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The Complex Number Calculator (CNC) is completed
In 1940, Stibitz demonstrated the CNC at an American Mathematical Society conference held at Dartmouth College. Stibitz stunned the group by performing calculations remotely on the CNC (located in New York City) using a Teletype terminal connected via to New York over special telephone lines. This is likely the first example of remote access computing.
Sources:
https://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/1940/#169ebbe2ad45559efbc6eb357208b387 -
Konrad Zuse finishes the Z3 Computer.
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.
Sources:
https://www.sutori.com/item/konrad-zuse-finishes-the-z3-computer-1941-konrad-zuse-finishes-the-z3-which-u -
The Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) is completed.
After successfully demonstrating a proof-of-concept prototype in 1939, Professor John Vincent Atanasoff receives funds to build a full-scale machine at Iowa State College (now University). The machine was designed and built by Atanasoff and graduate student Clifford Berry between 1939 and 1942.
sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atanasoff%E2%80%93Berry_computer -
Bell Labs Relay Interpolator is completed.
The US Army asked Bell Laboratories to design 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 recommends using a relay-based calculator for the project. The result was the Relay Interpolator, later called the Bell Labs Model II.
Sources:
https://zionkerala.blogspot.com/2015/12/1943-bell-labs-relay-interpolator-is.html -
Harvard Mark 1 is completed.
Conceived by Harvard physics professor Howard Aiken, and designed and built by IBM, the Harvard Mark 1 is a room-sized, relay-based calculator. The machine had a fifty-foot long camshaft running the length of machine that synchronized the machine’s thousands of component parts and used 3,500 relays.
Sources:
https://www.coursehero.com/file/p50n4cj/1944-Harvard-Mark-1-is-completed-Created-by-Howard-Aiken-and-designed-and-built/ -
NPL Pilot ACE completed.
Based on ideas from Alan Turing, Britain´s Pilot ACE computer is constructed at the National Physical Laboratory. The design packed 800 vacuum tubes into a relatively compact 12 square feet.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilot_ACE
