The UNIVersal Automatic Computer, or UNIVAC, appeared in 1951 as the first commercial computer.  The United Status Census Bureau bought the first UNIVAC, and all its 13 metric tons and taking up 35.5 square meters.  Manufacturer Remington Rand sold 46 UNIVAC computers for more than $1 million each.

The UNIVAC proved its power when CBS used the computer to predict the winner of the 1952 presidential race.  Exit polls showed a landslide for Adlai Stevenson, but the UNIVAC predicted Dwight D. Eisenhower would win.  Newscasters Walter Cronkite and Charles Collingswood didn’t trust the computer and only announced the results late that night.  It turns out, the computer got the result right when the exit polls were wrong.  Something today’s newscasters could still stand to learn.