The Swedish Board for Computing Machinery (, MMN) was a Swedish government agency which built

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

's first

computer A computer is a machine that can be Computer programming, programmed to automatically Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic set ...

BARK Bark may refer to: Common meanings * Bark (botany), an outer layer of a woody plant such as a tree or stick * Bark (sound), a vocalization of some animals (which is commonly the dog) Arts and entertainment * ''Bark'' (Jefferson Airplane album), ...

and

BESK BESK (''Binär Elektronisk SekvensKalkylator'', Swedish language, Swedish for "Binary Electronic Sequence Calculator") was Sweden's first electronic computer, using vacuum tubes instead of relays. It was developed by ''Matematikmaskinnämnden ...

. A governmental study into the need for computing machinery in Sweden had been conducted in 1947 by initiative of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (, IVA), founded on 24 October 1919 by King Gustaf V, is one of the royal academies in Sweden. The academy is an independent organisation, which promotes contact and exchange between business, ...

and the Naval Procurement Agency. The study recommended the immediate purchase of computing machinery from the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and a budget of 2 million SEK was allocated for the purpose. The Swedish Board for Computing Machinery was established on November 26, 1948, to handle the purchase.Den svenska IT-historien: Matematikmaskinnämnden
, accessed on August 30, 2009 The Academy of Engineering Sciences had initiated some activities already in 1947 by sending five young engineers and scientists to research groups in the United States to study the ongoing activities. Two were sent to

John von Neumann John von Neumann ( ; ; December 28, 1903 – February 8, 1957) was a Hungarian and American mathematician, physicist, computer scientist and engineer. Von Neumann had perhaps the widest coverage of any mathematician of his time, in ...

at Princeton, two to

Howard H. Aiken Howard Hathaway Aiken (March 8, 1900 – March 14, 1973) was an American physicist and a pioneer in computing. He was the original conceptual designer behind IBM's Harvard Mark I, the United States' first programmable computer. Biography ...

at Harvard, and one to

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

. When it turned out that it would not be possible for Sweden to get export licences for US-built computers, the activities of MMN quickly changed into constructing rather than importing computing machinery. The

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 switc ...

-based BARK, operational in 1950, was built as an interim measure. This was followed by the

vacuum tube A vacuum tube, electron tube, thermionic valve (British usage), or tube (North America) is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric voltage, potential difference has been applied. It ...

-based BESK, operational in 1954, which for a short time was the fastest computer in the world. In 1963, MMN was closed down. At that time, the Swedish government felt that there was no need for further computer development by a government agency, as computers were now an industrial product. MMN had never received funds to launch developments of a new generation of

transistor A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch electrical signals and electric power, power. It is one of the basic building blocks of modern electronics. It is composed of semicondu ...

-based computers, so when they were closed down, they were no longer in the forefront of computer development. Some years before, FACIT had recruited many key employees from MMN to its new division for electronic computers. FACIT EDB that were completed in 1957 was essentially a transistor-based version of BESK.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swedish Board For Computing Machinery Defunct government agencies of Sweden Science and technology in Sweden History of computing hardware 1948 establishments in Sweden 1963 disestablishments in Sweden Information technology in Sweden