World’s oldest digital computer boots up
The world’s “oldest working digital computer” has been rebooted in its home in The National Museum of Computing in Buckinghamshire, England.
The 61-year old computer is known as the Wolverhampton Instrument for Teaching Computing from Harwell, or WITCH.
“In 1951 the Harwell Dekatron was one of perhaps a dozen computers in the world, and since then, it has led a charmed life surviving intact while its contemporaries were recycled or destroyed,” trustee of the museum Kevin Murrell said in a statement.
Restoration of the computer began three years ago to get the device in working order. In its prime, it ran on telephone exchange relays, gas-filled tubes, and paper tape used for input and output on the machine.
Visitors of the museum can now see the 3-ton machine rattle and light up.
“To see it in action is to watch the inner workings of a computer — something that is impossible on the machines of today,” Murrell said.
Source: National Museum of Computing
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