Looking for the world's first electronic computer
Where was the world's first electronic computer born? Many people will say that the ENIAC computer (electronic digital integrator and computer), which was born and started running in Philadelphia on February 4th, 1946, is the first electronic computer in the world. However, careful readers will find that the birthplace of this computer, the University of Pennsylvania in the United States, only calls it "the first all-electronic digital computer" in its official documents. Why doesn't its owner call it the world's first electronic computer?
1997 10 10/2 1 day, the Imperial War Museum on the south bank of the Thames in London, England, began to hold an exhibition on password decoding during World War II. The words "Crosas, the first electronic computer in the world" suddenly appeared in the exhibition. It is said that "Crosas" came out more than two years before ENIAC computer. During World War II, it deciphered a large number of German secrets. After the war, it was secretly destroyed.
165438+ 10/4, the reporter drove to blakely park, 80km north of London, where he interviewed Mr Tony Searle, director of blakely Park Foundation. Braccili Park, the site of Britain's main code-deciphering troops during World War II, has now become a war museum.
Mr Searle was in no hurry to introduce the German computer to reporters. Instead, he first introduced the many struggles of the Allied Forces and Germany, Italy and Japan to decipher the code during World War II. Next to a Lorenz encryption machine captured from the German army, Mr. Searle told the story of this encryption machine. Lorenz encryption machine is the main encryption machine used for communication between senior German generals including Hitler in the late World War II. It is very difficult to decipher the encryption code, and Hitler thought "Lorenz" was invincible until his death.
The main purpose of developing "Crosas" computer is to decipher the password encrypted by "Lorenz" encryption machine. Mr Searle said, "It takes six to eight weeks to decipher this code by other methods, while it only takes six to eight hours to decipher it by using the Crosas computer. Therefore, since it was put into use, a large number of high-level military secrets of the German army were quickly deciphered, and the allies were even more powerful. "
The development of "Crosas" computer began in March of 1943 and was delivered to blakely Park at the end of the same year. 19 44 65438+1October 10, the "Crosas" computer started to run.
Mr Searle took the reporter to a very humble building, where he saw the unfinished replica of Crosas Computer Company. Mr. Searle showed photos, charts and other relevant raw materials to reporters, and pointed out that the main reason why Crosas computer was unknown was that it was originally a high-level military secret, and it was not until the 1970s that the relevant materials were gradually decrypted. The 10 computer developed during World War II was secretly destroyed after the war. He said: "Crosas's status as the world's first electronic computer has been gradually recognized."
Crosas computer is a cuboid with a length of 4.9 meters, a width of 65438 0.8 meters, a height of 2.3 meters and a weight of about 4 tons. Its main structure is two rows of shelves, and 2500 electron tubes with the size and shape like light bulbs are installed on the shelves. It uses punched paper tape to input information and automatic typewriter to output calculation results, which can process 5000 characters per second. Its power consumption is 4500 watts.
The person in charge of the computer development of Crosas is Dr Tommy Fairfax. 88-year-old Fei Rauls lives in seclusion in North London. According to his relatives and friends, he is very weak.
Mr Searle pointed out with regret that although the first electronic computer was born in Britain, Britain failed to seize the opportunity of the technological and industrial revolution triggered by computers. In contrast, the United States seized this historical opportunity to encourage the development of computer technology and industry, which led to the rise of a large number of computer industry giants and greatly promoted the development of America's comprehensive national strength. He said that at present, another information technology revolution led by the construction of the information superhighway is rising around the world. Whoever can better grasp this opportunity will be in an invincible position in the 2 1 century.