Alan Turing and His Contemporaries: Building the World's First Computers

128 Pages·2012·6.26 MB·English

by  Simon Lavington

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Secret wartime projects in code-breaking, radar and There can be no doubt (E
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ballistics produced a wealth of ideas and technologies that Alan Turing was a ito Building the world’s first computers
that kick-started the development of digital computers. brilliant man who changed r
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By 1955 computers produced by companies such as the course of history in
Ferranti, English Electric, Elliott Brothers and the British countless ways, but there
Tabulating Machine Co. had begun to appear in the were many other brilliant
market-place. The Information Age was dawning and minds involved in bringing
Simon Lavington (Editor)
Alan Turing and his contemporaries held centre stage. computer science to life
Their influence is still discernible deep down within and ultimately into our
today’s hardware and software. This is a tribute not only homes. This fascinating a
to stars such as Tom Kilburn, Alan Turing and Maurice book reminds us of the l
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Wilkes but to the many other scientists and engineers importance of their n
who made significant contributions to early computing contribution. A fitting T
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during the period 1945 – 1955. tribute to those who gave r
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the world so much. n
• Fascinating story told by top historians g
• Tales of electronic wizardry and notable British firsts Kate Russell, technology reporter a
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• Marks the centenary of Alan Turing’s birth for BBC Click d
• How Alan Turing turned his fertile mind to many Fantastic! This is an h
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subjects during his tragically short life excellent romp through S
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Britain’s early computer o
About the Authors history, placing Alan n
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Professor Simon Lavington is the Computer Conservation Turing’s work in a broader e
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Society’s digital Archivist. Chris Burton is one of the context and introducing p
world’s leading restorers of historic computers. Professor the reader to some of the o
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Martin Campbell-Kelly is the UK’s foremost computer significant machines and a
historian. Dr Roger Johnson is a past president of BCS, personalities that created r
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The Chartered Institute for IT. All are committee members our digital world. eS
of the Computer Conservation Society. Dr Tilly Blyth, Curator of Computing
and Information, Science Museum
Popular Science

9 781906 124908

ALAN TURING AND HIS
CONTEMPORARIES
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ALAN TURING AND HIS
CONTEMPORARIES
Building the world’s first computers
Simon Lavington (editor)
© 2012 British Informatics Society Limited
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Published by British Informatics Society Limited (BISL), a wholly owned subsidiary of BCS The Chartered
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ISBN: 978-1-90612-490-8
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CONTENTS
Authors ix
Acknowledgements xi
Preface xiii
1 THE IDEAS MEN 1
Science at war 1
The Moore School: the cradle of electronic computing 3
The Universal Turing Machine 5
Practical problems, 1945–7 8
The rich tapestry of projects, 1948–54 8
2 ACES AND DEUCES 11
Turing’s first computer design 11
Toil and trouble 13
Intelligence and artificial intelligence 14
Pilot ACE arrives at last 17
DEUCE and others 19
3 IVORY TOWERS AND TEA ROOMS 21
Maurice Wilkes and the Cambridge University
Mathematical Laboratory 21
Post-war reconstruction and the stored-program computer 22
A Memory for EDSAC 23
EDSAC, ACE and LEO 24
Not just EDSAC 26
First steps in programming 28
Wilkes, Wheeler and Gill 31
The last days of the EDSAC 31
v
Contents
4 THE MANCHESTER MACHINES 33
Memories are made of this … 33
The Baby computer 37
The Baby grows up 38
Ferranti enters the picture 41
A supercomputer 43
Programs and users 43
What came next? 45
5 MEANWHILE, IN DEEPEST HERTFORDSHIRE 47
The Admiralty’s secret 47
Innovations at Borehamwood 50
Swords into ploughshares 53
The coming of automation 55
6 ONE MAN IN A BARN 59
X-ray calculations 59
The challenge of memory 61
Computers for all! 62
The Booth multiplier 64
Commercial success 65
7 INTO THE MARKETPLACE 69
Out of the laboratory 69
Defence and the Cold War 69
Science and engineering 71
The world of commerce and business 74
The market grows and the manufacturers shrink 76
8 HINDSIGHT AND FORESIGHT: THE LEGACY OF TURING AND
HIS CONTEMPORARIES 79
Who did what, and when? 79
Turing as seen by his contemporaries 80
Turing’s reputation by 1984 83
APPENDIX A: TECHNICAL COMPARISON OF FIVE EARLY
BRITISH COMPUTERS 85
The Manchester Small-Scale Experimental
Machine (SSEM), known as the ‘Baby’ 88
The Cambridge EDSAC 89
The Ferranti Mark I’s instruction format 90
Instruction format for the English Electric DEUCE 92
vi
Contents
APPENDIX B: TURING AND COMPUTING: A TIMELINE 95
Alan Turing at NPL, 1945–8 95
Alan Turing at Manchester, 1948–54 98
APPENDIX C: FURTHER READING 105
General accounts of the period 1945–60 106
Chapter-specific books 106
Index 109
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