Panel 1 unit from EDSAC1, 1946-1958

Made:
1946-1958 in University of Cambridge
designer:
Maurice Wilkes
An example of the unit known as panel 1 from the electronic An example of the unit known as panel 1 from the electronic An example of the unit known as panel 1 from the electronic

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Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-SA 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print 

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License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

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Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-SA 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print 

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License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

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An example of the unit known as panel 1 from the electronic
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

An example of the unit known as panel 1 from the electronic
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

An example of the unit known as panel 1 from the electronic
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

An example of the unit known as panel 1 from the electronic computer EDSAC 1, designed by Maurice Wilkes and built at the University of Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory, Cambridge, England, 1946-1958.

EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator) was considered to be the world's first fully operational and practical stored program computer. It was built in the Cambridge University Mathematics Laboratory, and contained 3,000 valves arranged on 12 racks, using tubes of mercury for memory. Delay lines were developed for radar during the Second World War, then adapted to be used in early computers. Programs were fed into the machine using punched paper tape, which generated pulses that the computer used to store the program and perform the desired calculation. EDSAC occupied a room of four by five metres. It ran its first program on 6 May 1949. The Lyons Electronic Office (LEO) was based on the EDSAC 1.

Details

Category:
Computing & Data Processing
Object Number:
1966-233
Materials:
metal (unknown), glass, plastic (unidentified) and resin (unidentified)
Measurements:
overall: 140 mm x 766 mm x 140 mm, 7.37 kg
type:
computer equipment
credit:
Donated by Dr. Maurice Wilkes