Artifact Details

Title

ILLIAC IV Boston ca. 1960s

Catalog Number

102630726

Type

Still Image

Description

This is a color image of the ILLIAC IV with three men nearest to the camera, standing and working around the system. There are two other men in the far back of the room. The light is coming from the ceiling. Written on verso side on white label is "ILLIAC IV Boston". Also written on verso side is "#1449". Parallel Processing appeared in the huge ILLIAC IV, the first computer to abandon the classic one-step-at-a-time scheme of John von Neumann. ILLIAC IV had sixty-four processors, each with its own memory, all operating simultaneously on separate parts of one problem. Designed at the University of Illinois and built by Burroughs, the computer took six years to complete at a cost of $40 million. It was the fastest machine then in use, but ahead of its time. Plagued by technical ills and very difficult to program, ILLIAC IV was one of a kind.

Date

1966-1974

Publisher

Illinois, University of (Urbana-Champaign); Burroughs Corporation

Identifying Numbers

Other number 1449

Dimensions

8 x 10 in.

Format

Photographic print

Category

Publicity photograph; Identification photograph

Subject

Illiac IV (Computer)

Credit

Courtesy of Gwen Bell

Lot Number

X7413.2015