TREAC or the TRE Automatic Computer was one of the first British computers, and in the world.
History
It was developed by the
Telecommunications Research Establishment
The Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) was the main United Kingdom research and development organization for radio navigation, radar, infra-red detection for heat seeking missiles, and related work for the Royal Air Force (RAF) ...
(TRE) in
Worcestershire
Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...
.
Early British Computers: The Story of Vintage Computers and the People who Built Them
Manchester University Press, Simon Lavington, 1980, The University of Manchester
, mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity
, established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...
had been developing some of the first computers in the late 1940s and early 1950s. From 1947, the TRE in Worcestershire had been developing computers. The main part of the Manchester team had previously been at TRE. TRE had produced much of the electronics for the United Kingdom (for radar) during World War II, and came under the Ministry of Supply.
Development
TREAC was developed in the early 1950s. TREAC produced the first computer synthesised music. It ran its first computer program in 1953; from 1958 different sorts of computer programs could be written. All information was fed in and fed out on punched paper tape. TREAC was a parallel computer
Parallel computing is a type of computation in which many calculations or processes are carried out simultaneously. Large problems can often be divided into smaller ones, which can then be solved at the same time. There are several different fo ...
, the first in the UK.
Closure
TREAC was switched off in 1962, and replaced with the Royal Radar Establishment Automatic Computer (RREAC, the UK's first solid state computer).
See also
* Hollerith Electronic Computer
The Hollerith Electronic Computer (HEC) was produced by the British Tabulating Machine Company (BTM) and was based on a design by Professor Andrew Booth of Birkbeck College, London. It was Britain's first mass-produced business computer. The pro ...
* SEAC (computer)
SEAC (''Standards Eastern Automatic Computer'' or ''Standards Electronic Automatic Computer'') was a first-generation electronic computer, built in 1950 by the U.S. National Bureau of Standards (NBS) and was initially called the ''National Bur ...
* SWAC (computer)
The SWAC (Standards Western Automatic Computer) was an early electronic digital computer built in 1950 by the U.S. National Bureau of Standards (NBS) in Los Angeles, California. It was designed by Harry Huskey.
Overview
Like the SEAC which w ...
References
{{reflist
1950s computers
Computer music
Computer-related introductions in 1953
Early British computers
Malvern, Worcestershire
Musical instruments invented in the 1950s
Science and technology in Worcestershire
Synthesizer electronics