Zuse Z2
The Zuse Z2 was a prototype of a computer by Konrad Zuse for testing the relay technology . The mechanical switching elements of the Z1 , Zuse's first calculating machine, often get stuck during operation. With the Z2 he wanted to test whether relays were more reliable components. The construction of the Z2 was privately financed. Zuse bought around 200 used relays from telephone companies, with which he built both the arithmetic unit and the program control unit of the Z2.
The Z2 was completed in 1939. It had a clock frequency of approx. 10 Hertz , a binary fixed-point arithmetic unit that mastered the four basic arithmetic operations, a 16-bit memory and weighed 300 kilograms.
The plans and any photos of the Z2 were destroyed by bombing raids on Berlin in 1943/1944 during World War II. The German Research Institute for Aviation looked at the Z2 and gave Zuse 25,000 Reichsmarks so that he could build the Z3. Because of the reliability of electrical relays, Zuse only used relays when building his next calculating machine, the Zuse Z3 .
Other Zuse computers (selection)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c 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, Berlin.
- ↑ Dr.-Ing. habil. Horst Konrad Zuse accessed on February 24, 2009