World War II Computers: From Z2 to Harvard Mark I
It turns out that the first computer in history was developed by German Konrad Zuse in 1940, it was called Z2. Despite the fact that the first PC was created in Nazi Germany, they lost the war. Unfortunately, the prototype of that computer was destroyed during the bombing of Berlin in 1944, only the drawings remained.
1940 - Mention of the beginning of the “great computer era” dates back to 1940, when Konrad Zuse founded Zuse Apparatebau in Berlin and created the Z2 computer, the world's first electromechanical computer.
1941 year - The indefatigable Tsuse builds the world's first electronic programmable calculator Z3. It was built on 2600 electromechanical relays, RAM - 64 22-bit words (7 bits - order and 15 - mantissa). The program was introduced from an 8-track punch tape, which was used as a regular film. A binary number system and a unicast instruction system were used. Z3 performed 3.4 additions per second. This is the first implementation of the principle of program management in the world. The original was destroyed during the war by Allied forces. It seems that they intentionally destroyed all the models of a talented German. Through the efforts of other talented and stubborn Germans, the reconstructed model can be seen in the German Museum in Munich.
1942 - It is clear that the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War was not up to computers, but the Allies had interesting developments. So, in 1942, Americans John Atanasov and Clifford Edward Berry created the first electronic digital computer (Atanasoff-Berry Computer - ABC). Although this machine was never completed (Atanasov joined the army), it, historians say, had a great influence on John Mauchly, who created the Eniac computer two years later. Apparently, the legs of the ABC corporation are growing from here.
1943 - The following year, England joined the computer arms race. A Colossus computer was created at Bletchley Park to decrypt the ciphers of the German mechanical encryption machine Enigma. The machine totaled 2,000 electron tubes and worked at a fantastic speed, processing about 25,000 characters per second. By the way, it was Colossus that was used in planning the landing of the Allied forces in Normandy (D-Day). The development team also included the outstanding mathematician Alan Turing. By the end of the war, 10 such machines were built. The development and composition of the team were kept secret until 1970, and decryption algorithms - even longer. In 2004, the Colossus Mk2 reconstruction process was completed, launched in the 90s by UK enthusiasts.
1944 - In the United States, Harvard University professor Howard Aiken and subsequently famous Grace Hoper launched the first version of the Harvard Mark I. It contained 72 23-bit digital registers and 60 registers for constants. Data was read from the tape; addition and subtraction operations took up to 6 s. A machine was used to calculate ballistic tables for firing, performing three-week work of three calculators per day. The Americans then took the first position in the high-tech arms race.
1945 - In Zuse, through the efforts of Zuse, a new computer model was created - Z4, which was similar in architecture to modern computers: the memory and processor were separate devices, the processor could process floating point numbers, perform four basic arithmetic operations and extract the square root. The program was stored on punched tape and read sequentially. In the last days of the war, the Z4 model on a truck and horses was transported from Berlin to Göttingen, and then to Alga. She lay hidden in the stable for more than three years.
1945 - 46 years old The pinnacle of Zuse’s career during the war was the development of the first algorithmic programming language, Plankalkuel (from plan calculus).
Of course, the race did not end there, but the war ended, in which the Soviet troops won without any computers. On the 65th anniversary of the Great Victory!
1941 year - The indefatigable Tsuse builds the world's first electronic programmable calculator Z3. It was built on 2600 electromechanical relays, RAM - 64 22-bit words (7 bits - order and 15 - mantissa). The program was introduced from an 8-track punch tape, which was used as a regular film. A binary number system and a unicast instruction system were used. Z3 performed 3.4 additions per second. This is the first implementation of the principle of program management in the world. The original was destroyed during the war by Allied forces. It seems that they intentionally destroyed all the models of a talented German. Through the efforts of other talented and stubborn Germans, the reconstructed model can be seen in the German Museum in Munich.
1942 - It is clear that the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War was not up to computers, but the Allies had interesting developments. So, in 1942, Americans John Atanasov and Clifford Edward Berry created the first electronic digital computer (Atanasoff-Berry Computer - ABC). Although this machine was never completed (Atanasov joined the army), it, historians say, had a great influence on John Mauchly, who created the Eniac computer two years later. Apparently, the legs of the ABC corporation are growing from here.
1943 - The following year, England joined the computer arms race. A Colossus computer was created at Bletchley Park to decrypt the ciphers of the German mechanical encryption machine Enigma. The machine totaled 2,000 electron tubes and worked at a fantastic speed, processing about 25,000 characters per second. By the way, it was Colossus that was used in planning the landing of the Allied forces in Normandy (D-Day). The development team also included the outstanding mathematician Alan Turing. By the end of the war, 10 such machines were built. The development and composition of the team were kept secret until 1970, and decryption algorithms - even longer. In 2004, the Colossus Mk2 reconstruction process was completed, launched in the 90s by UK enthusiasts.
1944 - In the United States, Harvard University professor Howard Aiken and subsequently famous Grace Hoper launched the first version of the Harvard Mark I. It contained 72 23-bit digital registers and 60 registers for constants. Data was read from the tape; addition and subtraction operations took up to 6 s. A machine was used to calculate ballistic tables for firing, performing three-week work of three calculators per day. The Americans then took the first position in the high-tech arms race.
1945 - In Zuse, through the efforts of Zuse, a new computer model was created - Z4, which was similar in architecture to modern computers: the memory and processor were separate devices, the processor could process floating point numbers, perform four basic arithmetic operations and extract the square root. The program was stored on punched tape and read sequentially. In the last days of the war, the Z4 model on a truck and horses was transported from Berlin to Göttingen, and then to Alga. She lay hidden in the stable for more than three years.
1945 - 46 years old The pinnacle of Zuse’s career during the war was the development of the first algorithmic programming language, Plankalkuel (from plan calculus).
Of course, the race did not end there, but the war ended, in which the Soviet troops won without any computers. On the 65th anniversary of the Great Victory!