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India's first computer is 'lost'
In the age of laptops, this one would be sort of a giant: as big as a modest-sized room. And, very, very stupid.
Just imagine, a computer which wouldn’t do a thing on its own, hanging on to your every word. But if you managed to handle it right, gave it the right commands, it was a wonder: performing difficult calculations with amazing ease.
A wizard, really. After all, this was 1956, and this was India’s first computer. It was then in Kolkata’s Indian Statistical Institute.
Today, no one knows where it is. ISI got the computer — called Ural — from Russia. It was 10 feet by 10 feet in size with a 'drum' placed beside it, which contained its most important part — the memory.
The keyboard, too, was 10 feet wide and mostly contained knobs. Small wonder, it would look so stupid beside your sleek and superfast laptop powered by bleeding-edge technology.
A wizard, really. After all, this was 1956, and this was India’s first computer. It was then in Kolkata’s Indian Statistical Institute.
Today, no one knows where it is. ISI got the computer — called Ural — from Russia. It was 10 feet by 10 feet in size with a 'drum' placed beside it, which contained its most important part — the memory.
The keyboard, too, was 10 feet wide and mostly contained knobs. Small wonder, it would look so stupid beside your sleek and superfast laptop powered by bleeding-edge technology.
But 50 years ago, this was at the cutting edge of development. "It belonged to the first group of digital computers in the world....
Also, the memory today is built-in, unlike the drum memory of the Ural," said Dijesh Dutta Majumdar, who retired as head of ISI’s electronics and computer science division in 1992.
"We had a great time working on this computer. It was programmed to solve complicated problems, but it could do nothing on its own. We would have to command it to carry out instructions."
"But once it was told to follow the steps, there was no stopping it. Complex differential equations were solved in a jiffy."
"It helped us with projects we got from the Indian Atomic Energy Commission and the National Sample Survey. It also helped us take our research in statistics and mathematics several steps forward," he added.
"We had a great time working on this computer. It was programmed to solve complicated problems, but it could do nothing on its own. We would have to command it to carry out instructions."
"But once it was told to follow the steps, there was no stopping it. Complex differential equations were solved in a jiffy."
"It helped us with projects we got from the Indian Atomic Energy Commission and the National Sample Survey. It also helped us take our research in statistics and mathematics several steps forward," he added.
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