this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2025
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Alan Turing was the father of computer science, but didn't invent the first computer. Arguably the first computer was called the Manchester Baby and was created by folks at the University of Manchester.
Alan Turing was an absolute boss, though. Huge respect.
The first (turing complete) computer actually build was the Z3.
Not many people know about it, because central Berlin in 1943 was not a healthy place for a computer.
Yeah, the Manchester Baby was the first stored-program computer. As others have noticed, you can go down the rabbit hole a long way, depending on what you define as a computer. Fascinating stuff.
I love how often seemingly simple questions just get fuzzier the closer you look at them.
It reminds me of the surprisingly deep rabbit hole regarding the first video game. People often say it's Tennis for Two, but there's not really a clear single answer!
Love me a good ol' Ahoy vid
It was 1941, and not seen as valuable by the Germans.
The British built Collosus in 1943 and used it for code breaking.
It was build in 41 and bombed in 43, which is what I alluded to.
Depends entirely on the definition of computer.
There are so many "inventors of the first computers" it is ridiculous. Almost like creating a complex machine like a computer takes a whole many inventions and people who worked on it over a time span of multiple generations.
Turing invented the first "reprogrammable computer"
The ENIAC was before that and Charles Babbage's difference engine was before the ENIAC, though I don't think he actually got it out of design
Also before the ENIAC was the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC)
Yeah, there were plenty of precursors (hence the MB was arguably the first). But the Manchester Baby was the first stored-program general purpose computer. Gotta pick a point somewhere.
I think it's a fun debate between all of them. It doesn't really matter, but I enjoy reading the reasoning behind each argument.
Yeah, the whole history is fascinating. I also like to remind my college students that computer science/engineering is one of the rare branches of science/engineering that was founded at least in equal part by women, if not more (again, an arguable point, but undeniable that there is a larger influence from women compared to other scientific disciplines).
Colossus is still early then all of those are we still really don't know exactly when construction started because of state secrets and whatnot.
Not one I was familiar with, thanks for sharing!
Turing wrote the third (and final) program for the Baby.
I heard Turing also wrote Rockstar (ft. Roddy Ricch) for DaBaby