Harvard Mark I Computer

One of the first computer was the Mark I. It was invented by Dr. Howard Aiken of Harvard University in association with International Business Machine in 1944. It was not an electronic computer rather it was electromechanical computer.

The computer nicknamed ‘Mark I’ was based on the concept of Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine. Sometimes it was referred to Harvard Mark I. Harvard is added to distinguish this machine from Mark I at the University of Manchester and from other Mark I machine.

The Mark I Computer also known as automatic controlled calculator, this was first fully automatic calculating machine design by Howard.

The size of this computer was huge and has a thousand moving parts. Its design was very complex, but it was quite reliable. Mark I contained more than 750,000 parts, including switches, relays, rotating shafts, and clutches.

Grace Murray Hopper who at that time worked with Aiken later developed a piece of software that would translate an entire set of programmer’s instruction, written in a high level symbolic language, into the machine’s language.
Harvard Mark I Computer