19 Oct
2010
19 Oct
'10
11:57 p.m.
And we have a winner!!
The Manchester computer of 1948 (Built 1946-1948)
It could store 1024 bits on a cathode-ray-tube, enough to demonstrate the
stored-program principle in working electronics, the first in the world to
do so
Built under the direction of Alan Turing and A von Neumann
?
-----Original Message-----
From: cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org]
On Behalf Of Brent Hilpert
Sent: 19 October 2010 18:25
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Oldest original proper computer (stored program etc)
On 2010 Oct 19, at 12:36 AM, Evan Koblentz wrote:
Not to take away from your point, but why do you include SEAC/SWAC in
that list? (both National Bureau of Standards computers)
Military computing tends to be 800 pound gorilla
in the room that
historians tend to dismiss.
How do you figure? The early history of digital computing, especially
in the 1940s - 1950s, is dominated by military installations.
Colossus, ENIAC, many UNIVACs, SEAC/SWAC, SAGE, etc. .... in fact this
year's winner of the Computer History Museum Prize* is "Calculating a
Natural World" by Atsushi Akera. The book is a great read and focuses
on Cold War computer research.
* The prize is administered by the Society for the History of
Technology's Special Interest Group for Computers, Information, and
Society, a.k.a. SHOT-SIGCIS. This is the primary organization for
professional computer historians.