The Untold Story of Konrad Zuse and the First Programmable Computer
When Konrad Zuse switched on the Z3 in his Berlin workshop in May 1941, he had just built the first programmable computer in history out of roughly 2,000 surplus telephone relays, and almost no one in the world knew it existed because the war buried the story for two decades.
Image: Maketecheasier
In May 1941, Konrad Zuse unveiled the Z3 in Berlin, the world's first fully functional programmable computer, built from surplus telephone relays. Despite its groundbreaking capabilities, the Z3's existence was overshadowed by World War II, leading to its destruction and Zuse's obscurity in computing history for decades.
- 01The Z3, completed in 1941, utilized about 2,000 telephone relays to perform calculations, making it the first programmable digital computer.
- 02Zuse faced funding challenges as Nazi Germany prioritized military technology, leading to a lack of recognition for his work during the war.
- 03The Z3 was destroyed in an Allied bombing raid in December 1943, with no surviving photographs or original machines remaining.
- 04Zuse's contributions to computing were largely overlooked until the 1960s, when the English-language history began to acknowledge his work.
- 05The Z3 was Turing-complete, capable of simulating any computation, despite limitations like the lack of conditional branching.
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On May 12, 1941, Konrad Zuse demonstrated the Z3, the first fully functional programmable computer, in his Berlin workshop. Built from approximately 2,000 surplus telephone relays, the Z3 could perform any calculation described in binary. Despite its groundbreaking design, Zuse's work was largely ignored due to the ongoing World War II, with the machine being destroyed in an Allied bombing raid in December 1943. Zuse had previously quit his job to pursue computing innovations, leading to the creation of the Z1 and Z2 before the Z3. His efforts received limited funding, as the Nazi regime focused on military technologies. Following the war, Zuse's contributions remained largely unrecognized, overshadowed by American and British advancements in computing, such as ENIAC and Colossus. It wasn't until the 1960s that Zuse began to receive acknowledgment for his pioneering work. Today, the Z3 is celebrated as a significant milestone in the evolution of computing.
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