Information Technology in Italy: The Origins and the Early Years (1954 - 1965) Corrado Bonfanti Associazione Italiana per l’Informatica ed il Calcolo Automatico (AICA), Italy
[email protected] Abstract: Narration will be mainly focused on the origin, course and aftermath of four far-reaching initiatives that bloomed in Italy at almost the same time, in a few months encompassing 1954 and 1955; a choice which implies unfair omission of other worthwhile but less influential happenings. Keywords: Italian computers, information technology, computer relics. 1. Introduction: ‘Make’ or ‘Buy’ Until 1954, few Italian mathematicians and engineers – no more than a dozen – enjoyed the opportunity of some insight and acquaintance with stored-program electronic computers, on the occasion of study missions at the most renowned pioneering installations in England and especially in the United States; but none of such technological marvels was still running in Italy. Two different approaches – ‘make’ or ‘buy’ – were viable to fill the gap and both were actually pursued1. The ‘buy’ approach. - The Polytechnic University of Milano acquired, in USA, a CRC 102-A computer to equip the just then set up Centro di Calcoli Numerici. The machine was running by October 1954 and the Centre officially opened some months later. - The Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) bought in England a Ferranti Mark I* for the Istituto Nazionale per le Applicazioni del Calcolo (INAC). The FINAC (Ferranti-INAC) machine arrived at Roma in November 1954 and completed acceptance test on June 1955. The ‘make’ approach. - The University of Pisa established its Centro Studi Calcolatrici Elettroniche (CSCE) with the aim of designing and building the Calcolatrice Elettronica Pisana (CEP) scientific computer.