Royal Radar Establishment Automatic Computer facts for kids

The Royal Radar Establishment Automatic Computer (RREAC) was an early computer built in 1962. It was special because it used new technology called solid-state parts, mainly transistors. Many older British computers used vacuum tubes, which were like small glass light bulbs.

History of Computers

Early British Computers

Britain played a big part in early computer history. During World War II, the Colossus computer was built in 1943-1944. It was one of the world's first electronic computers. Then, in 1948, the Manchester Baby became the world's first computer that could store its own programs.

Other countries also built important early computers. Germany had the Z3 in 1941, which used relays. The Atanasoff–Berry computer in 1942 was the first digital computer. The ENIAC was built in 1946 in the USA. Both ENIAC and Colossus are known as very early electronic computers.

After these, the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC) started running programs in 1949 at the University of Cambridge. Around the same time, the Manchester Mark 1 was used for research at the University of Manchester.

The Idea for Integrated Circuits

In 1952, a scientist named Geoffrey Dummer had a brilliant idea at the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE), which later became the RRE. He thought of the integrated circuit. This tiny chip would later become the heart of almost all modern electronics, including computers and phones!

Computers in the 1960s

By April 1962, Britain had 323 computers. They cost about £23 million, which is a lot of money even today. At that time, the American government alone had over 900 computers, and the whole USA had more than 10,000. However, many of these early computers did simple jobs, like what a pocket calculator does now.

Computer research in the UK happened in places like the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in Teddington and the RRE in Worcestershire. Manchester University was a leader again in 1962 with its Atlas Computer. This computer was said to be the most powerful in the world at the time and was one of the first supercomputers.

A big British computer company back then was International Computers and Tabulators (ICT). The RRE and its College of Electronics were run by the Ministry of Aviation in the 1960s.

Government Support and the Internet

In 1963, the government gave £1 million to support research in electronics and computers. Half of this money went to the RRE and NPL.

Later, the RRE played a part in bringing the Internet to Britain. In 1976, when the Queen opened the first Internet connection at UCL, it went through the RRE to Norway and then to the USA. This was a big step for connecting Britain to the world!

The RREAC Computer

Building the RREAC

Work on transistor technology at the RRE happened in the Physics Department. The RREAC was first announced in 1962, but it had been built since 1960. It was also known as the RRE All-Transistor Computer. George G. Macfarlane was one of the people who designed it.

How RREAC Worked

The RREAC was a powerful machine for its time. It used a "36-bit word," which means it processed information in chunks of 36 bits. It had 24,000 "words" of core store memory. For putting information in and getting it out, it used five-hole paper tape. It also used magnetic tape to store larger amounts of data.

The world's first computer to use transistors was the Manchester Transistor Computer, which started working in 1953. Another early transistor computer was the 1955 Harwell CADET. Many of these early transistor computers still used some valves for things like power or timing.

RREAC Software

The RREAC used a programming language called ALGOL 60. This was a very important language because it was the first to use "nested functions." This means you could put one function inside another, which made programs more organized. ALGOL 60 is also the ancestor of some of the main programming languages we use today!

See also

• Flex machine
• List of transistorized computers