Keywords: Polytechnic Museum, collection, personal funds, electronic digital computing machines, using simulations

The Polytechnic Museum has the Fund Collection "Electronic Digital Computing Machines". There are more than seven hundred objects and over two thousands documentary, printed and graphic items today. All four generations of electronic digital computing machines are presented in the Museum. Some of the EDCM are working. In addition, the Museum created fourteen personal funds of Russian scientists who devoted their activity to computer science. This computers' collection is the only one of such variety and size in Russia.

The fund collection of "Electronic Digital Computing Machines" (EDCM) was formed in the 1960s. There are more than seven hundred objects and two thousand documentary, printed, and graphical items today. The Museum created thirteen personal funds of Russian scientists who devoted their activity to computer science: S. Lebedev, I. Bruk, B. Rameev, V. Glushkov, A. Lyapunov, U. Bazilevskiy, N. Matjukhin, M. Kartsev, A. Kitov, N. Brousentsov, V. Petrov, V. Burtsev, S. Mergelyan. It is very important to point out that this fund collection is the only one of such variety and size in Russia.

The first electronic digital computing machines appeared in the USSR in 1951 and allowed scientists to solve difficult scientific and technical tasks. They were the Small Electronic Calculating Machine (МESМ), developed under the leadership of academician Sergei Lebedev, and the Automatic Digital Computer (M-1), developed under the leadership of Isaak Bruk. N. Matjukhin and M. Kartsev were among the developers of the M-1 computer and later, they created their own computer engineering schools. The documentary materials about these machines and their developers were demonstrated in the Museum halls of datamation. The original report of the M-1 Automatic Digital Computer, developed in the Laboratory of Electrosystems at the Institute of Energy of the USSR Academy of Sciences, is one of the most interesting documents in our department.

In 1948, Isaak Bruk together with Bashir Rameev received the first author's certificate of the Automatic Digital Computing Machine in Russia. The Museum is the keeper of this certificate. Later, B. Rameev created the "Ural" family of computers. One could see the Small Automatic Electronic Digital Computing Machine "Ural-1" (Fig. 1) in the Polytechnic Museum exhibition. Some Museum objects of computer science have obtained the status of "Relic of science and technology"; as such, they are under the protection of the Museum and the state. The Small Automatic Electronic Digital Computing Machine "Ural-1", some units of the first Soviet serial computer "Strela" and other Museum objects have such designated status. There are several units of the first Soviet serial computer "Strela", developed in 1952 by the Special Design Bureau SDB-245 in the EDCM Fund collection of Polytechnic Museum. These are the fragments of the Control Panel (Fig. 2), several processor blocks realized on the vacuum-valves (Fig. 3), six cathoderay tubes (elements of quick-access storage) and wide ferromagnetic tape used as an external information carrier (Fig. 4). Usually all electronic digital computing machines are divided into four generations. The Small Automatic Electronic Digital Computing Machine "Ural-1"and the first Soviet serial computer "Strela" present the first generation of machines in the Museum. The processor of these machines was realized on electronic tubes, and the operative memory was realized on magnetic drum or cathode-ray tubes.

Then the second generation of machines is represented by the electronic digital computing machine "Razdan-3" (Fig. 5) and others soviet mainframes. The processor was built by using semiconductors and operative memory was built of ferrite cores. There were several ferrite cubes in one machine. There are many matrixes of ferrite cores inside such cube. We can see how these devices worked on the demonstration model.

The Museum collects and keeps the various types of memory on ferrite cores. For example, it contains the Ferrite Cube of the Operative Memory of the Electronic Computing Machine (ECM) M-4 (Fig. 6), developed under the leadership of M. Kartsev. The capacitor-type ROM block of the ECM M10 (Fig. 7) is a very interesting object, which was designed in the Scientific Research Institute of Computing Complexes also under the leadership of M. Kartsev. The unified system of electronic computing machines on integrated circuits represents the third generation, developed in the USSR at the beginning of the 1970s in cooperation with the socialist countries. It represents a family of software compatible machines with different productivities that build on the unified elemental and constructive base with a unified structure and a unified set of peripheral units. The processor and the operative memory were mounted on integrated circuits.

A remarkable exclusion is the experience of creating the ternary computers "Setun" (Fig. 8) and "Setun-70" at Moscow State University. The experience convincingly confirms practical preferences of ternary digital techniques. N. Brousentsov initiated the design of small digital computing machine "Setun" in 1956. (Note that Setun is the little river that flows into the river "Moscow" near the University.) The Setun was a small, inexpensive computer that was simple to use and to service for schools, research laboratories, offices, and manufacture control. Fast miniature ferrite cores and semiconductor diodes were used as the element base for this machine. Simplicity, economy, and elegance of computer architecture are the direct and practically very important consequences of ternary machines. The computer "Setun" has the status of "Relic of science and technology". The Computing Center with the third generation machine is showed through the scale model of the Electronic Computing Machine US-1050 (Fig. 9) and some original units of this machine (Fig. 10). Visitors can see integrated circuits, which made the peculiar revolution in computing science, on the boards of the operative memory of the ES-3222. Plotters were used widely with these machines for the first time. The processor and operative memory of the fourth generation of electronic computing machines appeared on very large-scale integrated circuits. We demonstrate the functioning of one of the first such Soviet computersthe Microprocessor Laboratory "MikroLab KP580ИK80" in the Museum.

There is a unique computer for spaceship use called the "Argon-16" (Fig. 11), that can be seen only in this Museum. It contained a synchronous computer system with triple redundancy and majorization carried out on per unit base with eight levels. It consists of three computers with data channels and a set of interfaces to the control system. The instruction set is specially designed for control tasks. I/O operations combine with the calculation process. Since 1975, the "Argon-16" computer became the basic component of control systems of "Soyuz" spaceship, the "Progress" transport ships, and orbital space stations "Salute", "Almaz", and "Mir". Exclusive reliability had provided long usage for it. The total output for these machines is 380. No failure of the system was noted during its twenty-five years of operation when working in control systems. It is unrivalled among space computers by production volume. The specialized computers for aviation are presented in the Museum exposition.

In 2005, the Museum received the "El'brus 3.1" super computer system (Fig. 12), developed at the Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Technology. It also received one processor block and one operative memory block of the "Electronica SS BIS-1" super computer (Fig. 13), created under the leadership of academician V. Mel'nikov at the Cybernetics Problems Institute and the "Del'ta" Scientific Research Institute. In addition, the Museum actively collects Russian and foreign personal computers. Up to the end of the last year we had the Museum's halls devoted to Soviet scientists and engineers who worked in computing science. The visitors could see documentary, printings, and graphic materials of scientific, official, and biographic activity. Also there are materials about international recognition of Russian scientists in computer science. The International Computer Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers awards scientists of different countries the title "Computer Pioneer". Russian scientists S. Lebedev, A. Lyapunov, and V.Glushkov received this title in 1996. The children of these scientists presented the diplomas and large bronze medals to the Museum.

Since 1994, the Department of Computer Engineering and the Automatics Department of the Russian Academy of Science awards a premium, named after S. Lebedev, for successes in the area of computing systems development. This Museum keeps copies of the diplomas awarded by the Russian Academy of Sciences to Russian scientists.

Unfortunately, it is practically impossible to restore the first electronic digital machines for demonstration of their work. However, with the aid of modern computers it is possible to show the operation of the separate devices. One of such complex demonstration was created on the base of plotter "US-7051M" and the personal computer, which works in the DOS medium. This plotter worked under the control of a special block in composition of United System computers. We didn't have such a control block, but a student of Moscow Institute of Electronic and Mathematics, Dmitry Schepovalin developed a new interface between this plotter and personal computer on modern microchips (integrated circuits). The control programs, written in the algorithmic language C++, and the demonstration programs allowed drawings of images chosen by the user from the computer library, for example, the logo of the Polytechnic Museum. It is important to note that in the created demonstration complex in the base of plotter US-7051 and personal computer partially the history of appearance and development of the algorithmic languages is reflected and remains the same.

With the aid of a modern multimedia computer, it was possible to listen to computer music: from the first solo-voice melodies "Uralskie napevy" of R. Zaripov, to the polyphonic compositions of A. Stepanov (played on the first computing machines in the 1960s). They were rewritten from old recording tapes.

In 2005, the Museum began to carry out work according to digitization of video films from the scientific-auxiliary fund of the Museum. Five films are already in digital format. For example, the Museum digitized "Academician Lebedev", "Machine Geometry and Graphics" and "Curved Surfaces in Automatization System". The Museum plans to continue this work.

At this time the Polytechnic Museum has entered a period of global modernization. The Board of Trustees of the Museum adopted a new scientific concept of exposition of the Museum, the proposed "Event Communication". The Museum staffs are working on the creation of new expositions together with colleagues from the "Event Communication". The Duffel Fund of the Museum will be transported to the Territory of Techno Park of one of the former car factories. Temporary exhibition will be created in the Pavilion «Transport» on the territory of the all-Russia Exhibition Center. The Museum must vacate the building fully by July 2013. Then its reconstruction will begin.

The updated exposition on the history of electronic computing machinery is intended to make this more understandable and accessible for all categories of visitors. Today many people are active users of personal computers and know that their main devices are CPU, memory, external devices for changing information, but they are hidden from our eyes. All these devices are in the computers of all generations, but in the first three generations of computer we can see these directly and observe the evolution of the element's base. Now many of the students who will be specialists in information technologies don't know about the first computers and don't know about the existence of supercomputers. Frequently we can hear from visitors: «I thought that computers are only desktop!». For many, the history of computers consists of a maximum of the last 2 decades. An understanding of the history of computing needs to show all computer generations and compare the characteristics of these devices.

As is well known, the operating exhibits caused the greatest interest among the visitors. In the Polytechnic Museum Small automatic electronic computing machine «Ural-1» was exhibited, which was released by the Penza computing-analytical machines plant in 1959. It is the tubes computer extant in Russia fully. Of course more visitors would be interesting to see how this machine works. This complex problem was decided by two Moscow students Mixail Glyanenko and Dmitry Solov'ev. They developed and implemented a demonstration complex on the basis of a Small automatic computer «Ural-1». The students used modern integrated circuits instead of the processor based on electronic lamps and memory on a magnetic drum. For demonstration of the functioning of the machine a very simple task was selected: addition in binary code. The solution of this task can be observed on the indication panel. At the same time the electronic lamps of the processor glow. Thus, visitors get a full idea about how worked the very first computers.

Fig. 1 :

 1 Fig.1: The Small Automatic Electronic Digital Computing Machine "Ural-1" at the Polytechnic Museum.

Fig. 2 :Fig. 3 :Fig. 4 :

 234 Fig.2: The Control Panel fragment of the first Soviet serial computer "Strela"

Fig. 5 :Fig. 6 :Fig. 7 :

 567 Fig. 5: The electronic digital computing machine "Razdan-3"

Fig. 8 :

 8 Fig. 8: The Control Panel of the ternary computer "Setun"

Fig. 9 :Fig. 10 :

 910 Fig. 9: The scale model of the Electronic Computing Machine US-1050

Fig. 11 :

 11 Fig. 11: The computer for spaceship "Argon-16"

Fig. 12 :Fig. 13 :

 1213 Fig. 12:The "El'brus 3.1" super computer system

Fig. 14 :

 14 Fig. 14: The working BESM-6

In 2012, the Museum got working the BESM-6 (High-speed Electronic Counting Machine) (Fig. 14), the best semiconductor computer, which was created in the USSR. Now this Machine is in the Museum's Depository. After the reconstruction of the Museum's building BESM-6 will be exhibited and I hope that we will be able to show visitors its work. There are more specialists who were involved in building or using this machine and I am sure of their support.

Many visitors do not know about the most important task of computers: to compute, and solve the most complicated scientific-technical and engineering tasks. Many of our contemporaries think that computers are designed for office work and games. It is therefore important to show clearly what problems were solved on the first computers and on the most modern powerful super-computers.

Also the preservation of the past years' software is very difficult, and especially its demonstration in the Museum space. The corresponding working equipment is required to demonstrate such programs. It's possible for personal computers, but for the old mainframe it's a practically impossible task.


Delphine Jenart
email: delphine.jenart@mundaneum.be

"The Internet: a Belgian story?" The Mundaneum Creating a new forum to debate the Internet issue in the French-speaking part of Belgium

Keywords: Information science, heritage, Paul Otlet, Henri La Fontaine, Universal Decimal Classification, Universal Bibliographic Repertory, information technology, search engine, museum, archives, Belgium, Unesco

Today the Mundaneum in Belgium is an archives centre and a museum. But the origins of the Mundaneum go back to the late nineteenth century. Created in Brussels by two Belgian jurists, Paul Otlet (1868-1944), the father of documentation, and Henri La Fontaine , Nobel Peace Prize, the project aimed at gathering the entire world's knowledge to file it using the Universal Decimal Classification system that they had created. Today their work is interpreted as the first paper search engine in History. The cultural project of the institution is both aimed at highlighting the heritage and questioning the future of access to knowledge.

 Brussels, 1934. "Here, the work desk is no longer loaded with books. Instead, there is a screen, and within easy reach, a telephone. All the books and all the information are somewhere else, far away, in a huge building. From there, the page that needs to be read is made to appear on the screen to find the answer to the question asked on the telephone. " Paul Otlet (1868-1944), Treaties on Documentation.

Without knowing that this was written in 1934 by a lawyer passionate about bibliography, these few sentences may seem somewhat insignificant. However, today they provide an insight into a work that was clearly ahead of its time.

Mons, 6 June 2012, 11:32 p.m. In the wake of the World Science Festival in New York1 , the story had just broken on Yahoo! News: "The history of the Internet has been traced back even further into the past. The concept of the "web" in fact dates back to 1934..."

At the time when we were celebrating the 20 th anniversary of the World Wide Web and the 30 th anniversary of the Internet (1983Internet ( -2013)), the Mundaneum, created at the beginning of the 20 th century by Belgians Paul Otlet and Henri La Fontaine, invited us to discover a new perspective on the history of information and communication technologies.

Robert Cailliau, co-founder of the World Wide Web together with Tim Berners Lee (CERN, 1989), admitted2 : "The history of the Mundaneum confirms my beliefs with regards to the invention of the Web: it isn't an invention, but rather a convergence of elements and precursors which have more or less laid the foundations of what we know today; attempts which have been of huge importance. We were just in the right place at the right time to launch what we now call the Web..."

A Little Bit of History

The Mundaneum is the work of two Belgian Lawyers, Paul Otlet (1868-1944) and Henri La Fontaine (1854-1943, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1913). At the end of the 19 th century, both men aspired to collect and index all knowledge in order to share it on a global scale and thereby promote the idea of peace between nations. It was in Brussels in 1895 that the men laid the foundations of the Office International de Bibliographie (OIB). Otlet and La Fontaine drew upon the knowledge and techniques of their time to design and build the very first paper search engine, The "Universal Bibliographic Repertory", based on record cards indexed using the "Universal Decimal Classification" system (UDC), which they developed from American librarian Melvil Dewey's Decimal Classification. The UDC is still used in libraries today, but Paul Otlet and Henri La Fontaine's contribution to the science of modern information management is not limited to just this classification system. As a true data scientist, in 1934 Paul Otlet had already sized up the challenge of the years to come: "Mankind is at a turning point in its history. The mass of data acquired is astounding. We need new instruments to simplify it, to condense it, or intelligence will never be able to overcome the difficulties imposed upon it or achieve the progress that it foresees and to which it aspires." (Paul Otlet, Treaties on Documentation, 1934) At the heart of their era, Paul Otlet and Henri La Fontaine were truly passionate about the culture of the network. As such, they set up a global intellectual cooperation network rallying together multiple institutions, such as universities, libraries and associations from around the world, to ensure their project's success. Thanks to their lobbying skills, they formed an international relations network which included personalities such as the Lumière brothers, Ernest Solvay and even the American industrialist and pacifist Andrew Carnegie. The Mundaneum, birthplace of international institutions dedicated to knowledge and brotherhood, became a universal documentation centre over the course of the 20 th century. Its collections, comprising thousands of books, newspapers, small documents, posters, glass plates, postcards, and bibliographic records were gathered and stored in different locations around Brussels, including the Palais du Cinquantenaire, built in 1880 to celebrate the 50 th anniversary of Belgium's independence.

This gave rise to a much more grandiose project in the mind of Paul Otlet: that of the World City, for which the French architect Le Corbusier would create plans and models. The aim of the City was to bring together the major institutions of intellectual work, such as libraries, museums and universities, on a global scale. Unfortunately, this project would never actually come to fruition.

The Mundaneum project, deeply rooted in utopian ideals, was quickly confronted with the magnitude of the technical development of its era. Now located in the French speaking part of Belgium in the city of Mons, just a few miles from Brussels, the Mundaneum has become an Archive Centre of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation (Belgian State) and a temporary exhibition space. Mons is preparing itself to turn into a European capital of Culture in 2015.

The documentary heritage that is currently archived there is made up of the personal archives of its founders, books, small documents, posters, post cards, glass plates, the Universal Bibliographic Repertory (UBR), the International Press Museum and archive collections relating to three main themes: pacifism, anarchism and feminism. In June 2013 the UBR was added to the Unesco's "Memory of the World" Register3 .

Since the publication of the first biography of Paul Otlet in 1974, "The Universe of Information: the Work of Paul Otlet for Documentation and international Organization", by an Australian student named Boyd Rayward 4 , a large international scientific community has developed around the legacy of the founders of the Mundaneum.

Today, thanks to an abundance of literature (MIT press, Harvard University, the University of Indiana, the University of Illinois, Ghent University, Cambridge, Paris Sorbonne, UCLA-Berkeley, the Universities of Hamburg, Bologna, Montreal, and so on), Paul Otlet's undeniable contribution to information science during the 20 th century and to our understanding of information technologies is now recognised.

At the heart of our information society, the Mundaneum project keeps its purpose alive by constantly updating its message. Bringing the ideas, archives and collections bequeathed by its founders face to face with current and future social issues: this is the ambition of the Mundaneum, which is currently looking toward "Mons, European Capital of Culture 2015", whose leitmotiv is none other than "Where technology meets culture"!

Making the History of Computing Relevant

It took the digital revolution for us to recognise Paul Otlet as the visionary that he was... but also to realise that the origins of information and communication technologies are much more deeply rooted in the history of mankind, and came long before the appearance of the first calculators. Could it be, as suggested by Alex Wright, journalist at the New York Times who wrote this great article about the Mundaneum "The web time forgot" and author of "GLUT: Mastering information through the ages", that it is "the way the technology industry works which discourages perception of the historical context"?

French philosopher Michel Serres describes the advent of information technologies as "a cultural and cognitive revolution". This relates to the very depths of our being: our language, our "existence in the world". The legitimacy of its history makes the Mundaneum a unique place which offers a critical reflection on the digital revolution, of which we are all witnesses and participants. It is a revolution that has resulted in an emergent culture which affects all generations. Today, the Mundaneum takes on meaning in this new cultural landscape. This is why, more than ever, the Mundaneum is turning towards the younger generation who were born into the "digital age".

As a place where history meets technology, the Mundaneum dares to be a space for the socio-cultural mediation of communication technologies.

Spurred on by the revolution, the scope for action and reflection is immense: Identifying and promoting the understanding of the social impact of these technologies, bringing ICTs and people closer together and demystifying their use, helping people understand how they can be used as medium for building social ties, encouraging everyone to consider their own status as a digital citizen and not only as a consumer of technologies, making the public aware of the development of new knowledge as well as new identities in the web 2.0 era based on issues linked to data organisation and control (big data, open data, etc.), promoting the society of knowledge by highlighting strategies for sharing knowledge, discussing issues related to freedom of expression on the Internet but also respecting and protecting the privacy of others, highlighting the scientific developments that foretell of a near future where technology permeates all aspects of our everyday lives... In light of this vision, in 2010 the Mundaneum started to offer a programme of events dedicated to these issues. The launch of the collaboration between the Mundaneum and Google in 2012 (formalised in 2013) was intended to give greater impetus to this socio-cultural mediation projectthe only one of its kind in Belgium! Among the events organised by the Mundaneum are:  An exhibition on the organisation of knowledge ("Renaissance 2.0 : a journey through the origins of the web5 ")  A series of conferences/debates based on "The impact of information and communication technologies on society", addressing many topics from the freedom of expression on the Internet, digital studies, the Internet and multilingualism to scientific mediation in the Web 2.0 era, to name a few  A series of large conferences led by Google aiming to highlight the European pioneers of computing history, during which we had the opportunity of welcoming Frenchman Louis Pouzin, inventor of the datagram, the Belgian Robert Cailliau, co-founder of the WWW at CERN, and even the researchers Alex Wright (USA), journalist for the New York Times, and Boyd Rayward (Australia), biographer of Paul Otlet, on "The forgotten pioneers of the history of the Internet "  Every exhibition at the Mundaneum becomes the subject of significant pedagogical mediation (50% of the Mundaneum's visitors are made up of school groups), including ICTs (development of a serious game to enhance the museum visit)  The organisation of a 'web fair day' designed to bring together young businesses that are involved in the web and the digital domain and students who are in the process of choosing their career path

The creation of a space6 dedicated to the Mundaneum on the Google Cultural Institute international platform (digital archives.mundaneum.org), which enables the Mundaneum to share its archives on a global scale and also to publish them in an aesthetically pleasing format.

Figure 1 :

 1 Figure 1: Paul Otlet, father of Documentation, Brussels, 1934 (collections of the Mundaneum)

Figure 2 :Figure 3 :

 23 Figure 2: Henri La Fontaine, Nobel Prize for Peace in 1913 (collections of the Mundaneum)

Figure 4 :

 4 Figure 4: Sketches by Paul Otlet, Brussels, between 1900 and 1934 (collections of the Mundaneum) "It was a steampunk version of hypertext!" exclaimed the co-founder of Wired magazine (USA) and author of "What Technology Wants", Kevin Kelly, when he discovered Otlet's work. "The Semantic Web is rather Otlet-ish", maintains Michael Buckland, professor at the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley.

Figure 5 :

 5 Figure 5: Andrew Carnegie's visit to the "Palais mondial", Cinquantenaire, Brussels, 1913 (collections of the Mundaneum)

World Science Festival, New York, June

: http://worldsciencefestival.com/blog/alex_wright_premonitions_of_the_internet

October 2012, RTBF La Première (www.rtbf.be)

UNESCO Memory of the World : http://www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-andinformation/flagship-project-activities/memory-of-the-world/register/full-list-of-registeredheritage/registered-heritage-page-9/universal-bibliographic-

repertory/ 4 University of Illinois, USA

Mundaneum : http://expositions.mundaneum.org/en/exhibitions/renaissance2.0-en

Google cultural Institute : http://digitalarchives.mundaneum.org


Herbert Bruderer
email: herbert.bruderer@inf.ethz.ch

ERMETH, ETH archives, Hasler A G Cora

Heinz Rutishauser

M9 (=Z9 Konrad Zuse

Discovery of Two Historical Computers in Switzerland: Zuse Machine M9 and Contraves Cora and Discovery of Unknown Documents on the Early History of Computing at the ETH Archives

we have been trying to find out more about the beginnings of computer science in Switzerland and abroad. Most eyewitnesses have already died or are over 80 years old. In general, early analog and digital computers have been dismantled long ago. Subject to exceptions, the few remaining devices are no longer functioning. Many documents have gone lost. Therefore investigations are difficult and very time-consuming. However, we were able to discover several unknown historical computers and hundreds of exciting documents of the 1950s.

Introduction

My investigations into the history of computing started in 2009 in connection with the Zuse centenary (100 th birthday of the German computer pioneer in 2010). The goal was to get a more comprehensive and deeper understanding of the events of the pioneering days. Coincidentally and to our surprise we discovered the programcontrolled Zuse relay calculator M9 whose existence was unknown even to computer scientists. Shortly afterwards another machine emerged: the Swiss made transistor computer Cora. From 2010 to 2013 several contemporary eyewitness discussions concerning M9 and Cora took place. In addition to the oral history we attempted to find objects which may have been conserved. To our knowledge, in both cases only a single machine has survived. For the first time, the ETH archives in Zurich were systematically examined with regard to the early history of computing. We soon became aware of their rich cultural heritage. The archives are indeed a true treasure for the history of technology. Research is still ongoing.

Discovery of Historical Computers

2011 to 2013: Discovery of Unknown Documents on the Early History of Computing

We found very interesting documents in the archives of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich (ETH Zurich). Other findings relate to the Museum für Kommunikation. The documents mostly refer to the electromechanical digital Z4 and the electronic digital ERMETH. These letters, contracts, reports, and papers necessitate a (at least partial) rewriting of the early history of computing in Switzerland and elsewhere.

Zuse Machine Z4

In 1950, ETH was the only university in Continental Europe with a functioning computer. Zuse's digital relay calculator Z4 was in operation in Zurich from 1950 to 1955. ETH had rented the machine. In many respects, Z4 was more modern than its American counterparts because it was a program-controlled binary device using floating-point arithmetic. Overall cost: 50 000 Swiss francs. The Z4 solved some 100 numerical problems, for example calculations about the world's highest massive dam (Grande Dixence, Swiss Alps) and the Swiss jet fighter P-16. Wolfgang Pauli, Nobel prize laureate in physics, was probably the most famous user of the Z4. In 1951, Heinz Rutishauer independently invented the concept of a language compiler. At that time this method was called automatic programming. He was one of the principal creators of the programming language Algol. The experience gained with the Z4 facilitated the self-made construction ERMETH. Thanks to the rental of the Z4 by ETH and Remington Rand's order of a series of M9, the Zuse KG was able to survive.

A Selection of the New Documents Found in Switzerland

 Zuse's intention to flee (sic!) to Switzerland in 1949 with his principal engineers and their families. What was the reason for Zuse's anxiety?  Several rather complex contracts between Zuse KG and ETH concerning the Z4 (1949). At last, we now know the exact cost of the Z4 (50 000 Swiss francs).  Howard Aiken's favourable evaluation of the project ERMETH (1952).  Answer to the question: Why did ETH prefer to design and build ERMETH instead of buying a computer such as Ferranti?  Documents on the dramatic story of the construction of ERMETH: serious problems with the magnetic drum storage, the M10 disaster (failure of Remington Rand to produce a complex calculating punch), bankruptcy of the provider of the power supply, the insufficient air-conditioning plant from Sulzer, the premature departure of chief engineer Ambros Speiser to IBM at the end of 1955, the permanent shortage of money, etc. All this caused a delay of about two years.  The licensing agreement between Hasler AG (now Ascom), Berne, and ETH concerning the magnetic drum of the ERMETH (1955).  Letters confirming Hasler's intention to commercialize the ERMETH in Europe and USA (1954). This dream seems to have been spoilt by IBM and Speiser respectively.  The competition arising from new US research laboratories (Battelle, Radio Corporation of America and IBM) challenging Swiss industry and science (headhunting of top scientists thanks to high salaries).  A research contract between Paillard SA, Yverdon, and ETH regarding the design of a small digital electronic computer (1957)(1958)(1959)(1960).  Detailed correspondence mainly between Hans Pallmann (president of ETH council) and Eduard Stiefel (founder of the institute of applied mathematics at ETH) related with Z4 and ERMETH.  Correspondence between ETH and Remington Rand/Mithra AG. Mithra was a subsidiary of Remington Rand (Switzerland), but was later directly governed by Remington Rand (USA). Mithra encountered insurmountable technical difficulties during the construction of M10 (successor to M9). ETH had ordered two machines. After a delay of three years they suddenly gave it up. Because of the problems, Presper Eckert, chief engineer of ENIAC, came to Zurich. In the end, the M10 was replaced by two Univac 120 machines. By the way, John Mauchly and Presper Eckert had Swiss ancestors.  Establishment of an international computer laboratory by Unesco in Europe.

In 1951, the University of Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) had applied for this center but later they cancelled the offer. In the end, the laboratory was established in Rome.

Additions

Conclusions

The history on the invention of the computer is full of controversy and often rather patriotic, biased or plainly wrong. Three nations -USA, England and Germanyclaim to have invented the computer. Who is right? The answer is quite simple: The computer was independently born in these three countries. The actual response depends on the definition of the computer. The archives of ETH Zurich are a very precious place for further research into the early history of computing. The newly found documents prove that the ETH president Hans Pallmann played a decisive role in renting the German Zuse relay computer Z4 and in building the Swiss electronic digital computer ERMETH. There are still many open questions: Where are the archives of Zuse KG? Who told Stiefel about the Z4? And we still miss the experimental magnetic drum fabricated by ETH and sold to Zuse. Did Contraves design another computer (C2000)?

The Z4 and the M9 (=Z9) are the only two early Zuse devices which were conserved. The original Z4 is exhibited at the Deutsches Museum, Munich. The M9 and the ERMETH are to be found at the Museum für Kommunikation in Berne.

2. 1

 1 2010: discovery of the Zuse Machine M9 (=Z9)The M9 was the first program-controlled Zuse machine manufactured in series (25-30 copies). Remington Rand AG, Zurich, initiated the design and construction of the M9 by Zuse KG. M9 is equal to Z9. The name derives from Mithra AG, a Zurich based subsidiary of Remington Rand. It was chosen in order to avoid patent contests. In 2011, we found unique photographs and drawings of the M9 in the Swiss mountain valley of Toggenburg. These are the only existing high-quality pictures of the Zuse calculating punch. To our knowledge, a single copy of an M9 has been preserved. It is now at the main repository of the Museum für Kommunikation in Berne. The machine had been used by the government of the city of Winterthur. We conducted a video interview (DVD) with three eyewitnesses (technical staff) of the M9.

Fig. 1 :

 1 Fig. 1: The program-controlled decimal Zuse relay calculator M9 (=Z9) at Dietfurt (Switzerland), © Max Forrer, Oberhelfenschwil

Fig. 2 :

 2 Fig. 2: The first Swiss transistor computer Cora 1 and its Hungarian designer Peter Toth, ©Musée Bolo, EPFL Lausanne

Fig. 3 :Fig. 4 :

 34 Fig. 3: The Zuse machine Z4 (with floating-point arithmetic) at Hopferau (Bavaria) was in a bad condition (1949), © ETH Zurich, Bildarchiv

Fig. 5 :Fig. 6 :

 56 Fig. 5: The world's highest massive dam (Swiss Alps). The Z4 calculated the tensions, ©Grande Dixence SA/essencedesgin.com

Fig. 7 :Fig. 8 :

 78 Fig. 7: The first Swiss computer, the stored-program decimal electronic digital ERMETH, ETH Zurich (1956), © Museum für Kommunikation, Berne

  Other significant Swiss achievements were the innovative work stations Lilith (1978, sold as Diser) and Ceres (1986) as well as influential programming languages like Pascal (1970), Modula, Oberon (by Turing award winner Niklaus Wirth and Jürg Gutknecht).  Falsification. I received three detailed alleged eyewitness reports on Alan Turing, Contraves AG and Paillard SA. They were provided by the same author. The falsified adventurous paper on Turing is a product of fantasy, the text on Contraves is at least partially falsified. The articles on Contraves and Paillard have been published in a shortened version in "Ingenieure bauen die Schweiz" (NZZ publishers, Zurich 2013).

	 Mysterious meeting between the computer pioneers Alan Turing and
	Konrad Zuse. Did Konrad Zuse meet Alan Turing in Göttingen in 1947?
	The German inventor Heinz Billing mentions an interrogation by British
	computer scientists in his memoirs. Unfortunately we did not find any further
	proofs.
	 Paul Bernays enforces a correction of Turing's paper "On computable
	numbers". In 1936, Paul Bernays, a mathematician at ETH, detects some
	errors in Turing's famous paper. Turing therefore published a correction in
	1937.
	 Later Swiss inventions.

Acknowledgements

The author is very thankful for the help of the ETH archives' staff.