The Z2 was an

electromechanical In engineering, electromechanics combines processes and procedures drawn from electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. Electromechanics focuses on the interaction of electrical and mechanical systems as a whole and how the two systems ...

(mechanical and relay-based)

digital computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These program ...

that was completed by

Konrad Zuse Konrad Ernst Otto Zuse (; 22 June 1910 – 18 December 1995) was a German civil engineer, pioneering computer scientist, inventor and businessman. His greatest achievement was the world's first programmable computer; the functional program ...

in 1940. It was an improvement on the Z1 Zuse built in his parents' home, which used the same mechanical

memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered ...

. In the Z2, he replaced the arithmetic and control logic with 600 electrical

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 ...

circuits, weighing over 600 pounds. The Z2 could read 64

words A word is a basic element of language that carries an objective or practical meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no conse ...

from punch cards. Photographs and plans for the Z2 were destroyed by the Allied bombing during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. In contrast to the Z1, the Z2 used 16-bit fixed-point arithmetic instead of 22-bit

floating point In computing, floating-point arithmetic (FP) is arithmetic that represents real numbers approximately, using an integer with a fixed precision, called the significand, scaled by an integer exponent of a fixed base. For example, 12.345 can b ...

. Zuse presented the Z2 in 1940 to members of the DVL (today DLR) and member , whose support helped fund the successor model Z3.

Specifications

References

External links

Z2
via Horst Zuse (son) web page
The Zuse Computers
(by Raúl Rojas) in RESURRECTION The Bulletin of the Computer Conservation Society Number 37 Spring 2006 Electro-mechanical computers Z02 Mechanical computers Computer-related introductions in 1940 Konrad Zuse German inventions of the Nazi period 1940s computers Computers designed in Germany {{compu-hardware-stub

Specifications

See also

References

External links