The Computers that Made the World

Discover the birth of the technological world we now live in through the origins of 12 influential computers built between 1939 and 1950. In 1940, a computer was someone who ploughed through grueling calculations each day. A decade later, a computer was a buzzing machine that filled a room. This book tells the story of how our world was reshaped by a dozen such computers — and the geniuses that brought them into being, from Alan Turing to John von Neumann. This world tour through the modern history of computing begins in 1939 with the first electronic digital computer, the Atanasoff-Berry computer (ABC). The story of computing in World War II takes readers through Germany, UK, and the US, before covering the explosive post-war years when anything seemed possible. Learn the fascinating stories behind the Manchester Baby, EDSAC, EDVAC, UNIVAC, Princeton IAS, and Alan Turing’s Pilot ACE and the birth of artificial intelligence. The Computers that Made the World chronicles how a new world, built on technology, sprang into being.