Computing Atlas

How Computing Was Built
Systems

Manchester Baby

Also Known As Small-Scale Experimental Machine
Early Computer

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The Manchester Baby, also called the Small-Scale Experimental Machine, was the first electronic stored program computer: the first machine to hold its own program in the same memory as its data, which is the organization every modern computer uses. It was built at the Victoria University of Manchester by Frederic C. Williams, Tom Kilburn and Geoff Tootill, and ran its first program on 21 June 1948, a date this atlas treats as the birthday of software as a thing a machine can hold.

Facts
Year
1948 1
Significance
The first electronic stored program computer; it ran the world's first stored program on 21 June 1948. 1
Cross-Tradition Connections

In Field

Predecessor Of

EDSAC, Systems
Source Wikipedia: EDSAC
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Manchester Baby
Wikimedia FoundationOpening section
Quote, Opening section
The Manchester Baby, also called the Small-Scale Experimental Machine (SSEM), was the first electronic stored-program computer.
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Wikipedia: EDSAC
Wikimedia FoundationPredecessor Of: EDSAC, Lead section
Quote, Predecessor Of: EDSAC, Lead section
the 1948 Manchester Baby computer predated EDSAC as a stored-program computer
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