Z1 (computer)
The Z1 was a mechanical computer by Konrad Zuse from 1937. It was the first freely programmable arithmetic unit to work with binary numbers and had many computer architecture elements of the later model Z2 , but was unreliable due to mechanical problems. Their successors, the Zuse Z3 , 1941 and Zuse Z4 , 1945, were the first universally programmable computers.
development
Zuse was motivated by the idea of automating time-consuming but easy to formalize structural calculations.
"I'm too lazy to do arithmetic."
The Z1 was privately financed. Before the implementation, Zuse called the calculating machine manufacturer Kurt Pannke and told him about his idea. He replied: “Oh, Mr. Zuse, there is absolutely nothing left to invent in the area of calculating machines. But you're a nice young engineer, I'll give you 1500 Reichsmarks and when you've worked something out, show me. ”( Kurt Pannke :) From 1935 on, Zuse developed his program- controlled calculating machine . He occupied his parents' living room for the construction. He brought in his sister, his circle of friends and his theater group of the Academic Association Motive for auxiliary work. The father, Emil Zuse, also sawed sheet metal parts with a fretsaw. Konrad Zuse assembled around a ton of material for the machine from his head.
business
The implementation by means of mechanical switching elements, which were driven by a vacuum cleaner motor, seemed more compact to him than with electromechanical relays. In principle, the machine worked as designed and calculated correctly. However, the mechanical switching elements regularly get caught during operation, so that the Z1 did not achieve sufficient reliability.
meaning
The Z1 is considered to be the forerunner of the modern computer , which is constructed in a similar form. It was the first computer to work with binary numbers and already had an input / output unit , an arithmetic unit , a memory unit and a program unit that read the programs from perforated film strips.
Whereabouts
The Z1 was destroyed by bombing raids on Berlin in 1943/1944 during World War II. In the years 1986 to 1989 Konrad Zuse built the Z1 for the then Museum of Transport and Technology (today: Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin ). In this replica, too, the switching elements got caught again.
Other Zuse computers (selection)
literature
- Hadwig Dorsch: The first computer. Konrad Zuses Z1 - Berlin 1936. Beginning and development of a technical revolution. With contributions by Konrad Zuse and Otto Lührs. Museum for Transport and Technology Berlin, 1989
- Jürgen Alex, Hermann Flessner , Wilhelm Mons, Horst Zuse : Konrad Zuse: The father of the computer . Parzeller, Fulda 2000, ISBN 3-7900-0317-4 .
- Raul Rojas (ed.): The calculating machines by Konrad Zuse . Springer, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-540-63461-4 .
- Jürgen Alex: On the influence of elementary propositions of mathematical logic in Alfred Tarski's on the development of Konrad Zuse's three computer concepts . Chemnitz University of Technology, 2006.
- Jürgen Alex: On the creation of the computer - from Alfred Tarski to Konrad Zuse . VDI-Verlag, Düsseldorf 2007, ISBN 978-3-18-150051-4 , ISSN 0082-2361 .
- Hasso Spode : The computer - an invention from Kreuzberg, in: Geschichtslandschaft Berlin , Vol. 5, Nicolai, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-87584-474-2 .
- Konrad Zuse : The computer - my life's work . 5th, unchanged. Edition. Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg 2010, ISBN 978-3-642-12095-4 (100 years of Zuse).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Dr. Kristina R. Zerges, S. Terp: Konrad Zuse . The father of the computer. Ed .: Press and information department of the Technical University of Berlin (= famous alumni of the Technical University of Berlin ). omnisatz GmbH, Berlin.
- ↑ Konrad Zuse: The computer - my life's work . 5th, unchanged. Edition. Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg 2010, ISBN 978-3-642-12095-4 , p. 33 (100 years of Zuse).
- ↑ www.horst-zuse.homepage.t-online.de: Z11