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Z3 Computer Completed
The Z3, an early computer built by German engineer Konrad Zuse working in complete isolation from developments elsewhere, uses 2,300 relays, performs floating point binary arithmetic, and has a 22-bit word length. The Z3 was used for aerodynamic calculations but was destroyed in a bombing raid on Berlin in late 1943. Zuse later supervised a reconstruction of the Z3 in the 1960s, which is currently on display at the Deutsches Museum in Munich. -
Bell Labs Relay Interpolator Completed
Bell Laboratories designed a machine to assist in testing its M-9 gun director, a type of analog computer that aims large guns to their targets. Mathematician George Stibitz recommended using a relay-based calculator for the project. Thus the Relay Interpolator, later called the Bell Labs Model II was born. The Relay Interpolator used 440 relays, and being programmable by paper tape, was used for other applications following the war. -
"Memex" Concept
With side-by-side screens, the Memex desk is meant to let a user compare and create links between microfilm documents, somewhat like today’s clickable Web links and bookmarks. While only an imaginary machine, the concept and glimpse at a potential future was publicized in The Atlantic and Life. -
Manchester Mark I Williams-Kilburn Tube
Freddie Williams and Tom Kilburn develop the Williams-Kilburn tube. This ancestor to modern RAM was the first high-speed, entirely electronic memory. It used a cathode ray tube (similar to an analog TV picture tube) to store bits as dots on the screen’s surface. Each dot lasted a fraction of a second before fading so the information was constantly refreshed. Information was read by a metal pickup plate that would detect a change in electrical charge. -
First Computer Program Runs
Frederic Williams, Tom Kilburn, along with Geoff Toothill develop the Small-Scale Experimental Machine (SSEM), also known as the Manchester "Baby" which was built to test the Williams Tube – which was the first high-speed electronic random access memory for computers. Their first program contained seventeen instructions and was written by Kilburn. It ran on June 21st, 1948. This was the first program in history to run on a digital, electronic, stored-program computer.
