1957 – Mathematician Donald B. Gillies, physicist James E. Snyder, and astronomers George C. McVittie, S. P. Wyatt, Ivan R. King and George W. Swenson of the University of Illinois used the ILLIAC I computer to calculate the orbit of the Sputnik I satellite within two days of its launch.
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1955 – Lejaren Hiller and Leonard Isaacson used ILLIAC I to compose the Illiac Suite which was one of the first pieces of music to be written with the aid of a computer.
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1960 – The first version of the PLATO computer-based education system was implemented on the ILLIAC I by a team led by Donald Bitzer.
One reason that Cattell moved to the University of Illinois was that they were developing the first electronic computer, the Illiac I there, which made it possible for him to complete large-scale factor analyses, which had here-to-fore been impossible to conduct.
Illiac Suite | ILLIAC I | Illiac I |
J. P. Nash of the University of Illinois was a developer of both the ORDVAC and of the university's own identical copy, the ILLIAC, which was later renamed the ILLIAC I. Donald B. Gillies assisted in the checkout of ORDVAC at Aberdeen Proving Ground.