Hybrid: Celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Ferranti Mk1

Chris Pick

The lecture will describe the early major developments at Manchester University, which resulted in the shipment of the world's first commercially available computer, from Ferranti to the University in 1951.

This starts with the Williams /Kilburn Tube memory system. We then cover the BABY or SSEM which tested the memory system in a computer system, resulting in the running of the world‘s first computer program on an electronic stored program computer. We then move through the development of the Manchester Mk1 and Mk 1*, to the shipments of the Ferranti Mk1 and Mk1* systems to major customers.

We finish with a summary of the further major achievements of Manchester University through to Atlas and MU5.

Chris Pick joined ICL West Gorton in 1967, after graduating at Manchester University. At ICL, he initially was part of the 1906A design team and then worked as a software engineer on the Executive for George 4.

He then joined Computer Technology Limited, eventually becoming Design Manager. He was the System Architect and Project Manager for the replacement for Modular One.

His final role was as a Program Manager at the IET to add more computer related content to their offering. He is now a room guide and researcher at The National Museum of Computing.

Our events are for adults aged 16 years and over.

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This event is brought to you by: Computer Conservation Society

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