrote “these are a few of my favourite things” — “In 1965 when The Sound of Music came out, I was not yet six years old, but already I had caught the collecting bug and I loved the movie. In fact “Climb Every Mountain” still moves me to tears on occasion but always has inspired me to “Search High and Low” for the material that is presented proudly here by Christie’s and by me. “

At first, Caren started collecting newspapers but after that his attention for the next 50 years went on to collecting unique and rare items that offer solid content, display value, rarity and provenance.

In 1959, the Congress established the National Medal of Science as a presidential award to be awarded to individuals, deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to knowledge in the physical, biological, mathematical, or engineering sciences.