main frame, for Automatic Computing Engine (ACE) pilot model, 1949
- maker:
- National Physical Laboratory and
- Osram





Main frame, for Automatic Computing Engine (ACE) pilot model, made at the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, London, England, and some of the valves by Osram, Germany, 1949. The construction of the (ACE) pilot model was based on designs by Alan Turing.
In 1945, while working at the National Physical Laboratory, the British mathematician Alan Turing formulated the design of an 'automatic computing engine' (ACE), which would have been the world's first general-purpose computer. He left the NPL in 1948, but this smaller 'pilot', or prototype, was made in his absence in 1950.
Although just a pilot version, this remarkable machine found a range of applications including working out the stresses on an aeroplane's fuselage.
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Details
- Category:
- Computing & Data Processing
- Object Number:
- 1956-152 Pt1
- Materials:
- aluminium (alloy), bakelite, copper (alloy), electrical components, metal (unknown), paper (fibre product), steel (metal), textile, tin (metal) and wiring solder
- type:
- mainframe
- taxonomy:
-
- furnishing and equipment
- tools & equipment
- furnishing and equipment
- tools & equipment
- computer
- credit:
- National Physical Laboratory.
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