EDSAC 2 was an early

vacuum tube A vacuum tube, electron tube, thermionic valve (British usage), or tube (North America) is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric voltage, potential difference has been applied. It ...

computer A computer is a machine that can be Computer programming, programmed to automatically Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic set ...

(operational in 1958), the successor to the

Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator The Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC) was an early British computer. Inspired by John von Neumann's seminal ''First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC'', the machine was constructed by Maurice Wilkes and his team at the Universi ...

(EDSAC). It was the first computer to have a microprogrammed

control unit The control unit (CU) is a component of a computer's central processing unit (CPU) that directs the operation of the processor. A CU typically uses a binary decoder to convert coded instructions into timing and control signals that direct the op ...

and a

bit-slice Bit slicing is a technique for constructing a processor from modules of processors of smaller bit width, for the purpose of increasing the word length; in theory to make an arbitrary ''n''-bit central processing unit (CPU). Each of these c ...

hardware architecture. EDSAC II chassis construction

First calculations were performed on the incomplete machine in 1957. Calculations about

elliptic curve In mathematics, an elliptic curve is a smooth, projective, algebraic curve of genus one, on which there is a specified point . An elliptic curve is defined over a field and describes points in , the Cartesian product of with itself. If the ...

s performed on EDSAC-2 in the early 1960s led to the

Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture In mathematics, the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture (often called the Birch–Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture) describes the set of rational solutions to equations defining an elliptic curve. It is an open problem in the field of number theory ...

, a Millennium Prize Problem, unsolved as of 2024. And in 1963,

Frederick Vine Frederick John Vine FRS (17 June 1939 – 21 June 2024) was an English marine geologist and geophysicist. He made key contributions to the theory of plate tectonics, helping to show that the seafloor spreads from mid-ocean ridges with a symm ...

and

Drummond Matthews Drummond Hoyle Matthews FRS (5 February 1931 – 20 July 1997), known as "Drum", was a British marine geologist and geophysicist and a key contributor to the theory of plate tectonics. His work, along with that of fellow Briton Fred Vine a ...

used EDSAC 2 to generate a magnetic anomaly map of the seafloor from data collected in the Indian Ocean by H.M.S. Owen, key evidence that helped support the theory of

plate tectonics Plate tectonics (, ) is the scientific theory that the Earth's lithosphere comprises a number of large tectonic plates, which have been slowly moving since 3–4 billion years ago. The model builds on the concept of , an idea developed durin ...

. EDSAC-2 was decommissioned in 1965, having been superseded by the

Titan computer Titan most often refers to: * Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn * Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology Titan or Titans may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities Fictional locations * Titan in fiction, fiction ...

References

External links

* 1950s computers 1958 establishments in England 1958 in computing Computer-related introductions in 1958 1965 disestablishments in England Early British computers One-of-a-kind computers 40-bit computers University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory History of the University of Cambridge {{computer-stub