1. “Manchester and Early Computers” Christopher P Burton The Computer Conservation Society

2. “What do you mean - ‘Computer’?” The first Manchester computer - “The Baby” Interlude - what was going on elsewhere The early Manchester computers Replicating “The Baby”

3. Numerical Tables Books of tables from the 18th century

4. Early adding machines Pascal 17th c. de Colmar 1824

5. Charles Babbage Mathematician Philosopher Genius

6. Analytical Engine - 1838 CONTROL mechanism “Operations” cards a+ba+b c bc b axbaxb e-ae-a ebeb STORE for numbers MILL arithmetic

7. Babbage’s Analytical Engine The only fragment ever constructed

8. Arrival of Electronics Wireless sets Television Radar

9. Colossus Codebreaking Machine Electronic, very fast 1943, UK Secret!

10. ENIAC Machine Electronic, very fast 1945, USA Huge

11. Fixed Program Computer - 1940s STORE for numbers CONTROL mechanism MILL arithmetic

12. Stored Program Computer - 1940s STORE for numbers & instructions CONTROL mechanism MILL arithmetic Instructions

13. What is a True Computer? A list of instructions to manipulate numbers (e.g. “add”, “copy”, “test” or “remember”) to be carried out one instruction after another - “a Program” Instructions are represented by numbers, therefore a program can modify itself Needs a big memory to hold the program and the numbers

14. Need for Electronic “Memory”

15. “What do you mean - ‘Computer’?” The first Manchester computer - “The Baby” Interlude - what was going on elsewhere The early Manchester computers Replicating “The Baby”

16. Quest for a memory By 1945, several research teams were seeking a fast memory device. FC Williams and Tom Kilburn at Manchester University. During the war they had been expert radar engineers and they believed they could solve the memory problem using radar cathode ray tubes.

17. Freddie Williams and Tom Kilburn In 1950

18. Quest for a memory The Cathode Ray Tube Store could remember over 2000 binary digits by end of 1947 But would it work in a computing machine? It needed to be tested “…in the hurly-burly of computing.”

19. The Need for Realistic Testing So they built a little computer to test their memory invention. Formally, it was: “The Small-Scale Experimental Machine” but informally: “Baby”

20. The Historic Event Monday, 21st June 1948, about 11:15 The first time in the world that a stored- program computer worked The “Baby” was the World’s first Universal Computing Machine Nearly all modern computers are “like” that.

21. The Illustrated London News

22. The First program From a notebook kept by Geoff Tootill

23. Dots & Dashes

24. A film fragment showing the computer probably in 1948

25. “What do you mean - ‘Computer’?” The first Manchester computer - “The Baby” Interlude - what was going on elsewhere The early Manchester computers Replicating “The Baby”

26. Interlude - What was happening elsewhere? University of Cambridge 1946 - 1949 National Physical Laboratory 1947 - 1950 Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton -1952 IBM - 1953

27. Cambridge - EDSAC

28. London - Pilot ACE

29. USA - von Neumann

30. IBM uses the Cathode Ray Tube store

31. “What do you mean - ‘Computer’?” The first Manchester computer - “The Baby” Interlude - what was going on elsewhere The early Manchester computers Replicating “The Baby”

32. Early Manchester Computers 1948 -The “Baby” - The Small-Scale Experimental Machine 1949 - The University Mark 1 computer 1951 - The Ferranti Mark 1 computer 1954 - MEG 1957 - Ferranti Mercury 1953 - Transistor machine 1956 - Metropolitan Vickers MV950 1958 - Muse 1962 - Ferranti Atlas

33. Small-Scale Experimental Machine 1948 - Manchester

34. Illustrated London News photo with annotations

35. A newsreel film showing the enlarged computer in about June 1949

36. The Ferranti company gets involved Sir Ben Lockspeiser in 1948 “Construct one computer to Professor Williams’s instructions”

37. The Ferranti Mk 1 Computer - 1951 (World’s first commercially-delivered computer)

38. MEG - Ten times faster - 1954

39. Ferranti “Mercury” -1957

40. University Transistor Computer - 1953

41. Metro-Vick MV950 - 1956

42. University “MUSE” - 1958

43. University/Ferranti “ATLAS” - 1962

44. “What do you mean - ‘Computer’?” The first Manchester computer - “The Baby” Interlude - what was going on elsewhere The early Manchester computers Replicating “The Baby”

45. The Computer Conservation Society The Small-Scale Experimental Machine Rebuild Project THE MUSEUM OF SCIENCE & INDUSTRY IN MANCHESTER

46. Project Goal “To construct a working replica of the Manchester University Small-Scale Experimental Machine by Sunday, 21st June 1998 the 50th anniversary of the successful running of the world's first stored computer program and to re-run that program.”

47. SSEM - Building the Replica 1995 to June 1998 - 3½ years to do it all Fully sponsored by ICL - purchasing and use of workshops Acquire the obsolete parts, valves etc. Design studies - technical detective work

48. Dai Edwards’ Drawing of the Clock Circuit

49. Alec Robinson’s version of the Clock Circuit

50. Our Computer-Aided-Design version of the Clock Circuit

51. Illustrated London News Photo of Typewriter

52. The Mark 1 in 1949

53. Close-up of Mark 1 Typewriter

54. Cover of War Surplus Catalogue

55. Catalogue Page with Push Button Unit

56. Replica of the “Baby”

57. Now a video of the re-building

58. Small-Scale Experimental Machine Rebuild Project Thanks to: The University of Manchester for facilities and support Our sole sponsor - ICL, West Gorton The pioneer team for consultation and encouragement The Museum of Science and Industry for a final home Many individuals for information and parts My team of CCS members for their volunteer effort