June 14 in history: computing machine in 1822, and the third commercial computer in the world in the service of the Pentagon

14 Jun 1822 Charles Babbage presented to the Royal society of the UK model of the difference machine — a mechanical device created to automate calculations. According to the author, the device could compute the roots of polynomials up to sixth degree with great accuracy until the 18th sign. Despite the funding of the British government and several years of hard work, Babbage was never able to bring the concept to life. But it could the Swedish inventor George Stucco, which relied on the experience and advice of Babbage. The latter, meanwhile, began to develop even more ambitious project, known in history as the Analytical engine. The layout generally resembles the scheme of the modern PC. According to the author, the Analytical engine was to consist of “mills” — the device to perform calculations, “storage” memory to store numbers, control device and device input/output. But all the computation and control were performed through mechanisms, not electronics. In addition to the ideas that formed the basis of modern computers, Charles Babbage also brought the world the speedometer and dynamometer.

Аналитическая машина Чарльза Бэббиджа

The working model of the Analytical machine of Charles Babbage the Computer History Museum in mountain view, California

14 June 1951 the Pentagon launched the first commercial computer created in the USA, and the third commercial computer in the world. It was called UNIVAC I (Universal Automatic Computer) took an impressive 35,5 square meters. Operated at a frequency of 2.25 MHz and was able to carry 1905 operations per second. The laptop weight was 13 tons, and power consumption is 125 kWh. the Price was very high, more than a million dollars, so to afford such a device could few organizations. Among them, the air force and the U.S. Navy, General Electric, National geospatial-intelligence Agency, DuPont and others. All in all, it has been sold 46 UNIVAC I. the Last two instances were involved until 1970.

UNIVAC I
UNIVAC I


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