Today we can no longer imagine life without computers. Every step in modern life is connected with computers: at work, in government agencies and at home. How and when did it appear the very first computer in the world?

The story began back in the distant forties. No matter how bad it was, it was she who gave a powerful impetus to the development of technology, and it was in those years that the first ideas of computers were born and implemented.

All early computers took up huge amounts of space, consumed a lot of energy, and had very limited functionality. There were no monitors yet, and lamp panels were used to display information or feedback.

First monsters!

The first computer, which had all the properties of a computer, was invented by the German scientist Konrad Zuse in 1941. It was called Z3, and was a binary computer operating on the basis of telephone relays with a clock frequency of 5.33 Hz. This computer also had a data storage device, also based on telephone relays, with 2200 memory cells. Previously, this scientist also had experimental models Z1 and Z2, but it is Z3 that is considered more like a computer.

Z3 was used by the German Institute of Aerodynamics to calculate the structures of aircraft and guided missiles. But, unfortunately, the prototype of the very first computer in the world in a single copy was destroyed during a raid in 1943 (then a reconstruction was carried out in 1960). But the Z3 was much smaller than later American models. And, besides, it was binary like modern computers, and not decimal.

The very first programmable computer in the world was designed and built in 1941 by Harvard mathematician Howard Aickson together with IBM engineers. But the official launch took place on August 7, 1944. The Mark 1 computer was located at Harvard University.

The computer cost $500,000. It was assembled from stainless steel and glass, was 2.5 meters high and 17 meters long. The computer weighed 4.5 tons and occupied an area of ​​several tens of square meters. It worked on electromechanical relays and had a total number of parts of about 765,000 pieces.

The world's very first computer had wires with a total length of almost 800 kilometers. He could operate with 72 numbers of 23 decimal places. The computer spent 3 seconds on each subtraction or addition operation, and 6 and 15.3 seconds on multiplication and division operations, respectively. Computer programming and data entry were carried out using punched cards.

Mark 1 was the very first automatic computing machine that did not require human intervention to complete its program.