Artifact Details

Title

ILLIAC IV computer

Catalog Number

102651985

Type

Still Image

Description

This is a black and white image of two men working in a room with the ILLIAC IV. The men are sitting down looking into some test equipment. Light is coming from overhead. The foreground contains a large disk drive unit for the ILLIAC IV. 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. Written on verso side of image in blue ink near the top is "Illiac IV" and in pencil on the left side is "#1454". Stamped on verso side of image in black ink is "NASA AMES RESEARCH CENTER Moffet Field, California 94035 A72-4294". Written on yellow post it note in black pen is "ILIAC [sic] IV (60s)".

Publisher

Illinois, University of (Urbana-Champaign)

Identifying Numbers

Other number 1454
Other number A72-4294

Dimensions

8 x 10 in.

Format

Photographic print

Category

Identification photograph; Publicity photograph

Subject

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

Credit

Courtesy of Gwen Bell

Lot Number

X7413.2015