Editing J. Presper Eckert (section)

==Education==
Eckert was born in [[Philadelphia]] to Ethel M. Hallowell, who came from an old Philadelphia [[Quakers|Quaker]] family, and John Eckert, a wealthy real estate developer of [[Swiss German people|Swiss German]] and [[Alsace|Alsatian]] descent.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Eckstein |first=Peter Charles |date=February 1996 |title=J. Presper Eckert |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/3330528_J_Presper_Eckert |journal=IEEE Annals of the History of Computing |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=25-26 |via=ResearchGate}}</ref> He was raised in a large house in Philadelphia's [[Germantown, Philadelphia|Germantown]] section. During elementary school, he was driven by chauffeur to [[William Penn Charter School]], and in high school joined the Engineer's Club of Philadelphia and spent afternoons at the electronics laboratory of television inventor [[Philo Farnsworth]] in [[Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia|Chestnut Hill]]. He placed second in the country on the math portion of the [[College Board]] examination.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/eniac00scot/page/39|title=ENIAC: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the World's First Computer|last=McCartney|first=Scott|publisher=Walker and Company|year=1999|isbn=0-8027-1348-3|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/eniac00scot/page/39 39–41]|lccn=98054845}}</ref>

Eckert initially enrolled in the [[University of Pennsylvania]]'s [[Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania|Wharton School]] to study business at the encouragement of his parents, but in 1937 transferred to Penn's [[Moore School of Electrical Engineering]]. In 1940, at age 21, Eckert applied for his first patent, "Light Modulating Method and Apparatus".<ref>{{Cite patent|country=US|number=2283545|title=Light Modulating Method and Apparatus|status=|pubdate=|fdate=July 20, 1940|gdate=May 19, 1942|invent1=Eckert|inventor1-first=John Presper Jr. |url=https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/37/2e/42/fe7582a3fbec7f/US2283545.pdf}}</ref> At the Moore School, Eckert participated in research on [[radar]] timing, made improvements to the speed and precision of the Moore School's [[differential analyzer]], and in 1941 assisted in teaching a summer course in electronics under the [[Engineering, Science, and Management War Training]] (ESMWT) offered through the Moore School by the [[United States Department of War]].