Z3: First working programmable, fully automatic digital computer
The Z3 was an electromechanical computer designed by Konrad Zuse.
It was the world's first working programmable, fully automatic digital computer. The Z3 was built with 2000 relays, with a 22 bit word length that operated at a clock frequency of about 5–10 Hz. Program code and data were stored on punched film.
The Z3 was completed in Berlin in 1941. The German Aircraft Research Institute used it to perform statistical analyses of wing flutter. Zuse asked the German government for funding to replace the relays with fully electronic switches, but funding was denied during World War II since such development was deemed "not war-important". The original Z3 was destroyed in 1943 during an Allied bombardment of Berlin. A fully functioning replica was built in the 1960s by Zuse's company, Zuse KG, and is on permanent display in the Deutsches Museum. The Z3 was Turing-complete.
Because of this machine and its predecessors, Konrad Zuse is often regarded as the inventor of the computer.
References
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