Manchester computers

<h2 id="manchester-baby">Manchester Baby</h2>
Main article: <a href="/facts/Manchester_Baby/tpkAwQnc">Manchester Baby</a>
The <a href="/facts/Manchester_Baby/tpkAwQnc">Manchester Baby</a> was designed as a <a href="/facts/Testbed/ITQIUXFc">test-bed</a> for the <a href="/facts/Williams_tube/6uXyju6I">Williams tube</a>, an early form of computer memory, rather than as a practical computer. Work on the machine began in 1947, and on 21 June 1948 the computer successfully ran its first program, consisting of 17 instructions written to find the highest <a href="/facts/Divisor/DKNa2GvC">proper factor</a> of 218 (262,144) by trying every integer from 218 − 1 downwards. The program ran for 52 minutes before producing the correct answer of 217 (131,072).<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12">12</a>
The Baby was 17 feet (5.2 m) in length, 7 feet 4 inches (2.24 m) tall, and weighed almost 1 <a href="/facts/Long_ton/5ajqnrGq">long ton</a>. It contained 550 <a href="/facts/Vacuum_tubes/VHd1BNLq">thermionic valves</a> – 300 <a href="/facts/Diode/JyaoyGnk">diodes</a> and 250 <a href="/facts/Pentode/HuVlNVSt">pentodes</a> – and had a power consumption of 3.5 kilowatts.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13">13</a> Its successful operation was reported in a letter to the journal <a href="/facts/Nature_(journal)/XmlJXkFx">Nature</a> published in September 1948,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14">14</a> establishing it as the world's first stored-program computer.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:15" href="#fn:15">15</a> It quickly evolved into a more practical machine, the <a href="/facts/Manchester_Mark_1/S8wpt6U5">Manchester Mark 1</a>.

<h2 id="manchester-mark-1">Manchester Mark 1</h2>
Main article: <a href="/facts/Manchester_Mark_1/S8wpt6U5">Manchester Mark 1</a>
Development of the Manchester Mark 1 began in August 1948, with the initial aim of providing the university with a more realistic computing facility.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:16" href="#fn:16">16</a> In October 1948 UK Government Chief Scientist <a href="/facts/Ben_Lockspeiser/nzhpn7Fq">Ben Lockspeiser</a> was given a demonstration of the prototype, and was so impressed that he immediately initiated a government contract with the local firm of <a href="/facts/Ferranti/UA1e5VBN">Ferranti</a> to make a commercial version of the machine, the <a href="/facts/Ferranti_Mark_1/Q6hK6sI0">Ferranti Mark 1</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:17" href="#fn:17">17</a>
Two versions of the Manchester Mark 1 were produced, the first of which, the Intermediary Version, was operational by April 1949.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:18" href="#fn:18">18</a> The Final Specification machine, which was fully working by October 1949,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:19" href="#fn:19">19</a> contained 4,050 valves and had a power consumption of 25 kilowatts.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:20" href="#fn:20">20</a> Perhaps the Manchester Mark 1's most significant innovation was its incorporation of <a href="/facts/Index_registers/pdhWVmHA">index registers</a>, commonplace on modern computers.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:21" href="#fn:21">21</a>
In June 2022 an IEEE Milestone was dedicated to the "Manchester University "Baby" Computer and its Derivatives, 1948-1951".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:22" href="#fn:22">22</a>

<h2 id="meg-and-mercury">Meg and Mercury</h2>
As a result of experience gained from the Mark 1, the developers concluded that computers would be used more in scientific roles than pure maths. They therefore embarked on the design of a new machine which would include a <a href="/facts/Floating-point_unit/XWTW2AbF">floating-point unit</a>; work began in 1951. The resulting machine, which ran its first program in May 1954, was known as Meg, or the megacycle machine. It was smaller and simpler than the Mark 1, as well as quicker at solving maths problems. <a href="/facts/Ferranti/UA1e5VBN">Ferranti</a> produced a commercial version marketed as the <a href="/facts/Ferranti_Mercury/aHXTJkVM">Ferranti Mercury</a>, in which the Williams tubes were replaced by the more reliable <a href="/facts/Core_memory/4TFIXSNd">core memory</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:23" href="#fn:23">23</a>

<h2 id="transistor-computer">Transistor Computer</h2>
Work on building a smaller and cheaper computer began in 1952, in parallel with Meg's ongoing development. Two of Kilburn's team, <a href="/facts/Richard_Grimsdale/3Anuu7V4">Richard Grimsdale</a> and D. C. Webb, were assigned to the task of designing and building a machine using the newly developed <a href="/facts/Transistor/Bmr8zwL0">transistors</a> instead of valves, which became known as the Manchester TC.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:24" href="#fn:24">24</a> Initially the only devices available were <a href="/facts/Germanium/wtoALHGs">germanium</a> <a href="/facts/Point-contact_transistor/29Qgz5RC">point-contact transistors</a>; these were less reliable than the valves they replaced but consumed far less power.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:25" href="#fn:25">25</a>
Two versions of the machine were produced. The first was the world's first transistorised computer,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:26" href="#fn:26">26</a> a prototype, and became operational on 16 November 1953.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:27" href="#fn:27">27</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:28" href="#fn:28">28</a> "The <a href="/facts/48-bit_computing/KTsN8bB1">48-bit</a> machine used 92 point-contact transistors and 550 diodes".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:29" href="#fn:29">29</a> The second version was completed in April 1955. The 1955 version used 250 junction transistors,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:30" href="#fn:30">30</a> 1,300 <a href="/facts/Solid-state_(electronics)/US0Qbq28">solid-state</a> <a href="/facts/Diode/JyaoyGnk">diodes</a>, and had a power consumption of 150 watts. The machine did however make use of valves to generate its 125 kHz clock waveforms and in the circuitry to read and write on its magnetic <a href="/facts/Drum_memory/yul0r8nG">drum memory</a>, so it was not the first completely transistorised computer, a distinction that went to the <a href="/facts/Harwell_CADET/dYqC7bDs">Harwell CADET</a> of 1955.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:31" href="#fn:31">31</a>
Problems with the reliability of early batches of transistors meant that the machine's <a href="/facts/Mean_time_between_failures/lWCg38LX">mean time between failures</a> was about 90 minutes, which improved once the more reliable <a href="/facts/Bipolar_junction_transistor/9BMcGv5Q">junction transistors</a> became available.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:32" href="#fn:32">32</a> The Transistor Computer's design was adopted by the local engineering firm of <a href="/facts/Metropolitan-Vickers/jhnHBRU8">Metropolitan-Vickers</a> in their <a href="/facts/Metrovick_950/A1eDGqSy">Metrovick 950</a>, in which all the circuitry was modified to make use of junction transistors. Six Metrovick 950s were built, the first completed in 1956. They were successfully deployed within various departments of the company and were in use for about five years.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:33" href="#fn:33">33</a>

<h2 id="muse-and-atlas">Muse and Atlas</h2>
Main article: <a href="/facts/Atlas_(computer)/zz48u0jp">Atlas (computer)</a>
Development of MUSE – a name derived from "<a href="/facts/Microsecond/zdW1DEb2">microsecond</a> engine" – began at the university in 1956. The aim was to build a computer that could operate at processing speeds approaching one microsecond per instruction, one million instructions per second.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:34" href="#fn:34">34</a> Mu (or μ) is a prefix in the SI and other systems of units denoting a factor of 10−6 (one millionth).
At the end of 1958 Ferranti agreed to collaborate with Manchester University on the project, and the computer was shortly afterwards renamed Atlas, with the joint venture under the control of Tom Kilburn. The first Atlas was officially commissioned on 7 December 1962, and was considered at that time to be the most powerful computer in the world, equivalent to four <a href="/facts/IBM_7094/RpY2uI1k">IBM 7094s</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:35" href="#fn:35">35</a> It was said that whenever Atlas went offline half of the UK's computer capacity was lost.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:36" href="#fn:36">36</a> Its fastest instructions took 1.59 microseconds to execute, and the machine's use of <a href="/facts/Virtual_memory/Lw2GemF5">virtual storage</a> and paging allowed each concurrent user to have up to one million words of storage space available. Atlas pioneered many hardware and software concepts still in common use today including the <a href="/facts/Atlas_Supervisor/gLdLJNU8">Atlas Supervisor</a>, "considered by many to be the first recognisable modern operating system".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:37" href="#fn:37">37</a>
Two other machines were built: one for a joint <a href="/facts/BP/awvwSJ3x">British Petroleum</a>/<a href="/facts/University_of_London/spIRAx9B">University of London</a> consortium, and the other for the <a href="/facts/Atlas_Computer_Laboratory/3dPgubJx">Atlas Computer Laboratory</a> at Chilton near <a href="/facts/Oxford/kHvWDTXW">Oxford</a>. A derivative system was built by Ferranti for <a href="/facts/University_of_Cambridge/0la7aX9o">Cambridge University</a>, called the <a href="/facts/Titan_(1963_computer)/WNoFNzxa">Titan</a> or Atlas 2, which had a different memory organisation, and ran a <a href="/facts/Time-sharing/LE5XT9Go">time-sharing</a> <a href="/facts/Operating_system/8XTuvMh2">operating system</a> developed by <a href="/facts/Computer_Laboratory,_University_of_Cambridge/Dd9unFtw">Cambridge Computer Laboratory</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:38" href="#fn:38">38</a>
The University of Manchester's Atlas was decommissioned in 1971,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:39" href="#fn:39">39</a> but the last was in service until 1974.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:40" href="#fn:40">40</a> Parts of the Chilton Atlas are preserved by the <a href="/facts/National_Museums_of_Scotland/xcU0c9HS">National Museums of Scotland</a> in Edinburgh.
In June 2022 an IEEE Milestone was dedicated to the "Atlas Computer and the Invention of Virtual Memory 1957–1962".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:41" href="#fn:41">41</a>

<h2 id="mu5">MU5</h2>
The Manchester MU5 was the successor to Atlas. An outline proposal for a successor to Atlas was presented at the 1968 IFIP Conference in Edinburgh,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:42" href="#fn:42">42</a> although work on the project and talks with ICT (of which Ferranti had become part) aimed at obtaining their assistance and support had begun in 1966. The new machine, later to become known as MU5, was intended to be at the top end of a range of machines and to be 20 times faster than Atlas.
In 1968 the <a href="/facts/Science_Research_Council/LkjUJeFS">Science Research Council</a> (SRC) awarded Manchester University a five-year grant of £630,466 (equivalent to £12 million in 2023)<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:43" href="#fn:43">43</a> to develop the machine and <a href="/facts/International_Computers_and_Tabulators/KyhP7MVq">ICT</a>, later to become <a href="/facts/International_Computers_Limited/2ztan410">ICL</a>, made its production facilities available to the University. In that year a group of 20 people was involved in the design: 11 Department of Computer Science staff, 5 seconded ICT staff and 4 SRC supported staff. The peak level of staffing was in 1971, when the numbers, including research students, rose to 60.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:44" href="#fn:44">44</a>
The most significant novel features of the MU5 processor were its instruction set and the use of <a href="/facts/Content-addressable_memory/VteSPHMR">associative memory</a> to speed up operand and instruction accesses. The instruction set was designed to permit the generation of efficient object code by compilers, to allow for a pipeline organisation of the processor and to provide information to the hardware on the nature of operands, so as to allow them to be optimally buffered. Thus named variables were buffered separately from array elements, which were themselves accessed by means of named descriptors. Each descriptor included an array length which could be used in string processing instructions or to enable array bound checking to be carried out by hardware. The instruction pre-fetching mechanism used an associative jump trace to predict the outcome of impending branches.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:45" href="#fn:45">45</a>
The MU5 operating system MUSS<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:46" href="#fn:46">46</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:47" href="#fn:47">47</a> was designed to be highly adaptable and was ported to a variety of processors at Manchester and elsewhere. In the completed MU5 system, three processors (MU5 itself, an <a href="/facts/ICT_1900_series/P5wtuSGU">ICL 1905E</a> and a <a href="/facts/PDP-11/9HkGUzFn">PDP-11</a>), as well as a number of memories and other devices, were interconnected by a high-speed Exchange.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:48" href="#fn:48">48</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:49" href="#fn:49">49</a> All three processors ran a version of MUSS. MUSS also encompassed compilers for various languages and runtime packages to support the compiled code. It was structured as a small kernel that implemented an arbitrary set of virtual machines analogous to a corresponding set of processors. The MUSS code appeared in the common segments that formed part of each virtual machine's virtual address space.
MU5 was fully operational by October 1974, coinciding with ICL's announcement that it was working on the development of a new range of computers, the <a href="/facts/ICL_2900_Series/ka6K2NFC">2900 series</a>. ICL's 2980 in particular, first delivered in June 1975, owed a great deal to the design of MU5.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:50" href="#fn:50">50</a> MU5 remained in operation at the University until 1982.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:51" href="#fn:51">51</a> A fuller article about MU5 can be found on the Engineering and Technology History Wiki.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:52" href="#fn:52">52</a>

<h2 id="mu6">MU6</h2>
Once MU5 was fully operational, a new project was initiated to produce its successor, MU6. MU6 was intended to be a range of processors: MU6P,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:53" href="#fn:53">53</a> an advanced microprocessor architecture intended for use as a personal computer,
MU6-G,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:54" href="#fn:54">54</a> a high performance machine for general or scientific applications and MU6V,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:55" href="#fn:55">55</a> a parallel vector processing system. A prototype model of MU6V, based on 68000 microprocessors with vector orders emulated as "extracodes" was constructed and tested but not further developed beyond this. MU6-G was built with a grant from SRC and successfully ran as a service machine in the Department between 1982 and 1987,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:56" href="#fn:56">56</a> using the MUSS operating system developed as part of the MU5 project.

<h2 id="spinnaker">SpiNNaker</h2>
Main article: <a href="/facts/SpiNNaker/T95TByBA">SpiNNaker</a>
SpiNNaker: Spiking Neural Network Architecture is a <a href="/facts/Massively_parallel_(computing)/dX7W2Nxs">massively parallel</a>, <a href="/facts/Manycore_processor/ozoxeNzT">manycore</a> <a href="/facts/Supercomputer_architecture/p0Q2rvoR">supercomputer architecture</a> designed by <a href="/facts/Steve_Furber/Tr51Bqoa">Steve Furber</a> in the University of Manchester's Advanced Processor Technologies Research Group (APT).<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:57" href="#fn:57">57</a> Built in 2019, it is composed of 57,600 <a href="/facts/ARM9/tycMHVAJ">ARM9 processors</a> (specifically ARM968), each with 18 cores and 128 MB of <a href="/facts/Mobile_DDR/2XdLrg47">mobile DDR SDRAM</a>, totalling 1,036,800 cores and over 7 TB of RAM.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:58" href="#fn:58">58</a> The computing platform is based on <a href="/facts/Spiking_neural_networks/DeT3wPPV">spiking neural networks</a>, useful in simulating the <a href="/facts/Human_brain/qfSwSB8K">human brain</a> (see <a href="/facts/Human_Brain_Project/77NdNkM9">Human Brain Project</a>).<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:59" href="#fn:59">59</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:60" href="#fn:60">60</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:61" href="#fn:61">61</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:62" href="#fn:62">62</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:63" href="#fn:63">63</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:64" href="#fn:64">64</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:65" href="#fn:65">65</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:66" href="#fn:66">66</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:67" href="#fn:67">67</a>

<h2 id="summary">Summary</h2>
Chronology of developments<table><tbody><tr><th>Year</th><th>University Prototype</th><th>Year</th><th>Commercial Computer</th></tr><tr><th scope="row">1948</th><td><a href="/facts/Manchester_Baby/tpkAwQnc">Manchester Baby</a>, which evolved into the <a href="/facts/Manchester_Mark_1/S8wpt6U5">Manchester Mark 1</a></td><td>1951</td><td><a href="/facts/Ferranti_Mark_1/Q6hK6sI0">Ferranti Mark 1</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row">1953</th><td>Transistor computer</td><td>1956</td><td><a href="/facts/Metrovick_950/A1eDGqSy">Metrovick 950</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row">1954</th><td>Manchester Mark II a.k.a. "Meg"</td><td>1957</td><td><a href="/facts/Ferranti_Mercury/aHXTJkVM">Ferranti Mercury</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row">1959</th><td>Muse</td><td>1962</td><td><a href="/facts/Atlas_(computer)/zz48u0jp">Ferranti Atlas</a>, <a href="/facts/Titan_(1963_computer)/WNoFNzxa">Titan</a></td></tr><tr><th scope="row">1974</th><td>MU5</td><td>1974</td><td><a href="/facts/ICL_2900_Series/ka6K2NFC">ICL 2900 Series</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

<h2 id="notes">Notes</h2>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1">Lavington (1998), p. 49 - Lavington, Simon (1998), A History of Manchester Computers (2nd ed.), The British Computer Society, ISBN 978-1-902505-01-5 <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:2">Enticknap, Nicholas (Summer 1998), "Computing's Golden Jubilee", Resurrection (20), The Computer Conservation Society, ISSN 0958-7403, archived from the original on 9 January 2012, retrieved 19 April 2008 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120109142655/http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/CCS/res/res20.htm#d" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20120109142655/http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/CCS/res/res20.htm#d</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:3">Grimsdale, Dick, "50th Birthday of Transistor Computer", curation.cs.manchester.ac.uk, retrieved 24 February 2018 <a href="http://curation.cs.manchester.ac.uk/computer50/www.computer50.org/kgill/transistor/anniv50.html" target="_blank">http://curation.cs.manchester.ac.uk/computer50/www.computer50.org/kgill/transistor/anniv50.html</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:4">"A Timeline of Manchester Computing", University of Manchester, archived from the original on 5 July 2008, retrieved 25 February 2009 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080705160504/http://www.computer50.org/kgill/time.html" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20080705160504/http://www.computer50.org/kgill/time.html</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:5">"timeline". 5 July 2008. Archived from the original on 5 July 2008. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080705160504/http://www.computer50.org/kgill/time.html" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20080705160504/http://www.computer50.org/kgill/time.html</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:6">Lavington (1998), p. 7 - Lavington, Simon (1998), A History of Manchester Computers (2nd ed.), The British Computer Society, ISBN 978-1-902505-01-5 <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:7">Enticknap, Nicholas (Summer 1998), "Computing's Golden Jubilee", Resurrection (20), The Computer Conservation Society, ISSN 0958-7403, archived from the original on 9 January 2012, retrieved 19 April 2008 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120109142655/http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/CCS/res/res20.htm#d" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20120109142655/http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/CCS/res/res20.htm#d</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:8">Lavington (1998), p. 21 - Lavington, Simon (1998), A History of Manchester Computers (2nd ed.), The British Computer Society, ISBN 978-1-902505-01-5 <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:9">Lavington, Simon (1980), Early British Computers, Manchester University Press, ISBN 978-0-7190-0803-0 <a href="978-0-7190-0803-0" target="_blank">978-0-7190-0803-0</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:10">Lavington, Simon (1998), A History of Manchester Computers (2nd ed.), The British Computer Society, ISBN 978-1-902505-01-5 <a href="978-1-902505-01-5" target="_blank">978-1-902505-01-5</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:11">Napper, R. B. E. (2000), "The Manchester Mark 1 Computers", in Rojas, Raúl; Hashagen, Ulf (eds.), The First Computers: History and Architectures, MIT Press, pp. 356–377, ISBN 978-0-262-68137-7 <a href="978-0-262-68137-7" target="_blank">978-0-262-68137-7</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:12">Tootill, Geoff (Summer 1998), "The Original Original Program", Resurrection (20), The Computer Conservation Society, ISSN 0958-7403, archived from the original on 9 January 2012, retrieved 19 April 2008 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120109142655/http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/CCS/res/res20.htm#e" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20120109142655/http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/CCS/res/res20.htm#e</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:13">Manchester Museum of Science & Industry (2011), "The "Baby": The World's First Stored-Program Computer" (PDF), MOSI, archived from the original (PDF) on 15 February 2012, retrieved 3 April 2012 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120215153331/http://www.mosi.org.uk/media/34352414/the%20baby%2C%20the%20world%27s%20first%20stored-program%20computer.pdf" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20120215153331/http://www.mosi.org.uk/media/34352414/the%20baby%2C%20the%20world%27s%20first%20stored-program%20computer.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:14">Williams, F. C.; Kilburn, T. (25 September 1948), "Electronic Digital Computers", Nature, 162 (4117): 487, Bibcode:1948Natur.162..487W, doi:10.1038/162487a0, S2CID 4110351 <a href="/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Bibcode_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:15">Napper (2000), p. 365 - Napper, R. B. E. (2000), "The Manchester Mark 1 Computers", in Rojas, Raúl; Hashagen, Ulf (eds.), The First Computers: History and Architectures, MIT Press, pp. 356–377, ISBN 978-0-262-68137-7 <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=nDWPW9uwZPAC" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=nDWPW9uwZPAC</a> <a href="#fnref:15" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:16">Lavington (1998), p. 17 - Lavington, Simon (1998), A History of Manchester Computers (2nd ed.), The British Computer Society, ISBN 978-1-902505-01-5 <a href="#fnref:16" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:17">Lavington (1998), p. 21 - Lavington, Simon (1998), A History of Manchester Computers (2nd ed.), The British Computer Society, ISBN 978-1-902505-01-5 <a href="#fnref:17" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:18">Lavington (1998), p. 17 - Lavington, Simon (1998), A History of Manchester Computers (2nd ed.), The British Computer Society, ISBN 978-1-902505-01-5 <a href="#fnref:18" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:19">Napper, R. B. E., "The Manchester Mark 1", University of Manchester, archived from the original on 9 February 2014, retrieved 22 January 2009 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20140209155638/http://www.computer50.org/mark1/MM1.html" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20140209155638/http://www.computer50.org/mark1/MM1.html</a> <a href="#fnref:19" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:20">Lavington, S. H. (July 1977), "The Manchester Mark 1 and Atlas: a Historical Perspective" (PDF), University of Central Florida, retrieved 8 February 2009. (Reprint of the paper published in Communications of the ACM (January 1978) 21 (1) <a href="http://www.cs.ucf.edu/courses/cda5106/summer03/papers/mark1.atlas.1.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.cs.ucf.edu/courses/cda5106/summer03/papers/mark1.atlas.1.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:20" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:21">Lavington (1998), p. 18 - Lavington, Simon (1998), A History of Manchester Computers (2nd ed.), The British Computer Society, ISBN 978-1-902505-01-5 <a href="#fnref:21" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:22">"Manchester University "Baby" Computer and its Derivatives, 1948-1951". <a href="https://ethw.org/Milestones:Manchester_University_%22Baby%22_Computer_and_its_Derivatives,_1948-1951" target="_blank">https://ethw.org/Milestones:Manchester_University_%22Baby%22_Computer_and_its_Derivatives,_1948-1951</a> <a href="#fnref:22" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:23">Lavington (1998), p. 31 - Lavington, Simon (1998), A History of Manchester Computers (2nd ed.), The British Computer Society, ISBN 978-1-902505-01-5 <a href="#fnref:23" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:24">"The "Manchester TC" transistor computer - CHM Revolution". <a href="https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/digital-logic/12/273/1371" target="_blank">https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/digital-logic/12/273/1371</a> <a href="#fnref:24" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:25">Lavington (1998), pp. 34–35 - Lavington, Simon (1998), A History of Manchester Computers (2nd ed.), The British Computer Society, ISBN 978-1-902505-01-5 <a href="#fnref:25" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:26">Lavington (1998), p. 37 - Lavington, Simon (1998), A History of Manchester Computers (2nd ed.), The British Computer Society, ISBN 978-1-902505-01-5 <a href="#fnref:26" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
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<li id="fn:31">Cooke-Yarborough, E. H. (June 1998), "Some early transistor applications in the UK", Engineering Science & Education Journal, 7 (3), IEE: 100–106, doi:10.1049/esej:19980301 (inactive 7 December 2024), ISSN 0963-7346, archived from the original on 5 July 2020, retrieved 7 June 2009{{citation}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of December 2024 (link) (subscription required) <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200705080320/https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/689507" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20200705080320/https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/689507</a> <a href="#fnref:31" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:32">Lavington (1998), pp. 36–37 - Lavington, Simon (1998), A History of Manchester Computers (2nd ed.), The British Computer Society, ISBN 978-1-902505-01-5 <a href="#fnref:32" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:33">Lavington (1998), p. 37 - Lavington, Simon (1998), A History of Manchester Computers (2nd ed.), The British Computer Society, ISBN 978-1-902505-01-5 <a href="#fnref:33" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:34">"The Atlas", University of Manchester, archived from the original on 28 July 2012, retrieved 21 September 2010 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120728105352/http://www.computer50.org/kgill/atlas/atlas.html" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20120728105352/http://www.computer50.org/kgill/atlas/atlas.html</a> <a href="#fnref:34" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:35">Lavington (1998), p. 41 - Lavington, Simon (1998), A History of Manchester Computers (2nd ed.), The British Computer Society, ISBN 978-1-902505-01-5 <a href="#fnref:35" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:36">Lavington (1998), pp. 44–45 - Lavington, Simon (1998), A History of Manchester Computers (2nd ed.), The British Computer Society, ISBN 978-1-902505-01-5 <a href="#fnref:36" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:37">Lavington (1980), pp. 50–52 - Lavington, Simon (1980), Early British Computers, Manchester University Press, ISBN 978-0-7190-0803-0 <a href="#fnref:37" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:38">Lavington (1998), pp. 44–45 - Lavington, Simon (1998), A History of Manchester Computers (2nd ed.), The British Computer Society, ISBN 978-1-902505-01-5 <a href="#fnref:38" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:39">Lavington (1998), p. 43 - Lavington, Simon (1998), A History of Manchester Computers (2nd ed.), The British Computer Society, ISBN 978-1-902505-01-5 <a href="#fnref:39" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:40">Lavington (1998), p. 44 - Lavington, Simon (1998), A History of Manchester Computers (2nd ed.), The British Computer Society, ISBN 978-1-902505-01-5 <a href="#fnref:40" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:41">"Milestones:Atlas Computer and the Invention of Virtual Memory, 1957–1962". 12 February 2024. <a href="https://ethw.org/Milestones:Atlas_Computer_and_the_Invention_of_Virtual_Memory,_1957-1962" target="_blank">https://ethw.org/Milestones:Atlas_Computer_and_the_Invention_of_Virtual_Memory,_1957-1962</a> <a href="#fnref:41" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:42">Kilburn, T.; Morris, D.; Rohl, J.S.; Sumner, F.H. (1969), "A System Design Proposal", Information Processing 68, vol. 2, North Holland, pp. 806–811 <a href="#fnref:42" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:43">United Kingdom Gross Domestic Product deflator figures follow the MeasuringWorth "consistent series" supplied in Thomas, Ryland; Williamson, Samuel H. (2024). "What Was the U.K. GDP Then?". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 15 July 2024. <a href="/wiki/Gross_Domestic_Product_deflator" target="_blank">/wiki/Gross_Domestic_Product_deflator</a> <a href="#fnref:43" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:44">Morris, Derrick; Ibbett, Roland N. (1979), The MU5 Computer System, Macmillan, p. 1 <a href="http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/univOfManchester/mu5/Morris_The_MU5_Computer_System_1979" target="_blank">http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/univOfManchester/mu5/Morris_The_MU5_Computer_System_1979</a> <a href="#fnref:44" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:45">Sumner, F.H. (1974), "MU5 - An Assessment of the Design", Information Processing 74, North Holland, pp. 133–136 <a href="#fnref:45" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:46">Frank, G.R.; Theaker, C.J. (1979), "The design of the MUSS operating system", Software: Practice and Experience, 9 (8): 599–620, doi:10.1002/spe.4380090802, S2CID 1962276 <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Doi_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:46" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:47">Morris & Ibbett (1979), pp. 189–211 - Morris, Derrick; Ibbett, Roland N. (1979), The MU5 Computer System, Macmillan, p. 1 <a href="http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/univOfManchester/mu5/Morris_The_MU5_Computer_System_1979" target="_blank">http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/univOfManchester/mu5/Morris_The_MU5_Computer_System_1979</a> <a href="#fnref:47" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:48">Lavington, S.H.; Thomas, G.; Edwards, D.B.G. (1977), "The MU5 Multicomputer Communication System", IEEE Trans. Computers, vol. C-26, pp. 19–28 <a href="#fnref:48" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
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<li id="fn:50">Buckle, John K. (1978), The ICL 2900 Series, The Macmillan Press <a href="#fnref:50" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
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<li id="fn:54">Edwards, D.B.G; Knowles, A.E.; Woods, J.V. (1980), "MU6-G: a new design to achieve mainframe performance from a mini-sized computer", 7th Annual International Symposium on Computer Architecture, pp. 161–167, doi:10.1145/800053.801921, S2CID 7224504 <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/Doi_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:54" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:55">Ibbett, R.N.; Capon, P.C.; Topham, N.P. (1985), "MU6V: a parallel vector processing system", 12th Annual International Symposium on Computer Architecture, IEEE, pp. 136–144, ISBN 9780818606342 <a href="9780818606342" target="_blank">9780818606342</a> <a href="#fnref:55" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
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<li id="fn:57">"Themes - Department of Computer Science - The University of Manchester". www.cs.manchester.ac.uk. <a href="https://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/research/themes/" target="_blank">https://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/research/themes/</a> <a href="#fnref:57" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:58">"SpiNNaker Project - The SpiNNaker Chip". apt.cs.manchester.ac.uk. Retrieved 17 November 2018. <a href="http://apt.cs.manchester.ac.uk/projects/SpiNNaker/SpiNNchip/" target="_blank">http://apt.cs.manchester.ac.uk/projects/SpiNNaker/SpiNNchip/</a> <a href="#fnref:58" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:59">SpiNNaker Home Page, University of Manchester, retrieved 11 June 2012 <a href="http://apt.cs.manchester.ac.uk/projects/SpiNNaker/" target="_blank">http://apt.cs.manchester.ac.uk/projects/SpiNNaker/</a> <a href="#fnref:59" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:60">Furber, S. B.; Galluppi, F.; Temple, S.; Plana, L. A. (2014). "The SpiNNaker Project". Proceedings of the IEEE. 102 (5): 652–665. doi:10.1109/JPROC.2014.2304638. <a href="/wiki/Steve_Furber" target="_blank">/wiki/Steve_Furber</a> <a href="#fnref:60" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:61">Xin Jin; Furber, S. B.; Woods, J. V. (2008). "Efficient modelling of spiking neural networks on a scalable chip multiprocessor". 2008 IEEE International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence). pp. 2812–2819. doi:10.1109/IJCNN.2008.4634194. ISBN 978-1-4244-1820-6. S2CID 2103654. <a href="978-1-4244-1820-6" target="_blank">978-1-4244-1820-6</a> <a href="#fnref:61" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:62">A million ARM cores to host brain simulator News article on the project in the EE Times <a href="http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4217840/Million-ARM-cores-brain-simulator" target="_blank">http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4217840/Million-ARM-cores-brain-simulator</a> <a href="#fnref:62" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:63">Temple, S.; Furber, S. (2007). "Neural systems engineering". Journal of the Royal Society Interface. 4 (13): 193–206. doi:10.1098/rsif.2006.0177. PMC 2359843. PMID 17251143. A manifesto for the SpiNNaker project, surveying and reviewing the general level of understanding of brain function and approaches to building computer modelof the brain. <a href="/wiki/Steve_Furber" target="_blank">/wiki/Steve_Furber</a> <a href="#fnref:63" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:64">Plana, L. A.; Furber, S. B.; Temple, S.; Khan, M.; Shi, Y.; Wu, J.; Yang, S. (2007). "A GALS Infrastructure for a Massively Parallel Multiprocessor". IEEE Design & Test of Computers. 24 (5): 454. doi:10.1109/MDT.2007.149. S2CID 16758888. A description of the Globally Asynchronous, Locally Synchronous (GALS) nature of SpiNNaker, with an overview of the asynchronous communications hardware designed to transmit neural 'spikes' between processors. <a href="/wiki/Steve_Furber" target="_blank">/wiki/Steve_Furber</a> <a href="#fnref:64" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:65">Navaridas, J.; Luján, M.; Miguel-Alonso, J.; Plana, L. A.; Furber, S. (2009). "Understanding the interconnection network of SpiNNaker". Proceedings of the 23rd international conference on Conference on Supercomputing - ICS '09. p. 286. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.634.9481. doi:10.1145/1542275.1542317. ISBN 9781605584980. S2CID 3710084. Modelling and analysis of the SpiNNaker interconnect in a million-core machine, showing the suitability of the packet-switched network for large-scale spiking neural network simulation. <a href="9781605584980" target="_blank">9781605584980</a> <a href="#fnref:65" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:66">Rast, A.; Galluppi, F.; Davies, S.; Plana, L.; Patterson, C.; Sharp, T.; Lester, D.; Furber, S. (2011). "Concurrent heterogeneous neural model simulation on real-time neuromimetic hardware". Neural Networks. 24 (9): 961–978. doi:10.1016/j.neunet.2011.06.014. PMID 21778034. A demonstration of SpiNNaker's ability to simulate different neural models (simultaneously, if necessary) in contrast to other neuromorphic hardware. <a href="/wiki/Steve_Furber" target="_blank">/wiki/Steve_Furber</a> <a href="#fnref:66" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:67">Sharp, T.; Galluppi, F.; Rast, A.; Furber, S. (2012). "Power-efficient simulation of detailed cortical microcircuits on SpiNNaker". Journal of Neuroscience Methods. 210 (1): 110–118. doi:10.1016/j.jneumeth.2012.03.001. PMID 22465805. S2CID 19083072. Four-chip, real-time simulation of a four-million-synapse cortical circuit, showing the extreme energy efficiency of the SpiNNaker architecture <a href="/wiki/Steve_Furber" target="_blank">/wiki/Steve_Furber</a> <a href="#fnref:67" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
</ol>

Manchester computers open-in-new

Manchester computers