EDSAC

Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC)
	EDSAC I in June 1948
Developer	Maurice Wilkes and his team at the University of Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory
Manufacturer	University of Cambridge
Generation	1
Release date	6 May 1949
Lifespan	1949–1958
Discontinued	yes
Units shipped	1
Operating system	None
CPU	Derated thermionic valves
Memory	512 17-bit words, upgraded in 1952 to 1024 17-bit words (temperature-stabilized mercury delay lines)
Display	Teleprinter
Input	five-hole punched tape
Power	11 kW
Backward; compatibility	None
Successor	EDSAC 2 and LEO I
Related	EDVAC

The Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC) was an early British computer.^[1] Inspired by John von Neumann's seminal First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC, the machine was constructed by Maurice Wilkes and his team at the University of Cambridge Mathematical Laboratory in England. EDSAC was the second electronic digital stored-program computer to go into regular service.^[2]

Later the project was supported by J. Lyons & Co. Ltd., intending to develop a commercially applied computer and succeeding in Lyons' development of LEO I, based on the EDSAC design. Work on EDSAC started during 1947,^[3] and it ran its first programs on 6 May 1949, when it calculated a table of square numbers^[4] and a list of prime numbers.^[5]^[6] EDSAC was finally shut down on 11 July 1958, having been superseded by EDSAC 2, which remained in use until 1965.^[7]

^ Wilkes, W. V.; Renwick, W. (1950). "The EDSAC (Electronic delay storage automatic calculator)". Math. Comp. 4 (30): 61–65. doi:10.1090/s0025-5718-1950-0037589-7.
^ The 1948 Manchester Baby computer predated EDSAC as a stored-program computer, but was built largely as a test bed for the Williams tube and not as a machine for general use. See "A brief informal history of the Computer Laboratory". However, the Baby was developed into a practically useful successor, the Manchester Mark 1 of 1949, which was available for general use by other university departments and Ferranti in April 1949, despite still being under development; EDSAC first ran in May 1949, while also still being under development. "50th Anniversary of the Manchester Baby computer". Archived from the original on 9 February 2014. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
^ Wilkes, M. V. (1997). "Arithmetic on the EDSAC". Annals of the History of Comp. 19 (1): 13–15. doi:10.1109/85.560726.
^ "Pioneer computer to be rebuilt". Cam. 62: 5. 2011. To be precise, EDSAC's first program printed a list of the squares of the integers from 0 to 99 inclusive.
^ Jones, Cliff B.; Lloyd, John L. (24 January 2012). Dependable and Historic Computing: Essays Dedicated to Brian Randell on the Occasion of his 75th Birthday. Springer. p. 29. ISBN 9783642245411.
^ "9. The EDSAC, Cambridge University, England". Digital Computer Newsletter. 2 (1). Other early computational problems run on EDSAC; some specifications of the computer: 3. 1 January 1950. Archived from the original on 11 March 2021.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
^ EDSAC 99: 15–16 April 1999 (PDF), University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory, 6 May 1999, pp. 68, 69, retrieved 29 June 2013.

[1] Wilkes, W. V.; Renwick, W. (1950). "The EDSAC (Electronic delay storage automatic calculator)". Math. Comp. 4 (30): 61–65. doi:10.1090/s0025-5718-1950-0037589-7.

[2] The 1948 Manchester Baby computer predated EDSAC as a stored-program computer, but was built largely as a test bed for the Williams tube and not as a machine for general use. See "A brief informal history of the Computer Laboratory". However, the Baby was developed into a practically useful successor, the Manchester Mark 1 of 1949, which was available for general use by other university departments and Ferranti in April 1949, despite still being under development; EDSAC first ran in May 1949, while also still being under development. "50th Anniversary of the Manchester Baby computer". Archived from the original on 9 February 2014. Retrieved 5 January 2014.

[3] Wilkes, M. V. (1997). "Arithmetic on the EDSAC". Annals of the History of Comp. 19 (1): 13–15. doi:10.1109/85.560726.

[4] "Pioneer computer to be rebuilt". Cam. 62: 5. 2011. To be precise, EDSAC's first program printed a list of the squares of the integers from 0 to 99 inclusive.

[5] Jones, Cliff B.; Lloyd, John L. (24 January 2012). Dependable and Historic Computing: Essays Dedicated to Brian Randell on the Occasion of his 75th Birthday. Springer. p. 29. ISBN 9783642245411.

[6] "9. The EDSAC, Cambridge University, England". Digital Computer Newsletter. 2 (1). Other early computational problems run on EDSAC; some specifications of the computer: 3. 1 January 1950. Archived from the original on 11 March 2021.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: others (link)

[7] EDSAC 99: 15–16 April 1999 (PDF), University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory, 6 May 1999, pp. 68, 69, retrieved 29 June 2013.

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