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Period: to
The 1940's
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The Z3 Computer
German Engineer Konrad Zuse completed an early electromechanical computer called the Z3, considered the first functioning programmable, fully automatic computer. Its purpose was aiding in the calculation of aerodynamics in aircraft design during WWII. The Z3 read programs off of punched film. Because Zuse worked in Nazi Germany, his ideas had no influence over Computer Industry development in the US and England. Nonetheless, the Z3 is an important landmark in the history of Computers. -
The Harvard Mark 1
IBM designed and built the Harvard Mark 1 in 1944, an idea devised by Harvard physics professor Howard Aiken. Designed for computing differential equations, the Mark 1 used paper tape for input, typewriters for the output, and could run 24/7. It is considered the first large scale computer able to automatically perform long, advanced mathematical computations. Terms like bug, patch, and loop have ties to the Mark series. The Mark 1 laid the groundwork for digital technology as we know it today. -
The ENIAC Computing System
The ENIAC computer was built by John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering of the University of Pennsylvania. The ENIAC was over 1,000 times faster than any previous computer at the time. This was due to its electronic technology, an upgrade from the previously used electromechanical technology of the time. The ENIAC is expected to have performed a larger amount of calculation over its ten years of operation than all of humanity had done until that point. -
The Williams-Kilburn Tube
Freddie Williams and Tom Kilburn invented the Williams-Kilburn tube at Manchester University. This tube is considered the first example of a random access digital storage device. The tube was used as a medium for the first stored-memory program written in the Mark 1 computer. -
The Small-Scale Experimental Machine (The Manchester Baby)
Frederic Williams, Tom Kilburn, and Geoff Toothill created the Small-Scale Experimental Machine (SSEM), known as the Manchester "Baby." It was built to for the purposes of testing the Williams Tube – the first known high-speed electronic random access memory for computers. Their first program, seventeen instructions written by Kilburn, was executed on June 21st, 1948. This was the first program ever to run on a digital, electronic, stored-program computer.