EDSAC 2

EDSAC 2
	EDSAC 2 users in 1960
Developer	University of Cambridge, Mathematical Laboratory, UK
Release date	1958; 66 years ago
CPU	20-bit instructions with 11-bit addresses, two index registers, microcoded; @ fixed point add: 17-42 microseconds, floating point add: 100-170 microseconds
Memory	1024 words RAM, 768 words ROM (core memory, 40-bit words)
Storage	block-structured magnetic tape, 16K words, core memory, added in 1962
Input	5-level paper tape, up to 1000 characters per second read, 300 cps punched output, two-out-of-five code
Predecessor	EDSAC

EDSAC 2 was an early computer (operational in 1958), the successor to the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC). It was the first computer to have a microprogrammed control unit and a bit-slice hardware architecture.^[1]

First calculations were performed on the incomplete machine in 1957.^[2] Calculations about elliptic curves performed on EDSAC-2 in the early 1960s led to the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture, a Millennium Prize Problem, unsolved as of 2024. And in 1963, Frederick Vine and Drummond Matthews used EDSAC 2 to generate a seafloor magnetic anomaly map from data collected in the Indian Ocean by H.M.S. Owen, key evidence that helped support Plate Tectonic theory.^[3]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Wilkes, M.V. (1992). "EDSAC 2". IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. 14 (4). PDF available by "View PDF" (expand "View on IEEE"): 49–56. doi:10.1109/85.194055. S2CID 11377060.
^ "New computer in Cambridge". New Scientist. Reed Business Information. 8 August 1957. p. 31.
^ Vine, Fred J.; Matthews, Drummond H. (1963). "Magnetic anomalies over oceanic ridges". Nature. 199 (4897): 947–949. Bibcode:1963Natur.199..947V. doi:10.1038/199947a0. S2CID 4296143.

External links

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[wilkes-1] Wilkes, M.V. (1992). "EDSAC 2". IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. 14 (4). PDF available by "View PDF" (expand "View on IEEE"): 49–56. doi:10.1109/85.194055. S2CID 11377060.

[2] "New computer in Cambridge". New Scientist. Reed Business Information. 8 August 1957. p. 31.

[3] Vine, Fred J.; Matthews, Drummond H. (1963). "Magnetic anomalies over oceanic ridges". Nature. 199 (4897): 947–949. Bibcode:1963Natur.199..947V. doi:10.1038/199947a0. S2CID 4296143.

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