List of historical computers in Europe

The list of historical computing systems in Europe enables a comparison of the early developments of European research institutions and companies in the field of electronic computing.

technology

Relays were used as switching elements in the first generation , vacuum tubes in the second generation and transistors in the third generation . For a short transition period, experiments were also carried out with magnetic amplifiers , which, however, were not able to establish themselves due to the lower processing speed.

The storage of input data and calculation results was realized with a variety of new developments: At the beginning, mechanical relay storage units, Williams tubes and mercury and nickel delay lines were used. Later, magnetic drums of various types and finally fast ferrite core memories were installed.

Development tendencies

Even the initial phase is characterized by a rapidly growing processing power with falling space and energy requirements. In the 1960s, the primacy of American corporations soon emerged in the field of large-scale computing systems , while European companies such as Nixdorf , the Olympia-Werke , Olivetti and Triumph-Adler were able to develop niches for business applications following classic booking machines and the segment ( medium-sized data technology ) established.

Overview

Surname	country	Developer / manufacturer	commissioning acceptance	Number approx.	Clock frequency (kHz)	Switching element	Word length	Storage type	Access time (μs)	Usage, remarks
Z 3	Germany	Zuse KG	1941	1		Relay (about 600)		mechanical relay memory for 64 numbers	15-20 arithmetic operations / s; Multiplications in 4–5 s.
Z 4	Germany	Zuse KG	1945	1		relay	32 bit	mechanical storage unit (Fig. 15 / 5.4.6), which was developed for 64 numbers, but was intended for 500. Later it also received a toroidal core storage system	25-35 operations / min	after expansion 1950–1955 to the ETH Zurich (Prof. Stiefel)
Manchester Mark I.	England	Electrical Engineering Laboratories, University of Manchester ( Frederic Calland Williams , Tom Kilburn ), in collaboration with Ferranti Ltd., Moston, Manchester.	1948	1	100	Tubes (approx. 3600)	40 bits	Williams storage tubes: 256 storage locations Magnetic drum: 16,384 storage locations		Prototype for PEGASUS
ARC (Automatic Relay Computer)	England	College Research Laboratory of the University of London ( Andrew Donald Booth with KHV Britten )	1948	1		Relay (approx. 800)	21 bits	Magnetic drum for 250 numbers, initially electromechanical memory for 50 numbers of 21 bits.	for addition 20 ms, for multiplication and division 1 s.	Funded by the British Rubber Producers Research Association; From November 1, 1948, it was used in particular for computational work in X-ray structure analysis.
EDSAC ( Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator )	England	Mathematical Laboratory, University of Manchester ( Maurice V. Wilkes , W. Renivick)	1949	2	500	Tubes (approx. 4500)	34 bits	Mercury delay lines as memory for 512 words		An industrial version of this machine was built in 1949: LEO (Lyons Electronic Office)
ARRA	Netherlands	Mathematical Center , Amsterdam ( Adriaan van Wijngaarden , Blaavo, Loopstra and Schölten)	1951	2		relay		Magnetic drum memory for 1024 words	Addition took 24 ms, a multiplication 104 ms.	as FERTA to the aircraft factory Fokker
BARK (binary automatic relay calculator)	Sweden	Dr. C. Palm, Stockholm	1951	1		Relay (7500)		Relay storage unit for 300 words (100 for intermediate storage)	150 ms per operation for addition and subtraction, 250 ms for multiplication.
?	Austria	Vienna Institute for Low Frequency Technology (Henning F. Harmuth)	1952	1		decadal counters				Special computer for statistical tasks
PERM (program-controlled electronic computer system Munich )	Germany	Technical University of Munich (Prof. Hans Piloty )	1952	1	500	Tubes (2400), 3000 diodes	51 bits	Magnetic drum: 8192 memory locations, ferrite core memory: 2048 memory locations	Addition time 8.5 μs	The disproportionately long construction time of the computer system can be explained by the fact that it was mainly used for the scientific training of development engineers and for testing circuits.
ACE (Automatic Calculating Engine)	England	Mathematics Div., National Physical Laboratory (John R. Womersley with Alan Turing and Colebrook based on Phillips' suggestions)	1952	1	1000	Tubes (approx. 1000)	32 bits
G1 / G1a	Germany	Max Planck Institute for Physics , Göttingen ( Heinz Billing , Ludwig Biermann )	1952	4th	7.2	Tubes (110)	60 bits	Magnetic drum with quick access tracks (50 Hz) and 312 memory locations
MADAM	England	Electrical Engineering Laboratories, University of Manchester	1952	2		Tubes		8 Williams storage tubes (one of them for 8 index registers), drum storage		A second computer of this type was delivered to the University of Toronto in 1959 and was named FERUT
SEC (Simple Electronic Computer)	England	Electronic Computation Lab., Birkbeck, University of London ( Andrew D. Booth and Kathleen HV Briẗten)	1952	5		Tubes (230)	21 bits	Magnetic drum memory for 256 words		Several All Purpose Electronic X-Ray Computers were built according to this SEC : APE (X) C for Birkbeck College (X-Ray Computer), APE (N) C for Oslo / Norway, APE (H) C for British Tabulating Machine Co . (Hollerith), APE (R) C for British Rayon Research Association
BESK (Binary Electronic Sequence Calcylator)	Sweden	Mathematical Working Group (Erik Stemme), Royal Stockholm University of Technology	1953		160	Tubes (2250), 200 diodes		40 Williams memory tubes 256/512 memory words (equipped with ferrite core memory), magnetic drum, 3000 rpm, 8192 memory locations
Gamma 3	France	Compagnie des Machines Bull , Paris	1953		280	Tubes (800), 18,000 germanium diodes	12 decimal places	Magnetic drum 16 384 memory words, delay lines for 4–7 memory words
IRSIA-FNRS	Belgium	Institut pour l'Encouragement de la Recherche Scientifique dans l'Industrie et l'Agriculture ( Vitold Belevitch ), Bell Telephone Manufacturing Comp., Antwerp "	1953		100	Tubes (2000), 2500 diodes	18 decimal places (binary trades), 2 for exponent, 1 for sign; 2 commands / word.	Magnetic drum (4000 / min), cold cathode tube register, 25 kHz
PTERA	Netherlands	Dr. Neher laboratories of the PTT ( Willem van der Poel , costs)	1953	1		relay	32 bits	Magnetic drum	50 ms mean operation time	Plans were licensed to the Standard Telephones and Cables to run
Z 5	Germany	Zuse KG	1953	1						Custom-made for Ernst Leitz for calculations in the design of optical systems
SM 1	Germany	German Geodetic Research Institute Munich (Heinrich Seifers)	1954	1		relay				especially for surveying tasks
D2	Germany	Institute for Computer Technology , Technical University Dresden . (Prof. Nikolaus Joachim Lehmann )	1955	1	270	Tubes (140), 2000 diodes, 100 relays	56 bits	Magnetic drum with 18000 / min: 4096 memory locations, quick storage: 320 memory locations
ARRA-New	Netherlands	Mathematical Center , Amsterdam ( Adriaan van Wijngaarden )	1955			Tubes (500), 2000 diodes, 15 relays	30 bits	Magnetic drum, 1024 memory locations
CAB 2022 (Calculatrice Arithmetique Binaire)	France	SEA Societe d'Electronique et d'Automatisme, Courbevoie (Seine)	1955	2	100	Tubes (800), 8,000 diodes	22 bits or double word length	2 ferrite core memories of 64 words each, magnetic drum: 8192 words
DEUCE	England	English Electric	1955	30th	1000	Vacuum tube	32 bits	Mercury delay line / drum	496/15
ERMETH (electronic calculating machine from ETH Zurich )	Switzerland	Institute for Applied Mathematics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich ( Ambros Speiser , Heinz Rutishauser , Eduard Stiefel )	1955		30th	1700 tubes, 7000 diodes, 200 relays	16 decimal places	Magnetic drum, 10,000 memory locations		The Ermeth was designed from the experiences with the ZUSE Z 4 and Aikens Mark IV, especially with regard to easy programming and index registers.
ICT 1200, ICT 1201, ICT 1202	England	ICT	1955	57	40	Vacuum tube	40 bits	drum	10,000
OPREMA	Germany	Carl Zeiss Jena ( Wilhelm Kämmerer , Herbert Kortum )	1955	1		Relays (17,000), approx. 90,000 selenium rectifiers	binary coded decimal digits in floating point method, whereby the mantissa was eight digits and the exponent was two digits (up to ± 15).		Computing times resulted in about 120 ms for an addition, 800 ms for multiplication and division, 1200 ms for the square root.	especially for optical calculations twin computers, two calculators in parallel
URR 1	Austria	Vienna Institute for Low Frequency Technology (Henning F. Harmuth)	1955	1		relay	17 bits		150 operations per second for addition, while a multiplication is 4 s
D1	Germany	Institute for Computer Technology , Technical University Dresden . (Prof. Nikolaus Joachim Lehmann )	1956	1	100	Tubes (760), 1000 selenium diodes, 100 relays	72 bits	Magnetic drum with 2048 memory locations (3 index registers)
Z22	Germany	Zuse KG	1956	50	140	Tubes (500), 2400 diodes	14 decimal places	Magnetic drum (6000 / min) for 8192 memory locations, ferrite core memory 25 memory locations	Addition 0.6 ms, multiplication 10 ms, division 60 ms, root 200 ms
ARMAC (Automatic Calculating Machine Mathematical Center)	Netherlands	Mathematical Center , Amsterdam ( Adriaan van Wijngaarden )	1956		100	Tubes (1200), 9000 diodes	34 bits, for 2 commands or 10 decimal places	Ferrite core memory 512 memory locations Magnetic drum: 3584 memory locations	Addition time 0.4 ms
PEGASUS	England	Ferranti Ltd.	1956	28	333	Vacuum tube	39 bits	Nickel delay line / drum	0/8000
SAPO	Czechoslovakia	Czech Academy of Sciences and Arts , Institute of Mathematical Machines ( Antonín Svoboda )	1956	1		Relays (7500), approx. 280 tubes and 150 diodes	32 bits	Magnetic drum memory for 1024 words	Work cycle of 160 ms per operation, including the drum access time, but only 320 ms.	three identical, mutually independent arithmetic units
SMIL (Siffermaskinen I Lund)	Sweden	Institute for Theoretical Physics, Lund University , Sweden	1956			Tubes (2000), 200 diodes	40 bits	Magnetic drum, 2048 memory locations		The machine's arithmetic unit is a copy of the BESK in Stockholm.
No. 11	Germany	Zuse KG	1956	42		relay
SEL computer system	Germany	Mix & Genest ( Karl Steinbuch )	1957	1		Transistor, diode		matrix-like semiconductor logic network / drum memory		Special development for the large mail order company Quelle GmbH
2002	Germany	Siemens & Halske AG	1957	8th	200	Transistor, diode	12 decimal places and signs	Core storage / drum	5/19 000
EDB, EDB 2, EDB 3	Sweden	Facit	1957	5	180	Tubes (2600), 3000 diodes, 4000 transistors	40 bits	Core storage / drum	2 / 10,000	Particularly interesting: the magnetic tape carousel storage developed for this purpose
MERCURY	England	Ferranti Ltd.	1957	19th	1000	Vacuum tube	10-20-40 bits	Core storage / drum	2/10000
STANTEC ZEBRA	England	Standard Telephones and Cables	1957	32	100	Vacuum tube	33 bits	drum	5000
ZAM 2	Poland	Instytut Maszyn Matematysznych in Warsaw	1957					Nickel wire quick storage and magnetic drums	1000 operations / s
Mail fanl	Austria	TU Vienna ( Heinz Zemanek )	1958		132	Transistors				first fully transistorized computer in mainland Europe
ZRA 1	Germany	Carl Zeiss Jena (W. Kämmerer)	1958	Small series	200	Tubes (770), 12,000 diodes, 8500 ferrite cores. (The tubes only serve as driver stages for the ferrite core circuits)	48 bits	Magnetic drum with 4096 storage spaces (same construction as in computers D1 and D2)		This computer system is installed in the scientific computer center of the University of Architecture and Building in Weimar.
PERSEUS	England	Ferranti Ltd.	1958	2	333	Vacuum tube	72 bits	Nickel delay line	234
Z22R	Germany	Zuse KG	1958	30th	140	Vacuum tube	38 bits	drum	5000	The Technical University of Berlin receives the first copy.
X1	Netherlands	NV Electrologica	1959	25th	500	Transistor, diode	27 bits	Core memory		one of the first universal computers on the market fully equipped with transistors, magnetic core memories and an automatic intervention system
803	England	Elliott Brothers	1959	5	166.5	transistor	39 bits	Core memory
DERA	Germany	Institute for Practical Mathematics at the Technical University of Darmstadt ( Alwin Walther )	1959	1	200	Tubes (1400), 8000 diodes, 90 relays		Magnetic drum for 3000 memory locations, ferrite core register, 20 ms access time	Add .: 0.8 ms, Mult .: 12-16 ms	The disproportionately long construction time of the computer system can be explained by the fact that it was mainly used for the scientific training of development engineers and for testing circuits.
EPOS	Czechoslovakia	Research Institute for Mathematical Machines, Prague, ARITMA, Prague	1959			Vacuum tube, diode, later transistor	12 decimal places	Core memory / nickel delay lines	13 /
ER 56	Germany	Standard Elektrik Lorenz AG	1959	7th	100	Transistor, diode	7 decimal places	-/Drum	5/10 000
G2	Germany	Max Planck Institute for Physics, Göttingen (H. Billing and L. Biermann)	1959	1	92	Tubes (1100)	50 bits, fixed point	Magnetic drum with 2048 storage spaces
SIRIUS	England	Ferranti Ltd.	1959	1	500	Transistor, core	10 decimal places	Nickel delay line	4000
ARGUS	England	Ferranti Ltd.	1960	1	500	Transistor, diode	12 bits	Core storage / drum	2 / 12,000
CEP	Italy	University of Pisa	1960		asynchronous	Vacuum tube, germanium diodes, transistor	36 bits	Core storage / drum	3.5 / 10,000
ELEA 6001	Italy	Olivetti	1960	44	250	Transistor, diode, core	Variable number of digits	Core memory	6th
ELEA 9003	Italy	Olivetti	1960	23	100	Transistor, diode	Variable number of characters	Core storage / drum	10/10000
EMIDEC	England	EMI Electronics Ltd. ( Godfrey Hounsfield )	1960	4th	100	transistor	36 bits	Core storage / drum	10/15000
PASCAL, STEVIN	Netherlands	Philips	1960	2	500	Tubes (12,000), 10,000 transistors, 15,000 diodes	42 bits	Magnetic drum: 16 384 memory locations, magnetic core memory: 2016 memory locations "	3 /
SKRZAT1	Poland	Research Institute for Electronic Computing of the Polish Academy of Sciences, ZAM PAN	1960		200	Ferrite cores; Diodes	1 word = 20 bits = 2 commands (but with jump command 1 word = 1 command)	4096-word memory, program permanently in memory, 64 cells,		electronic digital computer for automatic control of technological processes for controlling chemical distillation, blast furnaces. etc.
STANTEC SYSTEM	England	Standard Telephones and Cables	1960	-	128	transistor	33 bits	Core storage / drum	1132435
TR 4	Germany	Telefunken	1961		2000	Transistor, diode	48 bits	fixed core memory / core memory	42401	Fastest German development of the 1950s
APOLLO	England	Ferranti Ltd.	1961	-	500	Transistor, diode	24 bits	Core memory	2
EMIDEC 2400	England	EMI Electronics Ltd.	1961		1000	Transistor, diode	36 bits	Core memory / diode capacitor	5 / 1.5
GREED	Denmark	Regnecentralen, Dansk Institut for matematik Maskina	1961	15th	660	Transistor, diode	40 bits, 2 additional for word indicators	Core storage / drum	4/500 block access
ICT 1301	England	Computer Development Ltd. (ICT & GEC)	1961		1000	Transistor, diode	12 decimal places	Core storage / drum	4/486
LEO III	England	LEO Computers Ltd.	1961	-		Transistor, diode	42 bits	Core memory	7th
MUSE (ATLAS)	England	Ferranti Ltd., University of Manchester	1961	> 4		Transistor, diode	48 bits	Core storage / drum	0.5 / 6000
ORION	England	Ferranti Ltd.	1961	-	500	Transistor, core	48 bits	Core storage / drum	6/12 000
Z23	Germany	Zuse KG	1961	-	150	transistor	40 bits	Core storage / drum	- / 5000
503	England	Elliott Brothers	1962	-		transistor	39 bits	Core memory
KDF-9	England	English Electric	1962	-	2000	Transistor, core diode	48 bits	Core memory / main memory	3
Z31	Germany	Zuse KG	1962		53	transistor	10 decimal places and signs	Core memory work	200-1000
Elka 6521	Bulgaria	Mathematics Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences	1965		53	transistor	12 decimal places and signs	Core memory work	Add .: 0.3 s, Div .: 0.5 s
401, 402, 403, 404 and 405	England	Elliott Brothers		45		Tubes (615)		Magnetic drum, nickel delay memory	Cycle time 102 μs per word, addition and subtraction in 204 μs, multiplication and division in 3.3 ms.	according to patents of NRD Corp. and own developments
ASPERA	Germany	Institute for Practical Mathematics at the Technical University of Darmstadt		1		relay				asynchronous relay computer / process computer
Dataquick Electronic booking engine	Germany	Siemag Feinmechanische Werke, Eiserfeld / Sieg (Dr. Gerhard Dirks)			25th	Tubes (138), 220 thyratrons, 350 relays.		Magnetic drum with 120 storage spaces		The first commercially manufactured small computer system in Germany.
Mark I.	England	National Research Development Corp.		7th	100	Tubes	40 bits	512 cathode ray storage tubes for 10,000 bits, 7 of which as index registers, magnetic drum storage for 16,384 words		from 1957 marketed with magnetic core memory as Ferranti MERCURY
UMC1	Poland	Instytut Maszyn Matematysznych in Warsaw						Magnetic drum, 4096 words	100 operations / s
No. 9	Germany	Zuse KG		Small series		relay		Multiplier for calculating punch M 9 (Powers)

literature

• Prof. Or. Hubert Cremer (Ed.): Program-controlled computing devices and integration systems . Rhenish-Westphalian Technical University of Aachen 1953 ( digitized version )
• Isaac L. Auerbach: European Electronic Data Processing - A Report on the Industry and the State-of-the-Art . In: Proceedings of the IRE Volume 49, No. 1/1961 ( Abstract )
• Wilfried de Beauclair : Calculating with machines - A pictorial history of computing technology . Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn, Braunschweig 1968 ( digitized version )
• Rolf Zellmer: The Development of the German Computer Industry Dissertation at the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Cologne, 1990
• Herbert Bruderer: Milestones in Computer Technology: On the History of Mathematics and Computer Science . De Gruyter Oldenbourg 2015

Individual evidence

1. ↑ B. IV. Pollard: The Design, Construction and Performance of a Large-Scale General-Purpose Digital Computer .
2. ↑ Williams FC, T. Kilburn: The University of Manchester Computing Machine . In: Joint AIEE-IRE Comp. Conf. Philadelphia, 12/1951
3. ^ AD Booth: Relay Computers. Report of a Conference on High Speed ​​Automatic Computing . University of Cambridge, June 1949
4. ^ MV Wilkes: Progress in High Speed ​​Calculating Machine Design . In: Nature , Vol. 164, Aug. 1949
5. ^ MV Wilkes: Design of a Practical High-Speed ​​Computing Machine . Proc. Royal Lake. Vol. 195/1948
6. ^ MV Wilkes: The EDSAC. MTAC IV . 1950
7. ^ Stig Ekelöf: Les machines mathematiques en Suede. In: Transact. Chalmers University of Technology , Gothenburg, 116/1951
8. ↑ H. Harmuth: An electronic calculating machine for statistical calculations . In: Electrical engineering and mechanical engineering, issue 22/1952
9. ↑ H. Piloty: The PERM . In: Communications technical reports 11/1955
10. ↑ H. Piloty: The development of the PERM . In: Communications technical reports 4/1956
11. ↑ Documents on the ACE
12. ↑ H. Billing, L. Biermann: Modern mathematical machines . Natural Sciences 1/1953
13. ↑ L. Biermann, H. Billing: The Göttingen electronic calculating machines . ZAMM 33/1953
14. ↑ MR Letov: Le calculateur electronique coneu et realize par Bull pour le travail de bureau . Conf. au Comite Nat. de l'Organisation Française, Paris, June 1952.
15. ↑ A. van Wijngaarden: Modern calculators in the Netherlands . In: Communications technical reports 4/1956
16. ↑ Max Kneißl (1907–1973): a world-class Bavarian geodesist
17. ^ A. van Wijngaarden: Computing Machine Projects in Holland . Report of Conf. on High-Speed ​​Autom. Calc. Mach., June 1949, Cambridge, England
18. ↑ EA: Cakulatrice arithmetique universal type CAB 2022 . Special print DOC, NC-60-C May 1955.
19. ↑ P. Namain: Une cakulatrice numerique universelle Francaise CAB 2022 . Revue Ingenieurs et Techniciens No. 78, June 1955
20. ↑ A. Speiser: Design of an electronic computing device with special consideration of a minimal use of materials . Birkhäuser Verlag Basel, 1950
21. ^ W. Kämmerer: The program-controlled computer system in the VEB Carl Zeiss Jena . In: Die Technik , Berlin, trade fair booklet 1955
22. ↑ Heinz Zemanek : The universal relay calculator URR 1 . In: Electrical engineering and mechanical engineering 72 1/1955
23. ↑ Journal of ACM 4/1957
24. ↑ Unsung Heroes in Dutch Computing History - ARMAC ( Memento of the original from November 13, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
25. ^ A. Svoboda. In: Communications technical reports 4/1956
26. ↑ CE Froherg, C. Wahlström: SMIL, Siffermaskinen I Lund , Lands Universitets Arsskrift NF Avd. 2, 4/1957
27. ↑ Hartmut Petzold : Modern arithmetic artists . CH Beck, 1992
28. ↑ ^{a b c} IMM - Our history
29. ↑ W. Kämmerer, H. Kortum, F. Straube: Zeiss calculator ZRA 1 . In: Jenaer Rundschau 4/1959
30. ↑ H.-J. Dreyer: Basic ideas and development status of the Darmstadt calculating machine . ZAMM 32/1952
31. ↑ H. 8. Five reports in Nachrichtenentechnische Fachberichte 4/1956
32. ↑ The development of DERA . In: Institute reports of the Institute for Practical Mathematics at the Technical University of Darmstadt
33. ^ H. Billing: A new German electronic number calculator . Bulletin dated March 15, 1955
34. ↑ H. Öhlmann: Report on the completion of the G 2 . In: Communications technical reports . 4/1956
35. ^ HJ Heijn, JC Selman: The Philips Computer PASCAL . In: IRE Transactions . 10/1961
36. ↑ Philips Technical Review . No. 1/1961
37. ^ De bouw en het gebruik van computers bij Philips . ( Digitized version )
38. ↑ GREED - Regnecentralens andes datamaskine
39. ↑ GREED - A Danish computer of medium size . In: IEEE Transactions on Electronic Computers , Issue 5/1963 ( digitized version )