An electromechanical, relay-based computer built by Konrad Zuse in Germany, first presented on 12 May 1941, using a 22-bit word and binary floating-point arithmetic. Built with government support through the Reich Air Ministry, the original machine was destroyed in an Allied bombing raid on Berlin on 21 December 1943; a working replica was built in 1961 and is displayed at the Deutsches Museum. It remained little known outside Germany for decades, so the Anglo-American ENIAC/Colossus/Atanasoff Berry Computer priority disputes this atlas already records rarely accounted for it. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Disputed
SignificanceShown to be theoretically Turing-complete, within its memory limits, by Raul Rojas in 1998, fifty-five years after the physical machine itself was destroyed; the Z3's obscurity in its own time, not any technical shortfall, is the main reason it rarely features in the ENIAC/Colossus/Atanasoff Berry Computer priority debates. 1 Turing-completeness was never demonstrated on the physical Z3, only argued retrospectively in 1998 against its documented design; the machine also lacked conditional branching, which Rojas's argument works around rather than contradicts. FAQs
What was the Zuse Z3 built from and what did it calculate?
It used 2300 relays for binary floating point arithmetic and was used for aerodynamic calculations.
The Computer History Museum describes the Z3 as an early computer built by the German engineer Konrad Zuse working in complete isolation from developments elsewhere. It used 2,300 relays, performed floating point binary arithmetic and had a 22-bit word length. It was used for aerodynamic calculations before it was destroyed in a bombing raid on Berlin in late 1943.
Connections
Held Differently
ENIAC, Systems Not a rival claim resolved in either machine's favor: the Z3 (1941, relay-based, Germany) and ENIAC (1945, electronic, USA) were independent, mutually unaware developments, and the Z3's obscurity in the West is why it rarely enters the same priority conversation this atlas's ENIAC trail already records.
Source Wikipedia: Z3 (computer)
In Field
Source Wikipedia: Z3 (computer)
Invented By
Konrad Zuse built the Zuse Z3 in Berlin in 1941, generally recognized as the first working programmable, fully automatic digital computer.
Source Wikipedia: Konrad Zuse
Preceded By
Zuse Z1, Systems Konrad Zuses own Z1, built 1936 to 1938, was the direct mechanical and logical forerunner of the Z3, his first fully working programmable computer.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Z3 (computer)
Wikimedia FoundationLead and History sections
The original Z3 was destroyed on 21 December 1943 during an Allied bombardment of Berlin
Design and development
On 12 May 1941, the Z3 was presented to an audience of scientists including the professors Alfred Teichmann and Curt Schmieden of the Deutsche Versuchsanstalt für Luftfahrt ("German Laboratory for Aviation") in Berlin, today known as the German Aerospace Center in Cologne.
Lead section
The Z3 was demonstrated in 1998 to be, in principle, Turing-complete.
Lead sentence
Z3 was a German electromechanical computer designed by Konrad Zuse in 1938, and completed in 1941. It was the world's first working programmable, fully automatic digital computer.
Associated With: ENIAC, Legacy section
was not considered vital, so it was never put into everyday operation
View the Source 2. Wikidata: Zuse Z3
- Wikidata Q222419, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)
- Wikidata Q222419 P571 (inception)
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