Hello, does anyone have any information on the Mark I computer that the University of Toronto purchased from Ferranti LTD in the early 1950s for the design of the St. Lawrence Seaway? Thanks, David

-- david clark (doclark@yorku.ca), April 15, 2001

Answers

[Posted for GH by CG.]

I've never heard of this, but a google search for "Ferranti Lawrence seaway" immediately finds a few hits in the history of computing. They aren't quite consistent!

http://www.computer50.org/mark1/mark1intro.html

The Ferranti Mark 1 had the same basic architecture as the Manchester Mark 1, but it was better engineered and included a number of enhancements that made it a significantly faster and more powerful machine. It was the world's first commercially available computer, with the first machine delivered in February 1951. The second machine sold publicly went to the University of Toronto in 1952, and was used in the design of the St. Lawrence Seaway.

http://www.bcs.org.uk/review/textonly/html/kahn.htm

The Ferranti Mark 1 made some further fairly minor enhancements to the Manchester Mark 1, but had much improved engineering. It was the world's first commercially available general purpose computer. The first machine was delivered to Manchester University in February 1951. The second was provided to government code breakers, who had moved to Cheltenham from Bletchley Park. The third was sold to Toronto University in 1952 and was used in an early design of the St Lawrence Seaway.

http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:www.newsco.com/articles/story150. htm+Ferranti+Lawrence+seaway&hl=en

We have to recapture our heritage. We are the place where the computer was invented, but that celebration was turned into a tedious arts festival. Soon however, it will be the anniversary of the sale of the world's computer - sold by Manchester University and Ferranti to the Quebec government in 1950-51 to compute the building work on the St Lawrence seaway - the biggest civil engineering project of its day.

-- Graeme Hirst (gh@cs.toronto.edu), April 16, 2001.