TECHKNOWLEDGEY 2011
Z3 TURNS 70
There has long been some dispute about what constitutes the first true computer, but one of the
leading contenders is Konrad Zuse's Z3, completed in
Berlin in 1941. A descendent of the Z1 — built from 1936
to 1938 — it was a highly secret project of the German
government, conducted under the auspices of the Reich
Air Ministry. The electromechanical Z3 is widely regarded
as the first working programmable, fully automatic
computing machine, although it did lack a conditional
branch operation. It was built with 2,000 relays and
chugged along at a clock frequency of 5. 3 Hz. This
allowed it to perform an addition operation in about 0.8
sec and multiplication in about 3 sec. It had a data
memory of 64 words with a length of 22 bits.
Programming and data were stored on punched film.
Reportedly, the German Aircraft Research Institute
used the Z3 for statistical analysis of wing flutter.
Ironically, when Zuse asked the German government for
funding to replace the relays with fully electronic
switches, it refused, saying that the machine was "not
war-important." The original was destroyed in 1943
during an Allied bombardment, but a replica was built in
the 1960s. NV
INDUSTRY AND THE PROFESSION CONTINUED
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■ The Zuse Z3 replica on display at the
Deutsches Museum in Munich.
1 (800) 759-7535
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September 2011 13
