Computing · 1948
Manchester Baby
The first computer to run a program stored in its own electronic memory.
On 21 June 1948 the Small-Scale Experimental Machine ran a 17-instruction program from memory stored as charge spots on a cathode-ray tube, the Williams tube. It proved the stored-program concept and led to the Ferranti Mark 1.
What it built on 2
Related measurements
The dashed line marks when it first worked.
Fastest computer in the world Latest: 2.2×10¹⁸ operations per second (2026) Source: Wikipedia: List of fastest computers; Wikipedia: History of supercomputing
Computation per constant dollar, 1850-2006 Latest: 7.3B million units of computer power per 2006 $ (2003) Source: Nordhaus 2007, Two Centuries of Productivity Growth in Computing, J. Econ. Hist. 67(1), Table 6