Wikinventia — Atlas of discoveries and inventions · Industrial Age

Whirlwind — first high-speed, real-time digital computer

1951 AD · Transmission: Global
ComputingInventionNorth American

Developed at MIT, Whirlwind is the first high-speed, real-time digital computer, using random-access magnetic-core memory (instead of cathode-ray-tube memory as in its predecessors). It featured CRT-displayed output and a light pen for writing data directly onto the screen. Its success led directly to the SAGE US air-defense system and to numerous later commercial computers and minicomputers.

InstitutionMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Historical regionCambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Primary sourceWhirlwind project, MIT, 1944-1959 (development); first real-time operation, 1951
Secondary sourceIEEE Engineering and Technology History Wiki — "Milestones: Whirlwind Computer, 1944-59"
Original languageEnglish
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