Computing in motion.

Follow how calculation became computation, then machines, software, networks, and intelligence.

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1948 Demonstration Hardware

The Manchester Baby runs a stored program

Frederic Williams · Tom Kilburn · Geoff Tootill

When we knew

Timeline date1948

The experimental Manchester machine successfully executed a program held in electronic memory.

A physical computer demonstrated stored-program operation rather than merely describing the architecture.

What came before

Each generation sought faster, smaller, more reliable physical representations of logic and memory.

What came after

Its successful stored-program run was followed by machines that turned the principle into sustained computing services.

Memory anchor

Manchester Baby · hardware