Conceived by John Atanasoff in 1937, the Atanasoff-Berry (or ABC) Computer was one of the first modern electronic digital computers. Designed to solve linear equations, it was tested in 1942. It formed the foundation of many modern computing concepts including binary arithmetic and electronic switching. Work was discontinued in the…
Designed by the Department of Communications of the British Foreign Office, the Colossus was an entirely electronic deciphering machine. Driven by a need to break the codes being used by the Germans, who had their own electromechanical machine called Enigma creating them, they were built in secrecy and the first…
George Stibitz created the Complex Number Calculator (CNC) at Bell Labs in 1937. Called the Model K, it was capable of calculating complex numbers using binary addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. It was entirely relay-based and was based on Stibitz’s theory that the electromechanical relays of telephone switching systems could…