{"id":1843,"date":"2019-12-05T08:15:40","date_gmt":"2019-12-05T07:15:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpethzprd.ethz.ch\/its\/?p=1843"},"modified":"2019-12-11T11:28:27","modified_gmt":"2019-12-11T10:28:27","slug":"it-find-series-3-2019-what-do-you-associate-with-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/its\/2019\/12\/05\/it-find-series-3-2019-what-do-you-associate-with-it\/","title":{"rendered":"IT Find series 3\/2019: What do you associate with it?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Join\nus on a journey into the past: What is this device and what do you personally\nassociate with it? Tell us your story!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"
What is this device?<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

ERMETH<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

«The ERMETH (Elektronische Rechenmaschine der ETH (electronic computing machine of ETH)) was one of the first computers in Europe and was developed and built by Eduard Stiefel and his Institute for Applied Mathematics at ETH Zurich between 1948 and 1956. It was in use until 1963. … In contrast to the Z4, the ERMETH had a traditional Von Neumann architecture, i.e. it was a calculating machine in which the program and processed data are stored in the same main memory; this allowed both numbers and program parts to be processed automatically. The ERMETH was designed for numerical calculations and worked in a truly decimal manner (not binary or hexadecimal) and had commands for all four basic arithmetic operations with floating point and fixed point numbers, but it could not process alphabetic characters». (Wikipedia<\/a> translated from the German entry)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"This
This object is an individual module of the first ETH computing machine, ERMETH. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

«Despite all the difficulties, ERMETH was gradually put into operation between 1956 and 1958 in the main ETH building. Between 1958 and 1963, this first Swiss computer was used almost continuously. Night-time operators – recruited from ETH students – looked after the computer when everyone else had left the ETH building for the evening. … The ERMETH was replaced in 1963 by a CDC-1604 mainframe computer from the American company «Control Data Corporation». From that point in time, American computers dominated the market.» (Watson<\/a> translated from the German entry)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"ERMETH
ERMETH module<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Numerous reports were produced on this device in ETH blogs<\/a> and other media such as NZZ<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n