Iconic images of early computers

Let's take a look at some iconic and historic images of computers.

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The first use of the word 'computer', according to Wikipedia, was recorded in 1613 in a book called The yong mans gleanings by English writer Richard Braithwait.

Initially it referred to a person who made calculations. At the end of the 19th century, the meaning changed to a machine that carried out computations.

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A typhoon computer being operated from a control console by technicians of the RCA Laboratories in 1950.

In the background is a portion of several panels which contain thousands of electron tubes and miles of intricate wiring.

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In the 1950s, two Soviet scientists Sergei Sobolev and Nikolay Brusentsov designed the Setun, a functional ternary (devices that operated on a base three numbering system of -1, 0, and 1 rather than the conventional binary numbering system) computer, at Moscow State University.

The device was put into limited production in the Soviet Union.

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A man checks the installation of the Elliott 402 'Electric Brain' at the British Instrument Industries Exhibition at Earl's Court in London on January 27, 1955.

This electronic computer could solve complicated mathematical problems in one hour.

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Delegates examine the Automatic Computing Engine, an early computer, at an international symposium entitled 'Mechanisation Of Thought Processes' at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington, London, on November 24, 1958.

At the control room on the BBC stand at Old Trafford, Ted Dexter former English cricketer and Wendy Wimbush (she was the long-term scorer for BBC's televised cricket coverage) proudly display the new computer on July 15, 1980.

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A computer operator at the 'Leo III' in the Board of Trade computer room on January 1, 1965.

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A man demonstrating one of the suitcase-sized range of computers from the Elliot Automation Group, in Britain.

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The computer room at Barclays bank on June 22, 1966.

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Part of Midland Bank's computer complex in Brent, London, on December 16, 1969.

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A desktop computer with the monitor and keyboard all in one unit, in the 1970s.

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A woman works at an early model desktop computer made by Servus, in 1970s.

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A small RCA computer with the monitor and keyboard in one unit, alongside a set of headphones, in January 1970.

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Foreign Exchange International Division of the Midland Bank showing the computerised operation on January 4, 1978.

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A computer tape machine in the Open University at Walton, near Bletchley in Buckinghamshire, on February 9, 1971.

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Three-year-old Dina Gamrath looks at a computer on September 1971.

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A man examines a microchip.

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An operator in the Information Room at Scotland Yard Police Station in London on October 21, 1977.

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Four-year-old Antonia Salmon with one of her birthday presents, a computer which used to belong to her father, on May 8, 1980.

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Terry Brown, a computer whizz-kid, examines a print-out on October 23, 1980.

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Michaela Roberts keys in a customer's request on a Natronix computer at Barkers of Kensington, Britain, on November 27, 1980.

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A deaf woman operates a microprocessor telephone by typing the message into the computer then dialling the number to which the message is to be sent on May 15, 1984.

When the call is answered the encoded message is sent down the line by a synthesised voice.

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French stockbrokers at work on March 7, 1985.

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A photography student at Camberwell College Of Art, London, uses a computer to enhance images, on April 26, 1997.

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Three employees of a computer firm, (from left) Diana Slater, Susan Halliwell and Jenny Fancy, at Royal Ascot races, wearing costumes to demonstrate the new look in computer keyboards on June 15, 1971.

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An Apple employee works on an iMac computer at the Apple Manufacturing Plant in Sacramento, California, May 24, 1999.

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Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair uses Internet at the Houses of Parliament in London on June 7, 1996.

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A technician monitors the ASCI White computer, the fastest supercomputer in the world, on June 28, 2000, in Poughkeepsie, New York.

The computer, which is capable of 12 trillion calculations per second, will be used by the Department of Energy to simulate nuclear weapons tests.

The RS/6000 SP computer system covers 9,920 square feet of floor space, equivalent to two NBA basketball courts, weighs or 106 tonnes, equivalent to 17 full-size elephants, and requires 1.2 megawatts of power, enough to power 1,000 homes.

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Samantha Tse, five, plays 'Sage' game on an iMac on July 21, 2000, at the Macworld Conference and Expo at the Javits Center in New York City.

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