The Manchester Mark 1 Gallery

  1. Storing 2048 bits on a CRT in 1947
  2. The Manchester Mark 1 (Left Hand side)
  3. The Manchester Mark 1 (Wide-angle)
  4. Kilburn and Williams at the Manchester Mark 1 Console
  5. The research group at work on the Manchester Mark 1
  6. Dai Edwards and Tommy Thomas at work on the Manchester Mark 1
  7. Alec Robinson at work on the Manchester Mark 1
  8. The First Program (revised) from Geoff Tootill's notebook (1948)
  9. Freddie Williams (c. 1960?)
  10. Staff of the Electrical Engineering Department (1950)

1.Storing 2048 bits on a CRT in 1947

A C.R.T display- 2048 digits

This picture is taken from Tom's report to TRE, of December 1947, detailing the research of 1947 into a storage system for use in computers. This culminated in the ability to store 2048 bits on a standard radar CRT for a period of hours.

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2.The Manchester Mark 1 (Left Hand side)

The Manchester Mark 1 (Left Hand side)

Note that in comparison with the (replica) Baby, the 7th rack, at the far end, which contained the 3 CRT stores (Main Store, A and C), has been removed, and the Baby has grown at right angles underneath the windows, and then again at right angles most of the way back the other side (see photo below).

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3.The Manchester Mark 1 (Wide-angle)

The Manchester Mark 1 (Wide-angle)

Image credit: Alec Robinson

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4.Kilburn and Williams at the Manchester Mark 1 Console

Kilburn and Williams at the Manchester Mark 1 Console

Tom is on the left, F.C. on the right. You can see the monitor CRT, propped up on a cardboard box (faithfully duplicated in the Replica!) -- presumably they had at one time expected to use a 12" monitor rather than a 6". Underneath is the bank of 8 * 5 press buttons for setting ones in a word, and then various other switches underneath, in particular for setting the page and line for display on the monitor, and controlling the operation of the machine.

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5.The research group at work on the Manchester Mark 1

The research group at work on the Manchester Mark 1

Here we see the Manchester Mark 1 Engineering team (minus Geoff Tootill) at work; left to right D.B.G. (Dai) Edwards, Prof. F.C. Williams, Tom Kilburn, A.A. (Alec) Robinson and G.E. ("Tommy") Thomas.

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6.Dai Edwards and Tommy Thomas at work on the Manchester Mark 1

Dai Edwards and Tommy Thomas at work on the Manchester Mark 1

Dai is sitting and Tommy Thomas standing.

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7.Alec Robinson at work on the Manchester Mark 1

Alec Robinson at work on the Manchester Mark 1

Alec Robinson started a Ph.D. project in the summer of 1947 on an electronic multiplier. He was working for English Electric at the time. Initially the project was kept separate from the CRT research to avoid problems in pursuing the Ph.D. degree, but obviously as soon as the Baby proved itself he became part of the team to produce the Manchester Mark 1 -- he needed the computer as a test bed and the computer needed his multiplier! Later he redesigned the multiplier for the Ferranti Mark 1.

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8.The First Program (revised) from Geoff Tootill's notebook

The First Program (revised) from Geoff Tootill's notebook

Geoff Tootill has kept his log book covering the period from June 1948 to October 1948. This page shows a revised version of the first program run on the Baby, written by Tom Kilburn. (A full annotation of this program is given elsewhere).

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9. Freddie Williams

Freddie Williams

This photo is probably taken about 10 years later.

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10.Staff of the Electrical Engineering Department

Staff of the Electrical Engineering Department

A staff photograph of the whole Engineering department taken in 1950. The staff of the Electrical Engineering Department are shown in bold:

Back row, left to right:
J.K. Alderman, J.C. West, C.N.W. Litting, E.R. Laithwaite, D.B.G.Edwards, F.G. Edwards
Middle Row: R.K. Livesly, J. Allen, B. Standing, J.K. O'Sullivan, J.R. Spooner, L.S. Piggott
Front Row: G.E. Thomas, H. Gerrard, C.M. Mason, Prof. F.C. Williams, J. Higham, T. Kilburn, R. Mathieson

J.C. West worked with Professor Williams on the electric motor for the prototype drum, with its important servo-mechanism to maintain synchronisation with the refresh cycle of the main store. In 1957 he left to take up a Chair of Electrical Engineering at Queen's University, Belfast, and had a distinguished career. He was President of the I.E.E. in 1984-85, and Vice-Chancellor of Bradford University.

Eric Laithwaite had a distinguished career, being best known for his work on linear induction motors. He and Professor Williams collaborated on research into induction motors. In 1964 he left to take up the Chair of Electrical Engineering at Imperial College, London.


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