- ILLIAC I
The ILLIAC I ("Illinois Automatic Computer"), a pioneering
computer built in1952 by the University of Illinois, was the first computer built and owned entirely by a US educational institution, Manchester University UK having built Manchester 1 in 1948.ILLIAC I was based on the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS)
Von Neumann architecture edited by mathematicianJohn von Neumann . Unlike the other computers of its era, the ILLIAC I andORDVAC computers were twin copies of the same design, and so therefore they could exchange software. The computer had 2,800vacuum tube s, measured 10 ft (3 m) by 2 ft (0.6 m) by 8½ ft (2.6 m) (L×B×H), and weighed 5 tons (4.5 t). ILLIAC I was very powerful for its time; in 1956 it had more computing power than all ofBell Labs .Because the lifetime of the tubes within ILLIAC was about a year, the machine was shut down every day for "preventive maintenance" when older vacuum tubes would be replaced in order to increase reliability. Visiting scholars from Japan assisted in the design of the ILLIAC series of computers, and later developed the
MUSASINO-1 computer in Japan. ILLIAC I was retired in 1962, when theILLIAC II became operational.Innovations
* 1955,
Lejaren Hiller and Leonard Isaacson, used ILLIAC I to compose theIlliac Suite which was one of the first pieces of music to be written with the aid of a computer.* 1957, Mathematician
Donald B. Gillies , Physicist,James E. Snyder and Astronomers George C. McVittie, S. P. Wyatt, Ivan R. King and George W. Swenson of the University of Illinois used the ILLIAC I computer to calculate the orbit of theSputnik I satellite within 2 days of its launch.* 1960, The first version of the PLATO computer-based education system was implemented on the ILLIAC I by a team led by
Donald Bitzer . It serviced a single user. In early 1961, version 2 of PLATO serviced 2 simultaneous users.ee also
*
ILLIAC
*ILLIAC II
*ILLIAC III
*ILLIAC IV
*ORDVAC
*MUSASINO-1 External links
* [http://ems.music.uiuc.edu/history/illiac.html ILLIAC I history including computer music.]
* [http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/univOfIllinoisUrbana/illiac/ILLIAC ILLIAC I documentation] at bitsavers.org
* I. R. King, G. C. McVittie, G. W. Swenson, Jr., and S. P. Wyatt, Jr., "Further observations of the first satellite," Nature, No. 4593, November 9, 1957, p. 943.
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