Britain’s oldest computer, which was designed to perform mathematical calculations – to be, more or less, a gigantic calculator – is headed for the National Museum of Computing in Bletchley, where it will be restored to working order.
The gigantic device measures 2.4 by 5 meters and bears no resemblance whatsoever to its ultra thin, ultra light, ultra portable descendants we are so familiar with today.
Harwell was booted up for the first time almost 60 years ago and finally was booted out of action in 1973. During the first part of its life it was used by the Atomic Energy Research Centre in Harwell, Oxfordshire.
Dick Barnes, who helped to build the original Harwell, told BBC news “officially it was to help with general background atomic theory and to assist in the development of civilian power.”
“Of course, [the Atomic Energy Research Establishment] had connections to the nuclear weapons programme,” he told the BBC.
During the latter few years of its service, Harwell spent its time in educational settings helping students with their computer studies.
Harwell was not the first computer built in the UK as there were others already in action, such as the Ace, parts of which you can view at the London Science Museum; the EDSAC, which was dismantled; and the Manchester Baby.
Harwell, however, can boast to having had the longest useful life, making it the oldest working computer in Britain. It was also more “modern” than the other “ancient” specimens in some respects, as it used a single memory to store all its data and its programs.
Back then, Harwell was able to do the work of up to 10 people but no one really understood the real significance of the technology.
“We didn’t think we were doing anything pioneering at the time,” Barnes told the BBC.
“We knew the Manchester Baby and Cambridge’s EDSAC were already up and running. Both these projects had large teams and we felt like a poor relation.
“Looking back, hardly any of us were computer literate and it’s astonishing that we managed stored computing at all,” he said.
Barnes said the prospect of Harwell being restored to its former glory after nearly four decades was “very exciting.”
“I still don’t know how they managed to find so many spare parts, but I think they have a very good chance of getting it going again,” he said.
The restoration is expected to take around a year to complete.
