old photos of the first generation of computers
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Old photos of the first generation of computersTRANSCRIPT
Old Photos of the First Generation of Computers
Computers, and technology in general, have come a long way in today’s world. The
modern world is actually shaped and defined through the usage of computers, those
neat little gadgets that do the hard work for you. Modern computers are also perfectly
capable of entertaining, organizing, reminding, even surprising you. That wasn’t always
the case. Here is glimpse of the history of computers and their humble beginnings.
These computers may not have been as powerful as modern computers, but they’re old
black and white photos are intriguing nevertheless. If for no other reason, then because
those old computers were capable of filling a whole room with their robust circuitry.
Enjoy these old photos of the first generation of computers.
AVIDAC, Argonne’s first digital computer, began operation in January 1953. It was
built by the Physics Division for $250,000. Pictured is pioneer Argonne computer
scientist Jean F. Hall.
A press conference for what is considered the first computer, the Electronic Numerical
Integrator and Calculator (ENIAC), was held at the University of Pennsylvania on
February 1, 1946. The machine (shown here with a technician) took up an entire room,
weighed 30 tons and used more than 18,000 vacuum tubes to perform functions such as
counting to 5,000 in one second. ENIAC, costing $450,000, was designed by the U.S.
Army during World War II to make artillery calculations. The development of ENIAC
paved the way for modern computer technology–but even today’s average calculator
possesses more computing power than ENIAC did.
The first ever computer in Latvia was developed and made at the start-up Institute of
Electronics and Computer Science in early sixties. No computers were made industrially
in USSR at that time. Therefore successful completion of that project certainly
represented a significant achievement. Built on a lot of vacuum tubes, the computer
actually worked well and was used for supporting research activities for several years
till the time when it became possible to replace it by a more powerful industrially made
computer.
The CSIRAC was Australia’s first computer. The name stands for CSIR originally
stood for “Council for Scientific and Industrial Research”. This name was in effect from
1926 to 1949.
A man and woman working at a Ferranti Pegasus computer. This computer was a
classic 1950s/1960s mainframe installation, taking up the majority of space in a room.
The computer history at NTNU is much older than the computer departments. The very
first computer at NTNU was called DIANA, or DIfferential ANAlysator. This was an
analog electronic computer built by Jens Glad Balchen and the Division of Cybernetics
in the years between 1952 and 1955.
Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale, CA. A computer manufacturer founded in 1970 by
Dr. Gene Amdahl, chief architect of the IBM System/360. In 1975, Amdahl installed its
first IBM-compatible mainframe, the 470/V6. In 1979, Amdahl left the company he
founded to form Trilogy, which tried without success to make the world’s largest chip
based on wafer scale integration.
First ever apple computer running windows. This is an Apple II with a monochrome
screen and PC emulator hardware installed. The board was called the 88 Card, “the
only fully functional 8088 processor for the Apple II personcal computer.
First hard disk The rotating drum technology allowed ERA to deliver the world’s first
production stored-program computer (ATLAS – ERA 1101) to a customer site in
October 1950. The engineers making the installation delivery to the National Security
Agency predecessor were Frank Mullaney and Jack Hill. As shown in the photo below,
these drum products came in various sizes. They were first used in several classified
processors, then in the early 1100 computer series and the UNIVAC SS-80 and SS-90
computers. Dr. Cohen and Sid Rubens are credited with patenting the rotating
magnetic drum. The drum development engineers and management shown in this early
50’s photo, left to right are: William Keye, Arnold Hendrickson, Robert Perking, Frank
Mullaney, Dr. Arnold Cohen, and John ‘Jack’ Hill.
IBM 701. IBM’s first computer. Introduced in 1952, the 701 was designed for scientific
work and research, which later led to the development of the high-level FORTRAN
language. Nineteen machines were built, a record volume for such a machine in that
era. Its internal memory contained 2,048 36-bit words of electrostatic memory and
8,192 words of magnetic drum memory (see early memories). It used magnetic tapes for
storage and was one of the first machines to use plastic-based tapes instead of metal
tapes. See IBM 650 and IBM 1401. At General Electric’s Aircraft Jet Engine Plant in
Evendale, Ohio, this 1954 photo shows GE manager Herbert Grosch explaining the 701
to Ronald Reagan. Reagan was a TV personality for GE at the time. (Image courtesy of
International Business Machines Corporation. Unauthorized use not permitted.)