Artifact Details

Description

This is a black and white image of the ILLIAC IV control unit and the rest of the system. All the ILLIAC's panels are closed. There is a test machine resting in front of the control unit. Light is coming from the overhead ceiling lights. Written on the verso side in pencil is "#1453" and stamped in black ink is "NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, California A73-5240". Written in red ink on the yellow post it notes is "Enlarge 20 x 25 1/4 P.31 ILLIAC B2/F5" and "Caption on seperate [sic] sign".

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.

Publisher

Illinois, University of (Urbana-Champaign)

Identifying Numbers

Other number	1453
Other number	A73-5240

Dimensions

8 x 10 in.

Format

Photographic print

Category

Identification photograph; Publicity photograph

Subject

Illiac IV (Computer); Burroughs Corporation; Computers--History; Computer industry--History

Credit

Courtesy of Gwen Bell

Lot Number

X7413.2015