Memory Size versus Computation Speed for various and , IBM,ZQ90 . 11J

A~len · W

•• EDVAC lAS• ,---.. SEAC • Whirlwind ~ , • ENIAC SWAC /# / Harvard.' ~\ EDSAC Pilot• •• • ; Mc;rk I " • ACE I • •, ABC Manchester MKI • • ! • (fl. pt.) 1.000 , , .ENIAC •, Ier.n I i • • \ I •, BTL I (complexV • 100 ~ . # '------" Comptometer • Ir.ne l ' with constants 10 0.1 1.0 10 100 lK 10K lOOK 1M

GENERATIONS:

II] = electronic- [!!!] = manual [1] = transistor Ime I = mechanical [1] = Iem I = electromechanical [I] = large scale integrated circuit CONTENTS THE MUSEUM BOARD OF DIRECTORS The Computer Museum is a non-profit. Kenneth H. Olsen. Chairman public. charitable foundation dedicated to Digital Equipment Corporation preserving and exhibiting an industry-wide. broad-based collection of the history of in­ Charles W Bachman formation processing. Computer history is Cullinane Database Systems A Compcmion to the Pioneer interpreted through exhibits. publications. Computer Timeline videotapes. lectures. educational programs. C. Gordon Bell and other programs. The Museum archives Digital Equipment Corporation I Introduction both artifacts and documentation and Gwen Bell makes the materials available for The Computer Museum 2 Bell Telephone Laboratories scholarly use. Harvey D. Cragon Modell Complex The Computer Museum is open to the public Texas Instruments Sunday through Friday from 1:00 to 6:00 pm. 3 Zuse Zl, Z3 There is no charge for admission. The Robert Everett 4 ABC. Atanasoff Berry Computer Museum's lecture hall and rece ption The Mitre Corporation facilities are available for rent on a mM ASCC (Harvard I) prearranged basis. For information call C. Lester Hogan 5 Colossus 617-467-4443. Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation Museum membership is available to 6 Theodore G. Johnson ENIAC individuals and non-profit organizations Digital Equipment Corporation 7 EDVAC for $25 annually and to businesses for $125 annually. Members receive the q uarterly Andrew C. Knowles. III 8 lAS Computer Report. invitations to all lectures and spe­ Digital Equipment Corporation cial programs. new posters. and a ten 9 EDSAC percent discount in the Museum store. John Lacey Control Data Corporation 10 Manchester University Mark I A Founders program is in effect during the initial two-year period of the Museum. until Pat McGovern II Pilot ACE June 10. 1984. During this period individuals ComputerWorld and non-profit organizations may become 12 National Bureau of Standards George Michael Founders for $250 and businesses and chari­ Lawrence Livermore Laboratories SEAC and SWAC table Foundations may become Founders for 13 Whirlwind $2500. Founders receive all benefits of mem­ Robert N. Noyce bership and recognition for their important in tel 14 The Pioneer Computer: role in establishing the Museum. Comparative Statistics University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne 16 Additional Source Material THE COMPUTER MUSEUM REPORT Edward A. Schwartz The Computer Museum Report is published Digital Equipment Corporation quarterly by The Computer Museum. One Iron Way. Marlboro. MA 01752. Annual sub­ Michael Speck scription is part of the membership of the The Children's Museum of Boston Museum ($25 per year for individuals and nonprofit organizations and $125 Erwin O. Tomash for corporations). Dataproducts (retired) The purpose is to report on the programs The Honorable Paul E. Tsongas and exhibitions of the Museum. The con­ U.S . Senator from Massachusetts tents of The Computer Museum Report may not be reproduced without written consent. STAFF The Museum Staff is responsible for the con­ tents of the Report. The opinions expressed Gwen Bell do not necessarily represent those of The Director Computer Museum or its Board of Directors. Jamie Parker Exhibit Coordinator The design and production of the Re port is done by Benson and Clemons. Christine Rudomin Program Coordinator Gregor Trinkaus-Randall Archivist Geri Rogers Office Manager David Bromfield Business Manager John McKenzie TX-O Technician Beth Parkhurst Research Assistant

Store Personnel: Linda Davidson Merle Insigna Carol Strecker

Photo Credits: p.3. from ; p. 4. top from ; p . 5. col­ umn 1. Harvard University. Cruft Laboratory; The Computer Museum p . 6. from Arthur Burks; p . 7. William M. One Iron Way Rittase; p . 8. Institute for Advanced Studies. Marlboro. Massachusetts 01752 Princeton University; p. 12. National Bureau 617-467-4036 of Standards; pps. 2. 4. 5. 9. 10. back cover. David Bromfield ©19821THE COMPUTER MUSEUM A Companion to the Pioneer Computer Timeline

INTRODUCTION Beth Parkhurst carried out the research and compiled the text for This booklet is meant to be an both the exhibit and its companion. exemplary companion: informative. The Timeline has the specifications attractive and user-friendly. People spelled out for each machine. an who visit the Timeline. a perma­ overall view of the machine. and nent gallery devoted to the first. basic descriptive materials. For the one-of-a-kind computers. can use companion. Beth chose quotations this companion as a supplement to that would begin to approximate the exhibit. and those who read it the sentiments of F. C. Williams: "It as the Winter 82183 issue of the Re­ is fairly easy by reference to such port can gain a sense of the Pioneer records as survive to describe what Computer Timeline. had been achieved twenty-five years ago. What is difficult is to The concept of developing a recreate the environment of uncer­ permanent gallery devoted to the tainty and excitement in which first computers grew out of the those achievements occurred." Pioneer Computer lecture series ini­ (F. C. Williams. The Radio and tiated by the curator. Gordon Bell. Electronic Engineer, 45. 1975.) The lecture series. archived on videotape. was led off on Septem­ Coordinating the companion. ber 23rd. 1979. by my main concern was to provide a on the EDSAC. Then picture indicative of the Museum's not only talked about the Bell Tele­ exhibit. In some cases. I chose phone Computers but repro­ photographs of the artifacts on dis­ duced his "Model K" for the play at the Museum. in others "pe­ Museum. John Vincent Atanasoff. riod" drawings. and in still others the fourth speaker. loaned the the portraits of the machine itself. breadboard Atanasoff-Berry Com­ And I also insisted on the reference puter for display. With these pieces. page that would indicate where as well as the major Whirlwind primary materials existed on these artifacts and the information gath­ pioneer computers. While many of ered at the lectures. the idea of as­ the original sites of the machines sembling them into an integrated maintain an exhibit and archives. exhibit emerged. the Computer Museum is the only place that has an integrated exhibit The exhibit itself. 100 feet long of the Pioneer Computers. on the balcony of the Museum's lecture hall. was designed and Gordon Bell insisted that this mounted by Jamie Parker and light­ companion. as well as the timeline. ing consultant Christopher Ripman. put the pioneer computers in their Their concerns were attractiveness historic perspective. and made the and legibility-both for the person comparative table that appears on in the lecture hall and the studious page 14 and the graph on the visitor-as well as flexibility for cover. In compiling the data. we've growth and change. selected from sometimes conflicting information and will keep a run­ ning corrected table. The Timeline is not yet com­ plete. The next Pioneer Computer Lecture. by Captain on the is scheduled for April 14. At some time. we will integrate video-taped material into the exhibit; but for now have settled on keeping it available in the archive. Your suggestions. cor­ rections. and donations relevant to this exhibit. the lecture series and the archive are encouraged. Gwen Bell Director

The Computer Museum Report/Winter 1983 1 BeD Telephone Laboratories Modell Complex Calculator

George Stibitz worked at Bell math course I had learned a little Around that time, the head Labs as a mathematician in the about the binary notation for repre­ of the mathematical engineering 1930s. In his spare time, he experi­ senting numbers. That notation has group came to Stibitz with a prob­ mented with using telephone relays digits with only two values, such as lem. Recent developments in filter for electro-mechanical calculation. zero and one, much as the relay has and transmission line theory were only two 'values': open and closed. overloading the desk calculator "The original notions that led team with complex number work. to the series of relay computers had Nit occurred to me that perhaps Could a large-scale relay calculator nothing to do with usefulness. I just the two positions of a relay could handle the work? wondered whether it would be pos­ be used to represent the two values sible to make such simple things of a binary digit. Then perhaps made Stibitz's relay as relays do complicated calcula­ circuits through the contacts of project official with a budget and tions ... several relays might represent the circuit designer. The Model I. first two values of a binary digit. I soon in a series of Bell Labs relay calcu­ -I was then a 'mathematical found out that this was true-two lators and computers, was finished engineer' at the Bell Telephone relays could be wired together to in 1939. Technically, the Model I Labs, and as such I was asked to add two binary digits. was not a true computer because look into the magnetic circuits of it was not controlled by a program. the telephone relay. As you know, "I built an adder of the two Rather, it was operated directly a relay is just an electrically-oper­ relays I had borrowed, a couple of through a teletype. Although it ated that opens and closes dry cells, two flashlight bulbs, and lacked the speed of the electronic one or a dozen electrical circuits. two strips of metal for keys. My computers that were to appear a wife named it the K-model. after -While looking at the relay's few years later, its relays were far our kitchen table. magnetic circuit I naturally noted less liable to failure than vacuum the piles of contacts that could be "When I took the K-model tubes. closed or opened when the relay to the Labs to show the boys, we The Bell Labs Model I was the operated. I knew that these con­ speculated on the possibility of first demonstration of a large-scale tacts could be connected in large building a full-size calculator out of digital machine for complex calcu­ and complicated meshes, and when relays. Shortly thereafter the relay lation. so connected they could do very computer turned serious. N complicated jobs. So, I liberated a NIn September 1940, after sev­ pair of relays from the Labs' junk George R. Stibitz, "Early Com­ eral months of routine use at the pile and tried out a few circuits. puters and Their Uses," presented at Computing and Chili-eating Laboratories, the computer was "Years before in a freshman Society. 1981 demonstrated at a meeting of the American Mathematical Society held at , in Hanover, New Hampshire ... I gave a short paper on the use and design of the computer after which those attending were invited to transmit problems from a Teletype in McNutt Hall to the computer in New York. Answers returned over the same telegraph connection and were printed out on the Teletype." George Stibitz, "Early Computers," in A in the Twentieth Century, ed. N. Metropolis, J. Howlett, and Gian-Carlo Rota, New York, 1980

George Stibitz built this replica of his ''K-model'' for the Computer Museum. (Gift of George Stibitz, D127.BO.J

2 The Computer Museum Report/Winter 1983 Zuse Zl. Z3

As a civil engineering student "Zuse describes ... how his Programs were punched on recycled in 1930s . and later as an air­ work was carried out in ignorance motion picture film. craft engineer. Konrad Zuse had to of that of his predecessors, or even spend his time performing "big and the contemporary work by Dirks in awful" calculations. Theoretical on magnetic storage sys­ advances that would change civil tems ... During the war the various engineering from "cut-and-try" to American computer projects were science were starting to appear. but of course subject to strict security were not being applied because of measures; it was only a photograph the volume of computation required that German Military Intelligence in the new approach. Zuse decided had obtained of the Harvard Mark I to build calculating machines to which eventually alerted Zuse to solve these problems automatically. the fact that the Americans had developed some sort of large scale tape-controlled computer. Nothing however prepared him for the post­ war release of information about ENIAC, which with its 19,000 valves far surpassed anything that he or Schreyer had ever contemplated attempting to construct. "

Brian Randell, The Origins of Digital Computers, 3rd ed., Berlin. 1982.

The designs Zuse began in 1934 led to a series of machines that in­ cluded the first program-controlled computer. He built an experimental . the . in the family living room. The Z1. completed in 1938. was followed in 1940 by the . a prototype electro­ mechanical computer built with second-hand telephone relays. The Z3. a full-scale relay com­ puter. was running in 1941. For the first time. the German government aided with funding. This machine had most of the basic features asso­ ciated with a conventional com­ Konrad Zuse examines a puter, including memory and a form program tape. of program control. Like Stibitz's electro-. the Z3 was several orders of magnitude "The work proceeded almost slower than the first electronic com­ parallel to. but quite independently puters. Its program was external. of. the developments in the United coded on punched film. Two spe­ States." cial-purpose models. the Sl and S2. were used in aircraft design. Konrad Zuse, "Some Remarks on the History of Computing in Ger­ These first machines were de­ many." in A History of Computing stroyed in the war. At the war's end. in the Twentieth Century; ed. N. Zuse learned about the American Metropolis, J. Howlett, and Gian­ computer ENIAC. and an American Carlo Rota, New York. 1980. observer published a description of a preliminary version of Zuse's next relay machine. the . It was not until the 1960s that an English­ language account of Zuse's first machines appeared.

The Computer Museum Report/Winter 1983 3 ABC mMASCC Atanasoll Beny Computer (Harvard Mark I)

Beginning in 1935, John Vincent house: use electricity and electron­ The IBM ASCC (Automatic Atanasoff, a professor at ics-that meant vacuum tubes in Sequence Controlled Calculator), State College, pioneered digi­ those days: use base 2, in spite of also known as the Harvard Mark I. tal electronics for calculating. His custom, for economy: use conden­ began in the mind of Harvard in­ students were working with linear sers, but regenerate to avoid structor Howard Aiken, and was partial differential equations, and lapses: compute by direct action, realized by a team representing he experimented with analog, then not by enumeration. n Harvard, the U.S. Navy, and IBM. digital calculators to aid in their John Vincent Atanasoff. Pioneer -The desire to economize time solution. Computer Lecture, at The Com­ and mental effort in arithmetical -I tried again and again to sort puter Museum, November 11, 1980 computation, and to eliminate hu­ these concepts out. Nothing seemed man liability to error, is probably to work. After months of work and as old as the science of arithmetic study I went to the office again one itself ..• evening but it looked as if nothing would happen. I was extremely -The intensive development distraught. Then I got in my auto­ of mathematical and physical sci­ mobile and started to drive. I drove ences in recent years has included hard so I would have to give my the definition of many new and use­ attention to driving and I wouldn't ful functions, nearly all of which have to worry about my problems. are defined by infinite series or other infinite processes. Most of -When I finally came to earth these are tabulated inadequately I was crossing the Mississippi and their application to scientific River, 189 miles from my desk. You problems is retarded thereby. couldn't get a drink in Iowa in those Professor Atanasoff lecturing to days, but I was crossing into Illi­ -The increased accuracy of students at nois. I looked ahead and there was physical measurement has made in the late 1930s. a light and, of course, it was a tav­ necessary more accurate com­ ern. I went in and got a drink, and putation. Many of the most recent Atanasoff and graduate stu­ then I noticed that my mind was scientific developments are based dent Clifford Berry built a prototype on nonlinear effects. All too often very clear and sharp. I knew what ABC (Atanasoff-Berry Computer) in I wanted to think about and I went the differential equations designed 1939, and a full-scale model in 1942. right to work on it and worked for to represent these physical phe­ Like the Bell Labs Model I. the ABC 3 hours, and then got in my car and nomena may be solved only by was not a computer in the modern drove slowly back to Ames. numerical integration. This method sense, since it lacked program con­ involves an enormous amount of -I had made four decisions trol and was not general purpose. in that evening at the Illinois road computational labor. Many of the The ABC was the first of sev­ computational difficulties with which the physical and mathe­ Atanasoff built this simple model of eral proposals to use electronics for calculation or logic in the decade matical sciences are faced can the ABC to demonstrate his concepts after Atanasoff began investiga­ be removed by the use of suitable of digital computation. The number tions in 1935. Other projects and automatic calculating machinery. stored in one of the drums proposals included those of Bush is added to or subtracted from the and Crawford both at M.I.T.; Zuse -The development of numerical number stored in the other drum. and Schreier in Berlin; the British analysis, including the techniques (On loan from]. V Atanasoff, X12 .80.) foreign office; Rajchman at R.C.A. of numerical differentiation and in­ The makers of the ENIAC, the first tegration, and methods for solving electronic computer, were familiar ordinary and partial differential with Atanasoff's and Rajchman's equations have reduced, in effect, work. The degree to which the ABC the processes of mathematical influenced the ENIAC design is still analysis to selected sequences of being debated by participants and the five fundamental operations of historians. arithmetic: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and refer­ ence to tables of previously com­ puted results. The automatic se­ quence controlled calculator was designed to carry out any selected sequence of these operations under completely automatic control.- Howard Aiken and Grace Hopper 1946

4 The Computer Museum Report/Winter 1983 Colossus

Inspired by 's "If you hated Hitler enough, United States after the war. The nineteenth-century" Analytical you would fight on against fearful Bletchley Park effort. however. did Engine." the Harvard Mark I was odds. You considered not just turn out a number of scientists ex­ mostly mechanical. wheels the small probability of success, perienced in electronics and logic. were electro-mechanical. and but the large payoff if you were F. C. Williams. head of the postwar connections between units were successful. H Manchester University computer electrical. An external program project. remembered help he re­ I. J. Good. "Pioneering Work on ceived from two Bletchley alumni punched on tape controlled opera­ Computers at Bletchley." in A His­ tion; conditional branches were not tory of Computing in the Twentieth who were also familiar with possible when the machine was Century; ed. N. Metropolis. American computer projects: "Tom first in operation. The machine was J. Howlett, and Gian-Carlo Rota. Kilburn and I knew nothing about largely built of standard IBM equip­ New York, 1980. computers, but a lot about circuits. ment. It was completed at IBM in Professor Newman and Mr. A. M. 1943. and moved to Harvard in 1944. Turing in the Depart­ ment knew a lot about computers The Harvard Mark I's contribu­ and substantially nothing about tion was not in its technology-the electronics. They took us by the electronic ENIAC. which would sur­ hand and explained how numbers pass the Harvard Mark I's speed by could live in houses with addresses several orders of magnitude. was and how if they did they could be under construction when the Mark I kept track of during a calculation. " was being dedicated. E C. Williams. "Early Computers at Manchester University." Radio and Electronic Engineer, 1975

Pulley from a Colossus tape drive. (Gift of Toby Harper, X49.B2.J

This spirit motivated the British Foreign Office's cryptanalytic effort at Bletchley Park. German forces relied on variants of the ENIGMA machine for enciphering in World War II. The simplest version of the Intercepted German messages were ENIGMA had 9 x 1020 initial settings. punched on paper tape and read so breaking the cipher was an awe­ into the Colossus photoelectrically. somely complex . The Brit­ ish built a series of machines to "The value of the work I am decipher intercepted German sure to engineers like myself and messages. The culmination of the possibly to mathematicians like series was the Colossus line. elec­ , was that we acquired tronic machines with many of the a new understanding of and fa­ features of the computer. including miliarity with logical switching electronic circuits for Boolean logic. and processing because of the Re-assemb1ing the machine at counting. and binary arithmetic; Harvard, March 10, 1944. enhanced possibilities brought automatic operation. with logic about by electronic technologies functions set with plugs and which we ourselves developed "It is important because it was . or conditionally selected Thus when stored program com­ the first large scale digital calcula­ by electro-mechanical relays; and puters became known to us we tor ever built and also because it electronic registers changeable were able to go right ahead with stimulated the imagination and in­ by an automatically controlled their development. " terest of the world and thus gave sequence of operations. impetus to the desire for more and T. H. Flowers. letter to Brian Ran­ better computing machines." The first official release of in­ dell. February 15. 1972; quoted in B. formation on the Colossus was not Randell. "The Colossus." in A His­ G. Truman Hunter. "Modem Com­ until 1975. Because of this secrecy. tory of Computing in the Twentieth puting Machines." Journal of the the Colossus did not directly influ­ Century; ed. N. Metropolis. Franklin Institute, 1952. ence the computer projects which J. Howlett. and Gian-Carlo Rota. flourished in Eng land and the New York. 1980.

The Computer Museum Report/Winter 1983 5 ENIAC

Each of these earlier machines The ENIAC was moved to the cradle of a whole lot of computers: had some of the features of the Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground the EDVAC. ORDVAC. and a bunch electronic computer. In the ENIAC, after a year of operation at the of others. But even after they were these features-electronic, high­ Moore School. R. E Clippinger, a delivered. the ENIAC continued to speed operation, general-purpose mathematician who devised some work for about ten years. There was capability, and program control­ of the first applications at Aber­ a period when the ENIAC was the were combined. It is usually re­ deen, recalled: only computer working. A lot of oth­ garded as the first true electronic ers were on the drawing boards or UI had a couple of girls with computer. The major difference be­ in the mill being engineered, but desk calculators working out the tween the ENIAC and later comput­ not working. H ers was that it was programmed by test case that I would use to find out if I was getting the right an­ R. F. Clippinger, gallery talk at plugs and switches, rather than the Computer Museum, September running a stored program. swers from the ENIAC. It took them two man-years to do one solution. 26, 1982 The ENIAC, funded by the We put it on the ENIAC. and the Army Ballistics Research Labora­ ENIAC ran off a case very hour ... tory at the University of Pennsyl­ vania's Moore SchooL used elec­ uYou have to realize that the tronics on an unprecedented scale. Aberdeen Proving Ground was the Its 18,000 vacuum tubes belied the criticism that, given the failure rate of vacuum tubes, one or more tubes The ENIAC team, headed by]. Pres­ would fail before a computation per Eckert and fohn Mauchly, in­ was completed. The success of cluded a dozen engineers and pro­ electronics for large-scale computa­ grammers. Designer Arthur Burks tion inspired a number of postwar looks on as a program is set up on computer projects. the ENIAC with plugs and switches.

6 The Computer Museum Report/Winter 1983 EDVAC

The EDVAC was the successor The mercury delay line mem­ was widely circulated in draft. to the ENIAC. While the ENIAC was ory. borrowed from to utilize The Moore School's 1946 summer being built. its designers realized as . was the key lecture series on the EDVAC design the potential of the stored program. device that made the stored pro­ also helped publicize the idea of They began designing a new com­ gram practical. The ENIAC had the stored program computer. puter. and were soon joined by dis­ only twenty words high-speed The EDVAC. while still in its de­ tinguished mathematician John von memory capacity. using expensive sign stage. directly or indirectly Neumann. vacuum tubes-far too few to store influenced all postwar computer programs and data. In contrast, projects. The question "Who invented each delay line could hold hun­ the program?" has been answered dreds of words. with circulat­ many ways. It cannot be attributed ing as ultrasonic pulses in a col­ to any single person. but seems to umn of mercury. When each have arisen in the course of conver­ reached the end of the column. it sations among ENIAC project mem­ was converted to an electrical sig­ bers; other researchers may also nal. where it was cleaned up and have independently conceived the could be read. idea. Arthur Burks. who worked on The EDVAC's theoretical design and the ENIAC. beginning of the EDSAC. Von Neumann's write-up of construction stage lasted from 1944 and with on the the EDVAC group's discussions to 1951. lAS computer. made this assess­ ment of the process of making the stored program practical.

-There were two main steps. Pres and John (Eckert and Mauchly, of ENIAC) invented the circulating mercury delay line store, with enough capacity to store program information as well as data. Von Neumann created the first modern order code and worked out the log­ ical design of an electronic com­ puter to execute it." Arthur W Burks. "From ENIAC to the Stored-Program Computer." in A History of Computing in the Twentieth Century, ed. N. Metropolis. J. Howlett. and Gian-Carlo Rota. New York. 1980.

The Computer Museum Report/Winter 1983 7 lAS Computer

John von Neumann left the EDVAC project to return to the Insti­ tute for Advanced Study, bringing with him Arthur Burks and Herman Goldstine. The three elaborated stored program computer design with the draft of "Preliminary Dis­ cussions of the Logical Design of an Electronic Computing Instrument." The lAS Computer introduced cially since these correspondents The lAS computer. asynchronous operation. For fast were mostly well established memory. it used the . and supported by facilities and a CRT memory developed at Man­ resources wholly lacking chez nous. chester University. The Williams We anticipated that any mistakes tube was used in serial mode at we might make in sending out Manchester; the lAS Computer piecewise the fruits of our efforts was first to use it in parallel. would thereby be exposed to possi­ One of the lAS Computer's bly hostile or competitive criticism. most significant contributions was leaving us no place to hide. but as a pattern for other computer proj­ in fact problems of this sort never ects. Julian Bigelow. who was the arose. and communication with all computer's chief designer. recounts: people at these laboratories was

• Another feature of the arrange­ entirely friendly and stimulating. H ment for financial support [by military agencies and the Atomic Julian Bigelow. "Computer Energy Commission] provided that. Development at LA.S. Princeton." as sections of the computer were in A History of Computing successfully developed. working in the Twentieth Century, drawings would be sent out by our ed. N. Metropolis. J. Howlett. and engineering group to five other de­ Gian-Carlo Rota. New York. 1980. velopment centers supported by similar government contracts. no­ tably to Los Alamos Laboratory. the University of Illinois. Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Argonne National Laboratory. and the Rand Corporation. For the first year or so this requirement that what we pro­ duced was in effect going to be duplicated at five distinguished laboratories elsewhere added to the anxieties of the lAS team. espe-

8 The Computer Museum Report/Winter 1983 EDSAC

·The EDSAC is based on prin­ ·We realized that building ciples first enunciated in an unpub­ the machine was only the start of lished report ••. in which ideas for the project: that there was a great a machine known as the EDVAC deal to be learnt about writing were set out•• programs, about how to use the Maurice Wilkes ·Programme machine for numerical analysis, Design for a High Speed Auto­ numerical calculation, and all the matic Calculating Machine,· Jour­ rest of it ..• As soon as we started nal of Scientific Instruments 1949. programming, we found to our sur­ prise that it wasn't as easy to get By 1949, a number of computers programs right as we had thought. were underway. Maurice Wilkes, Debugging had to be discovered. Director of Computation at Cam­ I can remember the exact instant bridge University, was the first to when I realized that a large part of complete a machine with the first my life from then on was going to Valves (the English equivalent of program running on May 6th of be spent in finding mistakes in my vacuum tubes) on the EDSAC mem­ that year. Maurice Wilkes started own programs.· ory driver. Maurice Wilkes is on the the project on his return from the Maurice Wilkes, Pioneer back cover holding the memory 1946 Moore School lectures on the Computer Lecture, The Computer driver's wiring. (On loan from the EDVAC design. Returning to Cam­ Museum, September 21. 1979 Science Museum, London.) bridge University, he set up the Computation Laboratory and started work on a stored program computer. Wilkes used existing technologies to get a machine up and running. His decision on mem- 0ry technology was characteristic of this design philosophy: ·We used the mercury delay-line because it was really the only thing you could count on at the time.• Maurice Wilkes, gallery talk, at The Computer Museum, July 7. 1982

EDSAC memory delay lines plugged into this tank cover. (On loan from the Science Museum, London.)

The Computer Museum Report/Winter 1983 9 Manchester University Mark I Graduate student Dai Edwards. A Williams tube set in the machine can be seen in the foreground. Computer work began at Manchester University in late 1946. F. C. Williams and Thomas Kilburn's first project was to build a new kind of memory, one that was large enough to store programs and data, but faster than the mercury . delay line. Several investigators, most notably Jan Rajchman of RCA, had been working on -ray tube memory. Williams and Kilburn solved a major drawback to the CRT, i.e., that the charged spots that represented bits only stayed on the screen for a few instants before dissipating. "Looking back, it is amazing how long it took to realize the fact that if one can read a rec­ ord once, then that is entirely suf­ ficient for storage, provided that what is read can be immediately rewritten in its original position." F. C. Williams and T. Kilburn, paper presented at Manchester University Computer Inaugural Conference, 1951

The Manchester group built an on two levels. The electronic store Williams tube memory was experimental prototype to test the was in the magnetism room and the borrowed by several computers of Williams tube. The "baby machine" magnetic store in the room above. the day. including the lAS Com­ ran its first program in June 1948. uansfers between the stores were puter. Julian Bigelow, head of The machine was expanded in sev­ achieved by setting switches, then engineering design for the lAS eral stages, and the full-scale com­ running to the bottom of the stairs project, recalled his visit to see puter was complete in late 1949. and shouting, 'We are ready to re­ the Manchester Computer in its Williams described its not-quite­ ceive track 17 on tube 1.' The pro­ early state: automatic operation: cess was repeated for tube 2 and "My visit to Manchester was the machine set working. When the "The two-level store [fast a delightful experience: F. C. machine wished to disgorge infor­ Williams tube and slow magnetic Williams was a true example of mation, it stopped and the reverse drum] I have referred to was indeed the British 'string and sealing wax' process was initiated." inventive genius, who had built a F. C. Williams, "Early Computers primitive electronic computer from at Manchester University. Radio surplus World War II radar parts and Electronic Engineer, 1975 strictly on his own inspiration- in the middle of which were two cathode-ray tubes storing digits in serial access mode-the 'Williams memory.' I can remember him ex­ plaining it to me, when there was a flash and a puff of smoke and everything went dead, but Wil­ liams was unperturbed, turned off the power, and with a handy solder­ ing iron, replaced a few dangling wires and resistors so that every­ thing was working again in a few minutes." Julian Bigelow, "Computer Development at LA.S. Princeton," in A History of Computing Williams tube memory. (Gift of thb in the Twentieth Century, ed. Department of , N. Metropolis, J. Howlett, and .) Gian-Carlo Rota, New York, 1980

10 The Computer Museum Report/Winter 1983 Pilot ACE

After the war, Britain's National Turing designed several ver­ Physical Laboratory began a com­ sions of a computer, but left the NPL puter project. Alan Turing, who had in 1947. An NPL team directed by J. written a paper on machine intelli­ H. Wilkinson built a pilot version of gence in 1936 and participated in the ACE, which embodied Turing's the Bletchley Park cryptoanalytic ef­ highly original design philosophy. fort. was the central figure in the Turing summed it up in a 1947 con­ early days of the NPL project. In the ference discussion: "We are trying words of the NPI:s director, "About to make greater use of the facilities twelve years ago, a young Cam­ available in the machine to do all bridge mathematician, by name kinds of different things simply by Turing, wrote a paper in which he programming rather than by the worked out by strict logical princi­ addition of extra apparatus. H ples how far a machine could be imagined which would imitate Discussion of "Transfer Between External and Internal Memory· processes of thought. It was an by C. Bradford Sheppard, Pro­ idealized machine he was consid­ ceedings of a Symposium on ering, and at that time it looked as Large-Scale Digital Calculat­ if it could never possibly be made. ing Machinery. , From Alan Turings ACE notebook. But the great developments in Mass., 1947. "In the ACE, we intend to represent wireless and electronic valves dur­ all numbers in the binary system .. ing the war have altered the pic­ Every number may be represented ture. Consequently. Turing. who is in the binary system by a sequence now on our staff. is showing us how of digits each of which is either a to make his idea come true. H zero or a one, and this provides us with a particularly simple method of Sir Charles Darwin, representing a number electrically." BBC broadcast, 1946 J. H. Wilkinson, Progress Report on the Automatic Computing En­ gine, Mathematics Division, Na­ tional Physical Laboratory, 1948.

z J + 5

.'~ ..'~ ' .: ...... iZ" ,',. . ' .- ',' •••••••• 1','1'. • ,'.-,' •••.•••• • •• •••• •••• •••. 'r. ,'c',,' r ••• · .~ ••••••• ... .;t •• " •••• ,'(' 1''''''1'' .,-(to.... tn,' t" ••••• ' . ", . ... . 'r .·.· c- . .. r •••0 . rr,. 01:'''. !p,." oc> ••••• 1:" ...... ••' ... .. " •••

" ,' .. .. . 1',.. , " - 1 " ' , ,' ••• •• ••• , . ... ,' , ' , , ' ," ••.• . ,"h' ••••• , ...... ' f: ', . ' ••• • •• ,'",' t' ''' ,' /I ,' co ... ,"'" (lU' ,,,,. .~ , ,, o,,~ ~(". 'HC. ,'0("' t' .. ," ;:' ,'1" " .,' ••••• , (" I t' ••••- , • of,' , ' , ,', .... " .~,. " ,' ''# 1'.

~ --: . ~~~ •• ~ .~.~o ih~~ D.C'~ I:'~ot:' t'~ ~v .r.'ro ~O ..~~ .,~.",~ t:'~t!~ C' Hr ~t"" ',tt" ~~r~ Otl ~· ~ "" "" "" ,,,, "" .,o.~ t:'.-••• t:'.~.".- ." '- ' •• ~' l'.'II" .t" • ...... ~o~· .• -.-.,•• " .... , .....

(,.,' ", t:'.: . to.~ (' .. ~,.t' .''''<~ I " "" "., ••• ~ •••41'''' ,,,, I", 11-" ,,,, ,,,, "" 'If ...... ,...... "' .~" ."", , .. II " , I .',:0' ...... ,. ..~ ~"o ...' CO •• • ,•• '1:' •• 1:'''-. , ..- ,. ~ ."t: • •~,.. •• , - ._ ,..,... eo •• I., • •• ,. .0,.. '.'-.0"01:'."......

OH • .,., "" Uti •• " ...... , ,'U Ilf' •• _._.

I", "" .... ~ .... .,... ~ ••_ ___ ~ ...... __. ... ,,,, II', II"~ "" "" 1111 "" "" •••• 1:'01>...... ,,,, 1111 '"' .... "...... , ...... "_...... " 'u, "" II"~ ,t.I' ,,,, 'U, ,,,, 'UI "" "" 'u, "" "" '"' '"' "', "" "" "" 1111 II"~ ...... -.. : ...... "" 1111 "" "" "." O~...... _ I ====:','.~ :::~ :~:~ :::: ! ~... !

....~ ,,,,"" "" "" "" "" "" lIn '"I I1111 "II 1111 '"' '"' ''', III' I'" ,'11 ,,,, ....!.," "" 'If' '''' ,." ,", .", II', ~...... 1 ,,,, I", ."..,.1,... ..,. i....,... '.... 110#. 'i, ! I

The Computer Museum Report/Winter 1983 II National Bureau 01 Standards SEAC and SWAC

Before any of the stored pro­ objective was to be a laboratory for established two standard debug­ gram computers had been com­ testing components and systems, ging techniques. After about two pleted, the National Bureau of since the Bureau of Standards hours a day of preventive mainte­ Standards decided to procure two might be called on to set standards nance, we would start a test pro­ computers for its own use. After relating to computers. gram running. Then we applied the reviewing university projects and SWAC (Standards Western 'stir with a wooden spoon' tech­ proposals from nascent computer Automatic Computer) was built at nique, which consisted of taking companies, Standards decided the Institute for Numerical Analysis something like a wooden spoon to build their own machines. in Los Angeles. Its main objective and going around the computer, was to be finished as soon as tapping everything you could see. possible, using as much already­ If the test program stopped, you developed technology as possible. had found something. When that Project leader wrote, test was finally passed, we applied "The plan was to build a computer the Bureau of Standards' 'standard with the minimum of circuit devel­ jump.' We were in a building with opment. Thus, the circuits in the wooden floors that were not diffi­ arithmetic unit were derived from cult to shake, so the standard jump Whirlwind circuits, and the devel­ consisted of jumping up in the air opment of the memory circuits de­ about 15 cm and coming down on pended heavily on the published the floor as hard as possible. If that work of F. C. Williams of Man­ test was passed, the machine was chester University." ready to tackle a computational program-and even more interest­ Harry D. Huskey. "The National ing bugs would show up." Bureau of Standards Western Automatic Computer (SWAC)," Ralph J. Slutz, "Memories of the in A History of Computing Bureau of Standards' SEAC," in A in the Twentieth Century; History of Computing in the 7Wen­ ed. N. Metropolis, J. Howlett, and tieth Century; ed. N. Metropolis, J. Gian-Carlo Rota, New York, 1980 Howlett, and Gian-Carlo Rota, New York, 1980

SEAC was the first computer to use all-diode logic, pointing the SEAC was the first of stored program computer to be completed way for the solid-state computers of later years. Diodes were much in the United States, followed shortly by SWAC. With the first SEAC console. more reliable than vacuum tubes. The SEAC, however, required a English computers, the Standards The SEAC (Standards Eastern good deal of maintenance, like all computers reassured workers on Automatic Computer), built in computers of the day: "We actually other contemporary computer proj­ Washington, had two aims. One had much more trouble from bad ects of their feasibility. was to be operational as soon as solder joints than we ever had from possible to run programs for the vacuum tubes, diodes, or delay Bureau of Standards. The second lines. I can well remember that we

SWAC block diagram.

12 The Computer Museum Report/Winter 1983 Whirlwind

In 1944. the Massachusetts An elaborate system of mar­ 25 microseconds) thus increasing Institute of Technology contracted ginal checking identified hardware the speed of computer operation. - with the Navy to build a universal problems before they affected com­ M.1. T. Project Whirlwind. aircraft flight simulator/trainer. putational accuracy. Summary Report #35. 1953. p. 33. Jay Forrester of the M.l. T. Servo­ Institute Archives and Special mechanisms Lab became director At the same time. new military Collections. M.I. T. Libraries. of the project. By 1945. the original applications which demanded Cambridge. MA. conception of an analog machine higher-than-ever reliability were was dropped. and the Navy ap- emerging. The Cold War was at its Whirlwind was thus the first

proved construction of a digital height. and the U.S. military was full-scale computer to run on core computer in 1946. A general-pur­ on guard against atomic attack. memory. the mainstay of primary pose computer could take care of Whirlwind. funded by the Office memories until the 1970s. not only flight simulation calcula­ of Naval Research and then by the tions. but a variety of other scien­ Air Force. was part of the defense tific and engineering applications. network; the production version Whirlwind was completed in of the Whirlwind II design. named stages; the entire central machine ANIFSQ-7, was to become part of was working in 1951. the SAGE System. Project members. The most important legacy of dissatisfied with CRT memory per­ the flight-simulator concept was formance. researched a substitute. Whirlwind's real-time design. To Several researchers in the late allow the instantaneous response . including Jay Forrester. con­ needed for flight simulation. Whirl­ ceived the idea of using magnetic wind originally used its own ver­ cores for computer memory. Wil­ sion of cathode-ray tube memory. at liam Papian of Project Whirlwind that time the fastest available type cited one of these efforts. Harvard's of memory. It was also. in the words "Static Magnetic Delay Line." in an of a 1952 project summary report. internal memo. Core memory was -the most important factor affect­ installed on Whirlwind in the sum­ ing reliability of the mer of 1953. UMagnetic-Core Storage system.- has two big advantages: (1) greater reliability with a consequent reduc­ M.1. T. Project Whirlwind. Summary Report #31. 1952. p. 6. tion in maintenance time devoted Institute. Archives and Special to storage: (2) shorter access time Collections. M.1. T. Libraries. (core access time is 9 microseconds: Cambridge. MA. tube access time is approximately

' b e Computer Museum Report/Winter 1983 13 The Pioneer Computers Comparative Statistics

Start up Completion Program Word length Bell Labs Model I 1939 10/39 4 function, 8 digits George Stibitz at complex Bell Telephone arithmetic Laboratories calculator Zuse Z3 1939 1941 punched film 22 bits, KonradZuse flt. pt. ABC 12/37 12/39 fixed, 50 bits John Vincent Atanasoff prototype equation and Clifford Berry at 1942 solver Iowa State University IBM ASCC 1937 8/44 punched tape, 23 digits Harvard Mark I function table, also double plugboard precision Colossus (Mark I & II) 1943 12/43 (I) telephone 5 bit Bletchley Park 5/44 (II) plugboard (I), characters switches (II)

ENIAC 1943 2/46 plugboard, 10 digits Moore SchooL switches University of Pennsylvania EDVAC 1144 1951 stored 44 Moore SchooL program University of Pennsylvania computer lAS Computer 6/46 7/51 40 Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University EDSAC 10/46 5/49 36 Maurice Wilkes at Cambridge University MANCHESTER U. MARK I 1947 6/48 40 Manchester University prototype 7/49 PILOT ACE 10/48 5/50 32 National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, England SEAC 6/48 5/50 45 National Bureau of Standards SWAC 1149 7/50 41 National Bureau of Standards Institute for Numerical Analysis Whirlwind 1945 1951 16 Servomechanisms Laboratory. MIT

In many cases, the material in this table was compiled from data sheets filled out by a person who worked on the machine. In the literature conflicting published data was found. The Museum requests corrections to this table and will keep the most accurate updated version on file.

14 The Computer Museum Report/Winter 1983 Memory size Add time Memory type I/O Technology Floor space (words) [secondary] est. sq. ft. 4 working 6s for none Teletype 450 relays 50 registers complex x or paper tape (4 products)

64 2s relays punched film. 2600 relays 100 keyboard. lights 2 x (30 32 in Is drum of cards vacuum tubes 12.5 +2 spare)

72 counters . 3s relays. paper tape. relays . 51ft 60 switches switches cards. motor-driven long. typewriters cam. clock 19. room SOO .2ms 5 hole paper photo-electric 1500 vacuum 200 (II) characters tape. paper tape. tubes. relays (I) plugboard. switches. lights 2400 vacuum tubes keys & cords 800 relays (II) 20 accumulators. .2ms counter cards. lights. 18.000 1.000 312 function tubes. switches. vacuum tubes. table relays. plugs 1500 relays switches 1024 . 85ms delay lines . paper tape 3.500 400 (8 x 128) [magnetic vacuum tubes. drum (1953)] 7. 000 diodes 1024 .09ms crt Teletype 2.600 100 vacuum tubes

512 l.4ms delay lines paper tape. 3.000 med. room teleprinter vacuum tubes

128 + l.8ms crt. paper tape. 1.300 med. room 1024 [magnetic teleprinter. vacuum tubes drum] switches 352 .54ms delay lines cards 800 12 vacuum tubes

512 + .86ms crt. delay paper tape 1.290 150 512 lines. [magnetic Teletype vacuum tubes. tape & wire] 15.800 diodes 256 .064ms crt. cards. 2.000 60 magnetic drum paper tape vacuum tubes 2.500 diodes

2048 .05ms crt. crt. 4.500 3.100 core (1953). paper tape. vacuum tubes. 19. rooms [magnetic magnetic tape 14.800 diodes drum & tape]

Warning: Use of any data on this table without prior checking with the Museum may lead to the proliferation of inaccuracies.

The Computer Museum Report/Winter 1983 15 AcIcIitional Source Material

Primary source books with ex­ Bell Telephone Laboratories Model I National Museum of American History. in the SEAC." Mathematical Tables and Other Aids to Computation 5. 1951. cellent bibliographies. guiding the George R Stibitz. videotape of lecture at Smithsonian Institution. Washington. reader to great numbers of primary The Computer Museum. 1980. D.C. Ernest F. Ainsworth. "Operational Experi­ ence with SEAC. - Proceedings of the and secondary sources: George Robert Stibitz papers. Dartmouth Danald Eadie. "EDVAC College . Phase System of Magnetic Recording. " Joint AIEE-IRE-ACM Computer Confer­ Electrical Engineering 72. 1953. ence. New York. December 10-12. 1952. Archives. Bell Telephone Laboratories. C. Gordon Bell and . S. E. Gluck. "The Electronic Discrete S. Greenwald. "SEAC Input-Output "Calculating Computer Structures: Readings and G.R Stibitz. With Telephone Variable Computer." Electrical Engineer­ System." Proceedings of the Joint Examples. New York. 197!. Equipment. " Paper presented at Mathe­ ing 72. 1953. AIEE-IRE-ACM Computer Conference. meeting. B. V. Bowden. Editor. Faster than matical Association of America New York. December 10-12. 1952. Thought. A Symposium on Digital Hanover. N.H .. 1940. lAS Computer Ruth C. Haueter. "Auxiliary Equipment Computing Machines. New York. 1966. Zuse ZI. Z3 The lAS Computer is on exhibit at the to SEAC Input-Output." Proceedings of N. Metropolis. J. Howlett. and National Museum of American History. the Joint AIEE-IRE-ACM Computer Con­ A replica of the Z3 is on exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution. Washington. Gian-Carlo Rota. Editors. A History Deutsches Museum. . ference. New York. December 10-12. of Computing in the Twentieth Century. D.C. 1952. Konrad Zuse. videotape of lecture at The Mathematics and Natural Sciences New York. 1980. Computer Museum. 198!. James L. Pike. "Input-Output Devices Library. Institute for Advanced Study. Used with SEAC. - Proceedings of the Brian Randell. Editor. The Origins of Calculator for Technical and K. Zuse. Princeton. N.J. Joint AIEE-IRE-ACM Computer Confer­ Digital Computers. Selected Papers. Scientific Calculations Designed Accord­ Archives. Division of Mathematics. ence. New York . December 10-12. 1952. Third Edition. Berlin. 1982. ing to a Theoretical Plan. Distributed National Museum of American History. Sidney Greenwald. RC. Haueter. and by the Office of the Publication Board. Smithsonian Institution. Washington. Department of Commerce. Washington. S.N. Alexander. "SEAC." Proceedings D.C. (n.d .). D.C. of the IRE 41. 1953. ABC EDSAC NBSSWAC A simplified model of the Atanasolf­ Parts of the EDSAC are on exhibit at Parts of the SWAC are on exhibit at the Berry Computer built by J. v. Atanasolf The Computer Museum. National Bureau of Standards Museum is on exhibit at The Computer Museum. M. V. Wilkes. videotape of lecture at The and the Museum of Science and Industry. Los Angeles. J.v. Atanasolf. videotape of lecture at The Computer Museum. 1979. Computer Museum. 1980. "The EDSAC Film." Produced by Cam­ Library Division. National Bureau of Standards. Washington. D.C. Archives. Division of Mathematics. bridge University Mathematics Labora­ National Museum of American History. tory. 1951 ; with introduction and narration Archives. Division of Mathematics. Smithsonian Institution. Washington. by M. V. Wilkes. 1976. National Museum of American History. D.C. M. V Wilkes and W. Renwick. "An Smithsonian Institution. Washington. Ultrasonic Memory Unit for the EDSAC." D.C. IBM ASCC (Harvard Mark I) Electronic Engineering 20. 1948. H. D. Huskey. "Characteristics of the Part of the IBM ASCC is on exhibit at the Institute for Numerical Analysis Com­ Harvard Computation Laboratory. Manchester University Mark I puter." Mathematical Tables and Other Records of the Computation Laboratory. Parts of the Manchester University Mark I Aids to Consultation 4. 1950. University Archives. Harvard University. are on exhibit at Manchester University. H. D. Huskey. R Thorensen. B. f Cambridge. Mass. D.B.G. Edwards. videotape of lecture at Ambrosio. and E. G. Yowell. "The Archives. Division of Mathematics. The Computer Museum. 198!. SWAG-Design Features and Operating National Museum of American History. f C. Williams and T Kilburn. "A Storage Experience." Proceedings of the IRE Smithsonian Institution. Washington. System for Use with Binary Digital 41. 1953. Computing Machines." Proceedings D.C. Whirlwind of the lEE 96. part 2. 1949. Colossus Parts of Whirlwind are on exhibit at the f C. Williams. T Kilburn. and G. C. National Museum of American History. T H. Flowers. videotape of lecture at Tootill. "Universal High-Speed Digital The Computer Museum. 198!. Smithsonian Institution. Washington. Computers: A Small-Scale Experimental D.C .. and The Computer Museum. See also Randell. Machine." Proceedings of the lEE 98. part 2. 195!. Jay Forrester. videotape of lecture at The ENIAC Computer Museum. 1980. Parts of the ENIAC are on exhibit Pilot ACE "See It Now: Interview with Whirlwind." at the University of Michigan. the The Pilot ACE is on exhibit at the Science Excerpt from Edward R Murrow's CBS National Museum of American History. Museum. London. news program. 1951. Smithsonian Institution. and at The J. H. Wilkinson. videotape of lecture at "Making Electrons Count." Film Computer Museum. The Computer Museum. 198!. produced by MIT. 1953. J. G. Brainerd. videotape of lecture at Archives. National Physical Laboratory. MIT Servomechanisms Laboratory The Computer Museum. 198!. Teddington. England. Technical Publications File. 1944-1968. Arthur C. Burks. videotape of lecture at E. A. Newman. D. O. Clayden. and (AC-34); MIT Digital Computer labora­ The Computer Museum. 1982. M. A. Wright. "The Mercury-Delay-Line tory Records. 1944-1959 (80-36); and Rf Clippinger. audiotape of lecture at Storage System of the ACE Pilot Model Magnetic Core Memory Records. The Computer Museum. 1982. Electronic Computer." Proceedings of the 1932-1977 (MC-140). Institute Archives "The ENIAC Film. " Footage of the ENIAC lEE 100. part 2. 1953. and Special Collections. M.I.T Libraries. Cambridge. Mass. operating in 1946. with introduction and NBSSEAC narration by Arthur Burks. Videotape Corporate Archives. MITRE Corporation. produced by Arthur Burks and The Parts of the SEAC are on exhibit at the Bedford. Mass. Computer Museum. 1982. National Bureau of Standards Museum. Archives. Division of Mathematics. ENIAC Archives. Moore School of Library Division. National Bureau of National Museum of American History. Electrical Engineering. University of Standards. Washington. D.C. Smithsonian Institution. Washington. Pennsylvania. Philadelphia. Archives. Division of Mathematics. D.C. Archives. Division of Mathematics. National Museum of American History. S. H. Dodd. H. K1emperer. and P. Youtz. National Museum of American History. Smithsonian Institution. Washington. "Electrostatic . - Electrical Smithsonian Institution. Washington. D.C. Engineering 69. 1950. D.C. National Bureau of Standards. MDL Jay W. Forrester. "Digital Information ENIAC Trial Records. United States Dis­ Stalf. "The Incorporation of Storage in Three Dimensions Using trict Court. District of Minnesota. Fourth into a Complete Problem on the NBS Magnetic Core." Journal of Applied Division: . Inc. v. Sperry Rand Eastern Automatic Computer." Physics 22. 1951. Corp. et a!.. No. 4-67 Civ. 138. decided Mathematical Tables and Other Aids R R Everett. "The Whirlwind I Com­ October 19. 1973. to Computation 4. 1950. puter. " Electrical Engineering 71. 1952. f Robert Michael. "Tube Failures in National Bureau of Standards. Electronic William N. Papian. "A Coincident­ ENIAC." Electronics 20. 1947. Laboratory Staf!, "The Operating Char­ Current Magnetic for H. W. Spence. "Systematization of Tube acteristics of the SEAC." Mathematical the Storage of Digital Information." Surveillance in Large Scale Computers." Tables and Other Aids to Computation 4. Proceedings of the IRE 40. 1952. Electrical Engineering 70. 195!. 1950. William N. Papian. "The MIT Magnetic­ S. N. Alexander. "The National Bureau Core Memory. " Proceedings of the Joint EDVAC of Standards Eastern Automatic lRE-AIEE-ACM Computer Conference. EDVAC Archives. Moore School of Engi­ Computer. " Proceedings. Joint AlEE-IRE Washington. D.C .. 1953. neering. University of Pennsylvania. Computer Conference. Philadelphia. J. w. Forrester. "Multicoordinate Digital Philadelphia. Pa .. 195!. Information Storage Device." U.S. Patent Archives. Division of Mathematics. Alan L. Leiner. "Provisions for Expansion 2.736.880. issued February 28. 1956.

16 The Computer Museum Report/Winter 1983 CORPORATE FOUNDERS Donating $2,500 or more:

Benton and Bowles Bolt, Beranek and Newman SYMPOSIUM ON ARCIUVING Robert Cipriani Associates THE HISTORY OF COMPUTING Clint Clemens ComputerWorld Control Data Corporation Coopers and Lybrand, Boston On May 5 and 6,1983, the Museum will host a Data General symposium that addresses questions on archiv­ Digital Equipment Corporation ing the history of information processing. The General Systems Group, Inc. purpose is to share information about activities Intel Corporation MITRE Corporation planned and underway at the museum, insti­ Richard Reno tutes, libraries, government agencies, corpora­ Schlumberger Foundation tions, universities, and individuals. Tobin Vending Service Attendance will be limited in order to gain a broad cross-section of information. Anyone in­ NEW INDIVIDUAL terested should contact Chris Rudomin at The FOUNDERS: Computer Museum, (617) 467-7570. The Museum welcomes the follow­ ing who join the first 86 individual founders by donating $250 or more. Harlan and Lois Anderson J. Weldon Bellville Ted Bonn James R. Burley Ed Fredkin Neil Freeman Herbert R. J. Grosch Christoph Horstmann Grace Hopper Ernest M. Huber Annual Anniversary on the Les Lazar Dinner and Lecture Harvard Mark I Theodore C.M. Lo, M.D. May 5,1983 April 14, 1983 William H. Long Richard Davis Mallery Gregory L. Nelson Walter I. Nissen, Jr. John Ousterhout WATCH TlDS SPACE Ted C. Park Jean-Claude Peterschmitt FOR THE ANNOUNCE· Robert W. Puffer III MENT OF THE SPRING Dorothy E. Rowe LECTURE SERIES Donald G. Seydel John E Shoch William D. & Carole K. Strecker IN THE NEXT REPORT. Thomas A. Susic Dr. Stephen A. Szygenda John Tartar Professor DVR Vithal 0000000000000001 A newsbrief of the collection

Two important loans were revealed during Maurice Wilkes' recent gal­ lery talk on his reminiscences of early computing: a mercury mem­ ory tank cover and memory driver from Cambridge University's EDSAC. The memory driver (pic­ tured) was used on the mercury . Wilkes was the Director of Computation at Cam­ bridge, where the EDSAC ran its first program in May of 1949. The memory driver and the mercury memory tank cover, on loan from the Science Museum, London, are exhibited on the Pioneer Computer Timeline. Dear Members. Friends and Newcomers to The Computer Museum: December 23,1982, marks the Museum's first birthday as an independent non-profit charitable foundation. During this year the Museum has put together a number of programs that will serve its members. The number of exhibition galleries is growing with a new one opening in the spring. The pioneer lecture series, that will feature Grace Hopper on Aprill4th, is supplemented with spring and fall Sunday afternoon talks, called "Bits and Bites". A library and photo archive is available for use by the members, and our Museum store is growing in size and diversity. This is our first catalog sampling a variety of items that can be found in the Museum shop itself. We hope that you will enjoy our offering of materials selected by Museum Members for Museum Mem­ bers. If you are not already a Member, we hope that you will consider joining so that you can take ad­ vantage of the 10010 Museum Membership discount and all the Museum has to offer. • Subscription to our quarterly, The Computer Museum Report. • Invitations to events and openings. • Announcements of lectures, seminars and excursions. • Use of the library and photo archives.

C~ r Gwe:n Bell 9--;5:ft-- Dlrector

P.S. I want to thank you for your purchases from this catalogue. They help support the exhibitions and programs of The Computer Museum. Identity with the Museum Gwen Bell wears her INTEL'75 0785 Stickpin with basic The Museum's logo-the core black. Her mother and daughter memory-has been adapted into also wear theirs just because they ties and scarfs. And for the purist look nice. the Museum's "flea market" has Order: INPIN $12.95 real core planes. Four inch square 64 x 64 Core Planes. Perfect for mount­ ing on the office wall, use with overhead projectors, panning for gold, and as a special gift for the computer buff. Order: CORE $4.75 Classy 27 inch square 7 x 7 core plane Scarl. With a grey background, the white cores provide an abstract pattern bound to gain compliments from the "designer" and "computer" crowd. Business Manager David Bromfield Order: SCA83 $17.50 would not be caught without his Communications. Your favor­ Discovering Computers by Chip Tie Tack with its sturdy ite animals illustrate this poster Mark Frank. The best we've found chain that hooks into the button showing virtually every kind of for junior high level with no back­ Classic Navy Blue Tie hole to prevent slipping. communication. Designed at the ground in computers, math or with Silver Woven Cores. Order: TITAC $10.00 Capitol Children's Museum, we science. 96 pages with 104 color Both tie and the core design thought it would be a treat for all illustrations and photographs. are produced by a Jacquard-like the big computer kids as well. Order: FRA8 $9.95 method with the pattern coded on Order: COM82 $4.00 tapes controlling the weaving. This announcement precedes delivery. SEE Calculators. The Pascal in the spirit of the industry! What is a Computer? by Adder is reproduced in see-through Order: TIE83 $15.00 Marion Ball is a delightfully illus­ lucite suitable for use with over­ trated book for the primary school heads and explaining the mechan­ ClOP JEWELRY Individually age. It's also an introduction into ical principles for addition invented handmade from exquisite indus­ computer history with explanations by Pascal in 1642. Also useful for trially produced integrated circuits. of cards and core memory. Soft illustrating complement arithmetic. Valley Genealogy. cover, 92 pages. Order: SEE79 $3.75 A 17 x 34 inch poster traces the Order: BAL72 $10.00 evolution of silicon valley's The New Alchemists by people and companies from 1946 Dirk Hanson is a quick, easily to 1981. The information is as rich understood insightful shortcut to and dense as a chip. understanding the electronics cul­ Order: SEM81 $5.00 ture in California. But the first four chapters on history just don't come up to snuff. Chocolate Calculato~ Four Order: HAN82 $15.95 ounces of solid chocolate made The Computer Museum by a small company in Arlington, One Iron Way Massachusetts, who were awarded Gold Chip Earrings are our Marlboro, Massachusetts 01752 the distinction of best chocolate in Exhibit Coordinator, Jamie Parker's Boston by Boston Magazine. Useful standard wear in the galleries-at The Computer Museum is open to the public Sunday gift for people who complain that The Computer Museum and all the they have too many things already. other museums she loves to visit. through Friday; 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm. There is no charge Order: CH083 $4.00 (Pierced ears only.) for admission. Order: CHEAR $16.50 For more information call 617-467-4036. Early Scientilic Instru­ ments by Nigel Hawkes. 73 full color illustrations beautifully illus­ trate the development of scientific knowledge, vividly demonstrating the technical ingenuity of former times. Hard bound, 164 pages. Order: HAW81 $30.00 Charles Babbage. Pioneer Herman Hollerith: Forgot­ ollhe Computer by Anthony ten Giant ollnlormation The Clockwork Universe Hyman. Written while holding the Processing by Geoffrey Aus­ The Enigma War by rozef Alistair Home fellowship at St. An­ trian is "a major contribution to edited by Klaus Maurice and Otto Garlinski recounts in great detail Mayr. Produced jointly by the tony's College. Oxford, Hyman tells American scientific, technological. the development and perfection Smithsonian and Bayerisches Na­ Babbage's story like it is. Not only business, and social history," I. Ber­ of the machine to decipher is it well written, but also includes nard Cohen. Richly illustrated. tional-museum, the book contains the "Enigma" code. 211 pages, detailed descriptions of the finest a listing of all the published works well-documented. 416 pp. Hard- Hardbound. clocks, automata, and mechanical of Charles Babbage, 39 illustration cover. celestial globes from the period Order: GAR80 $14.95 plates. and a thorough index. 287 Order: AUS82 $19.95 1550-1650. Hard bound, 322 pages, pages, hard bound. by Gordon Welchman 200 illustrations and technical Hut Six Order: HYM82 $25.00 drawings. presents a very personal history of The Computer Establish­ Order: MAU80 $35.00 the events leading up to the code­ breaking with insights into the per­ ment by Katharine Davis Fishman sonalities involved in the project. presents a splendid biographical An Age 01 Innovation: 326 pages, Hardbound. study of the major computer corpo­ Order: WEL82 $12.95 rations and their chief executive of­ The World 01 Electronics. ficers. Hardcover. 468 pages. 1930-2000 by the editors of Order: FIS81 $20.95 Electronics. 1981. A coffee-table book of electronics-with an accu­ rate and interestingly written his­ The Soul 01 a New tory. Hardbound, fully illustrated. Order: ELE81 $18.50 Machine by Tracy Kidder provides a human story of the tre- mendous effort needed in the b·rth"",>, ___~ of a new computer. Limited n ber, hardbo nd auttpglJ.lJj~ff 1983 Calendar: The the calendar also includes the Computer Era. Illustrated dates of historic computing events. with photos of contemporary com­ 9 X 12 folded, spiral bound, heavy THE COMPUTER MUSEUM ORDER FORM puting systems and equivalents coated paper. from the early age of computing, Order: YEA83 $6.95. Description/Title Item Code Price Each No. Price I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Less Members' 10"10 discount

SUBTOTAL

Mass. residents add 5% sales tax

Shipping Charge: $1 per item up to 5 items Museum membership: $ 25 individual member $125 corporate member $250 individual founder

TOTAL ENCLOSE CHECK OR INCLUDE MASTERCARD OR VISA NUMBER AND EXPIRATION DATE . NO SHIPMENTS WILL Astro Circuit Corp .• BE MADE WITHOUT RECEIPT OF PAYMENT. magnetostrictive delay line The Computer Museum D Check enclosed D MasterCard D VISA The Museum has acquired a One Iron Way limited supply of these historic se­ Card Number: Marlboro, Massachusetts 01 752 rial memory devices, each with a The Museum Flea Expiration Date: unique serial number. The 800-bit delay line is packaged in a 4 x 5 Market SHIP ORDER TO: flat metal box suitable for sitting Members are encouraged to place NAME on a coffee table next to one of artifacts in the flea market: one these books, mounting on the wall, person's junk is another's treasure. ADDRESS or to enhance your collection of computer artifacts. Early comptometers, non-dial Order: DEL58 $15.00 telephones, toy typewriters, TELEPHONE NO. early books on engineering and math, old manuals, modules, PDP·8 Module. Most ad­ D Please send me a listing of Please give name and address for each vanced second generation, tran­ and all kinds of items of interest current items for sale. to the collector of early compu­ item to be shipped to an address other sistor logic (that the naked eye than your own. can see), module from the first ting equipment and books have Gift membership (and classic) mini. Not guaran­ been included. Gift item code teed to work. Send to Send to Order: PDP8M $1.75 Items can be placed on consign­ ment or can be donated with the Address Address appropriate tax deduction taken by the donor. The Museum has the City State Zip City State Zip right to accept or reject any item. Enclose card from Enclose card from

Thank you for your order. Your purchases help support the Museum.