History of computing hardware: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 05:40, 10 May 2025

Revision as of 17:31, 10 May 2025

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The [[Z2 (computer)|Z2]] was one of the earliest examples of an electric operated digital [[computer]] built with electromechanical relays and was created by civil engineer [[Konrad Zuse]] in 1940 in Germany. It was an improvement on his earlier, mechanical [[Z1 (computer)|Z1]]; although it used the same mechanical [[computer memory|memory]], it replaced the arithmetic and control logic with electrical [[relay]] circuits.<ref name="Part 4 Zuse">{{cite web |url=https://www.epemag.com/zuse/part4a.htm|title=Part 4: Konrad Zuse's Z1 and Z3 Computers|last=Zuse|first=Horst |work=The Life and Work of Konrad Zuse|publisher=EPE Online |access-date=2008-06-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080601210541/http://www.epemag.com/zuse/part4a.htm |archive-date = 2008-06-01}}</ref>

In the same year, electro-mechanical devices called [[bombe]]s were built by British [[cryptologist]]s to help decipher [[Germany|German]] [[Enigma machine|Enigma-machine]]-encrypted secret messages during [[World War II]]. The bombe's initial design was created in 1939 at the UK [[Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS)]] at [[Bletchley Park]] by [[Alan Turing]],{{sfn|Smith|2007|p=60}} with an important refinement devised in 1940 by [[Gordon Welchman]].{{sfn|Welchman|1984|p=77}} The engineering design and construction was the work of [[Harold Keen]] of the [[British Tabulating Machine Company]]. It was a substantial development from a device that had been designed in 1938 by [[Polish Cipher Bureau]] cryptologist [[Marian Rejewski]], and known as the "[[Bomba (cryptography)|cryptologic bomb]]" ([[Polish language|Polish]]: ''"bomba kryptologiczna"'').

[[File:Z3 Deutsches Museum.JPG|thumb|left|Replica of [[Konrad Zuse|Zuse]]'s [[Z3 (computer)|Z3]], the first fully automatic, digital (electromechanical) computer]]