Image: ESO Hewlett Packard 2116 minicomputer

Description: In this historical image, taken in 1974 in the ESO offices in Santiago, Chile, we can see the Austrian astronomer Rudi Albrecht, pencil in hand, poring over code in front of a teletype. He was working on software for the Spectrum Scanner attached to the ESO 1-metre telescope located at the La Silla Observatory. The data were processed in Santiago using the Hewlett Packard 2000F minicomputer which can be seen behind the printer. This bulky computer, with one processor and a breathtaking 16 kilobytes of magnetic-core memory (!), stored the results on magnetic tape, ready for further processing by visiting astronomers on computers at their home institutes. To handle files on tape that were larger than the available memory, Albrecht developed a virtual memory system, which he contributed to the Hewlett Packard Software Center. Please note that the computer in this image has been incorrectly identified by its original owner. The computer shown is a HP 2100 computer (2100A or 2100S), with two 7970 tape drives (7970A, B, C or E), 7900-series hard disk drive, 2748 paper tape reader and 2767A impact printer.
Title: ESO Hewlett Packard 2116 minicomputer
Credit: http://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1223a/
Author: ESO
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
License: CC BY 3.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
Attribution Required?: Yes