The Computer That Came First - And Was Erased From History

[charliecoutas]

Well spotted Bob!

[ricardourio]

Hello,

  I didn't know about Konrad Zuse. Seems to be one more player!?

https://zuse.zib.de/zuse

[streborc]

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but the subject reminded me of the Motorola MC14500, one of the first microprocessors from the mid-70's that predated Intel's 4004.  The MC14500 was a 1-bit "industrial control unit" with a set of 16 4-bit instructions and no program counter.  Despite its primitive architecture, it was capable of some interesting stored program control applications.  An applications handbook can still be found at https://www.bitsavers.org/components/motorola/14500/MC14500B_Industrial_Control_Unit_Handbook_1977.pdf, and IC's can still be found for sale on ebay.  I remember using the MC14500 in the design of a device whose purpose I cannot recall, but it used a DTMF decoder as a front-end.

Regarding women being known as the first "computers", they also were assigned this identity at the Los Alamos Laboratory during WWII where much of the development work on the atomic bomb took place.  Rather than decyphering German radio transmissions as was being done by the Bletchley Park "computers", the Los Alamos "computers" were tasked with calculations related to the explosive charges necessary to trigger the nuclear detonation -- where the charges were physically placed, the strength of each, the timing of each and how the explosive force would be focused inward.  Mind-bending mathematics that required laborious and tedious computational iterations, and expertise with a slide rule.

[John Lawton]

I almost used one of those on a new project with a new employer, but left them instead... a long story. But I remember the slide-rules or 'guessing sticks' as we nick-named them at school.

John

[GDeSantis]

The Antikythera mechanism is widely considered the world's oldest known computer, dating back over 2,000 years (roughly 200–100 B.C.E.). Discovered in 1901 within a Roman-era shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera, this intricate, hand-powered bronze device used complex gears to predict astronomical positions and eclipses.