CSIRAC, Australia’s first computer, ran its debut program all the way back in 1949. Now, almost 70 years later, you can check it out in the flesh (well, plastic), at Melbourne’s Scienceworks, where it’s on permanent display.
While its true your watch probably has more computing power than old CSIRAC, it remains a landmark achievement not only for Australia, but the world itself.
Sure, the 40m², 2500kg computer ran at a paltry 1000Hz and could only store 2000B (yes, bytes) at a time, but these were remarkable specifications for the time.
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2016/06/how-australia-played-the-worlds-first-music-on-a-computer/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/csirac.jpg” title=”How Australia Played The World’s First Music On A Computer” excerpt=”We don’t think twice about playing music via a computer – we have them in our pockets, and in our homes and offices, with music on tap. But playing music on a computer was once an almost unthinkable leap of the imagination and the most devilishly difficult programming challenge.”]
CSIRAC would continue to do work until 1964. Over the years, it’s spent time at the University of Melbourne and Melbourne Museum and now calls the Think Ahead exhibition at Scienceworks home.
If you’d like to check it out, head over to Scienceworks between the hours of 10am and 4:30pm. Admission is $15, but that includes access to the entire museum.