What was the name of the world's first computer?

It's called the Atanasoff-Berry computer.

The Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) is officially the world's first electronic computer and was invented by John Winterson A. of Iowa State University. Designed in 1937 by John Vincent Atanasoff and his graduate student Clifford Berry, it was not programmable and was only designed to solve systems of linear equations, and was successfully tested in 1942.

Performance characteristics

First, it uses electrical energy and electronic components, which at that time were electronic vacuum tubes;

Second, it uses binary system instead of the usual Decimal system;

Third, use capacitors as memory, which is reproducible and error-free;

Fourth, perform direct logical operations instead of usual digital arithmetic.

Extended information:

Manufacturing background

In the 1930s, Atanasov, a Bulgarian, served as an associate professor in the Department of Physics at Iowa State University , when teaching students how to solve linear partial differential equations, they had to face complicated calculations, which were boring work that consumed a lot of time... Atanasov then developed new ideas and began to explore the use of numbers in 1935. The possibility of computing work with electronic technology.

After two years of repeated research and testing, the ideas have become clearer and clearer, and the design is generally clear. But he also needed someone who was smart, understood mechanics, and had hands-on skills to complete the invention, so he found Clifford Berry, a graduate student who was studying for a master's degree in the Department of Physics at the time.

The two men finally built a complete prototype in 1939, proving that their concept was correct and could be realized. People called this prototype ABC, which stands for the computer that contains their names (Atanasoff-Berry Computer).

This computer is a combination of electronics and electrical appliances. The circuit system is equipped with 300 electronic vacuum tubes to perform digital calculations and logical operations. The machine uses capacitors for numerical storage, and the data input uses a punch card reading method. The binary system is also used.

Therefore, the design of ABC has included the four most important basic concepts in modern computers. From this perspective, it is a truly modern electronic computer.

Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia----Atanasoff-Berry Computer