First Computer Graphics Film Ever from 1963

The short video you are about to see, created and narrated by Edward E. Zajac, is quite possibly the first computer graphics film ever made; a project to model the theoretical construct of how a box-shaped satellite would move through space. It was made on an IBM 7090 or 7094 series computer using hand-fed programmed calculations in FORTRAN via punchcards and running them through a program called ORBIT that his co-worker Frank Sinden created, printing the output onto microfilm. Pretty impressive for the year 1963!

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Edward Zajac spent 30 years working at Bell Labs from 1954 to 1983, then worked as a professor, specializing in the economics of communications and telecommunications before passing away last year. This footage is courtesy of and History Center in Warren, NJ. For more information, check out the AT&T Archives.

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