I’m slightly behind the times here, but the Harwell computer, used by Britain’s Atomic Energy Research Establishment (based in Harwell, Oxfordshire, hence the computer’s name, I suppose) is to be restored to working order.

For a computer that first ran in 1951, it has an impressive working life: it was finally decommissioned in 1973. It may not be the first stored program computer (that honour goes to the Manchester Baby, which first ran in 1949), but given that by the time it was out of use, we were already used to multi-user timeshare systems (such as UNIX, Multics or GECOS) and interactive terminals, as opposed to running programs from paper tape (see the video on the BBC page linked above – or the picture if you’re not based in the UK.)

Admittedly, the Harwell was only used for its intended purpose for seven years, and was then offered to colleges as a prize. It went to what is now Wolverhampton University, where they renamed it the WITCH (Wolverhampton Instrument for Teaching Computing from Harwell). Since then it’s been a museum exhibit, and was finally put into storage some time during the 1980s.

What is unique about the Harwell is that it is the earliest computer that might be rebuildable using original hardware. A replica of the SSEM (Manchester Baby) was built in 1998, parts of the Pilot ACE are on display in the Science Museum in London, and the EDSAC was broken up. But the Harwell just might come back into service. OK, it might not run a modern operating system, but it would be a fantastic piece of history to go and see. A working computer, with its original parts, 58 years old!

Tags: EDSAC, Harwell, Manchester Baby, Pilot ACE, SSEM, WITCH

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 at 20:50 and is filed under Retro. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.