Vacuum-tube computers, now called first-generation computers, are programmable digital computers using vacuum-tube logic circuitry. They were preceded by systems using electromechanical

relay A relay Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off A relay is an electrically operated switch ...

s and followed by systems built from discrete

transistor upright=1.4, gate (G), body (B), source (S) and drain (D) terminals. The gate is separated from the body by an insulating layer (pink). A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch ...

s. Some later computers on the list had both vacuum tubes and transistors. This list of vacuum-tube computers is sorted by date put into service: }) are identical, except input-output equipment. Both were used internally. , - , The Wegematic 1000 , , 1960 , , , Improved version of the

ALWAC III-E The ALWAC III-E was an early commercial vacuum-tube computer employing a rotating magnetic drum main storage unit, operational in 1955. It weighed about . The invention of the ALWAC III-E is attributed to Axel Wenner-Gren, and the name is derived ...

, - , ZRA 1 , , 1960 , , , Built by VEB Carl Zeiss, Jena, German Democratic RepublicSiegmar Gerber: ''Einsatz von Zeiss-Rechnern für Forschung, Lehre und Dienstleistung in Informatik in der DDR – eine Bilanz''. GI-Edition, Bonn 2006, p. 310–318 , - , Minsk-1 , , 1960 , , , Built in Minsk , - , Odra 1001 , , 1960 , , , First computer built by Elwro, Wroclaw, Poland , - , Minsk-1 , , 1960 , , , Built in Minsk , - , G3 , , 1961 , , , Built by the

Max Planck Institute for Physics The Max Planck Institute for Physics (MPP) is a physics institute in Munich, Germany that specializes in high energy physics and astroparticle physics. It is part of the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft and is also known as the Werner Heisenberg Inst ...

in Göttingen, esp. by Heinz Billing , - ,

Sumlock ANITA calculator The ANITA Mark VII and ANITA Mark VIII calculators were launched simultaneously in late 1961 as the world's first all- electronic desktop calculators. Designed and built by the Bell Punch Co. in Britain, and marketed through its Sumlock Co ...

, , 1961 , <10,000/year, , Desktop calculator , - , UMC-1 , , 1962 , , , Developed in Poland, it used the unusual negabinary number system internally , - ,

BRLESC The BRLESC I (Ballistic Research Laboratories Electronic Scientific Computer) was one of the last of the first-generation electronic computers. It was built by the United States Army's Ballistic Research Laboratory (BRL) at Aberdeen Proving Gro ...

, , 1962 , 1, , 1,727 tubes and 853 transistors , - , OSAGE , , 1963 , 1, , Close copy of the

Rice Institute Computer The Rice Institute Computer, also known as the Rice Computer or R1, was a 54-bit tagged architecture, section "II.", "PREVIOUS WORK" digital computer built during 1958–1961 (partially operational beginning in 1959) on the campus of Rice University ...

built at the

University of Oklahoma , mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State" , type = Public research university , established = , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.7billion (2021) , pr ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Vacuum Tube Computers Vacuum tube computers Computers, list of vacuum tube

See also

References