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The device is a Zuse computer that combines data. Computing machines by Konrad Zuse

Nowadays you won’t surprise anyone with a computer. A common home appliance, such as a TV or telephone. Apparently, in a few years these three devices will merge into one.

This will bring joy to my beloved niece Natalie! It's hard for her now. It's not easy to chat with friends on Facebook, talk to other friends on your cell phone, and look at the TV screen at the same time.

When I once told her that in my day computers were the size of a room, or at most a desk, she looked at me incredulously. I suspect that she secretly believes that the first computer was created by the great Steve Jobs. He created it from the dust of the earth, breathed life into it and commanded: “Be fruitful and multiply.”

Name Steve Jobs (1955 -2011) almost everyone knows. The names of other people who have done no less for the computerization of the world are almost unknown to the general public. In the summer, my niece and I watched the opening of the Olympics in London. The British demonstrated their country's contribution to world civilization. When the inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, appeared on stage, my niece asked who this man was. “Inventor of the Internet,” I answered her and read surprise in her eyes. Was the Internet (in the form she was used to) invented and invented only recently?

Yes, my dear Natalie, I remember how the Earth was formless and empty, because there was no Internet on it. I will say more, just sixty years ago the great-great-grandfather of your laptop was born. He was born in Germany and had the strange name Z-1. By the name of the creator, Konrad Zuse (1910 - 1995).

Konrad Zuse fell ill with invention as a child. He came up with his first invention, a machine for changing coins, when he was a schoolboy. The idea of ​​​​creating an automatic computer that works according to a given program came to Zuse while he was studying at the Berlin Higher Technical School in Charlottenburg. I think that many who studied in technical educational institution and was engaged in numerous calculations, the idea of ​​making my work easier came to me more than once. In 1973, my classmate Vitya Bandurkin even bought a Felix adding machine with his own money at a thrift store to perform calculations. There were no electronic calculators yet, although electronic computers already existed. Largely thanks to the dedication and hard work of Konrad Zuse

After completing the course in 1935, he became an engineer at the Henschel aviation company, which was located in the Berlin suburb of Schönefeld. Here the young engineer was bombarded with aerodynamic calculations. This further strengthened the idea of ​​the need to create an automatic computer. After working at the plant for only a year, Conrad quit his job in order to begin designing the car of his dreams.

In 1938 the first computer was built. In fact, it had everything that makes a computer a computer. Zuse decided to carry out calculations in the binary system, which made it possible to use as the simplest computing element not a gear with ten teeth, as in an adding machine, but a mechanical switch with only two positions: on and off. It was simpler and therefore more reliable. Zuse's computer had a separate memory block and a panel from which data was entered. Data was also entered from punched tape, which was 35 mm film. K. Zuse personally punched holes in it. This unit weighed 500 kilograms, and performed one multiplication operation in five seconds. Slightly faster than a human! The main achievement could be considered that the Z-1 worked. Not reliable, but it worked!

In 1939 the Second World War began World War, and K. Zuse was mobilized into the army. True, he served for several months, after which he was able to convince the military authorities of the need to create computers for automatically performing calculations in aerodynamics, aircraft construction and artillery. That same year, he produced a second model of his computing device, the Z-2. It can be considered a working prototype of a computer. The element base of the Z-2 were several thousand decommissioned telephone relays.

The first fully functional programmable computer was the next model, the Z-3. Zuse demonstrated it in Berlin on May 12, 1941. It was a success, it was a breakthrough! Similar American cars, Mark I and ENIAC, appeared only three years later.

But no one in warring Germany needed a programmable computer. K. Zuse was able to adapt it for the production of aerodynamic calculations at the Henschel company, but when he started talking about the fact that if vacuum tubes were used instead of relays, the speed of calculations would seriously increase, none of the generals was interested in this. Things were such at the front that one could only hope for some kind of miracle weapon. Which, fortunately for humanity, Germany did not have.

The Z-3 computer was destroyed during a bombing in 1944. The tireless K. Zuse set about creating the fourth model. He was counting on mass production, but the war was drawing to a close, the Allies were bombing Germany mercilessly, and the half-finished Z-4 had to be taken to the small Bavarian town of Hinterstein and hidden in a barn.

In 1948, the Z-4 ​​computer was finally built. Note, at the personal expense of K. Zuse. To save money, many of its metal parts were made from American tin cans, of which there were many in Germany at that time.

This computer finally found a buyer, ETH Zurich. The Z-4 ​​was one of the few computers in existence at that time and the first computer in the world to be sold. He worked in Zurich until 1954, and then for another five years in France. Long-lived!

Nowadays, it’s hard to believe that in the early 1950s there were only two computers working in Europe. One of them was Konrad Zuse's Z-4, and the other was MESM, created in the USSR Sergei Alekseevich Lebedev (1902 - 1974).


Useful links:

  1. .Vasiliev. Four computers by Konrad Zuse

  2. Article about K. Zuse on Wikipedia

  3. Babbage's Heirs. About the creators of the first computers.

Konrad Zuse is a German inventor, one of the founders of modern computer technology. He is best known as the creator of the world's first programmable (and Turing complete) computer.

Conrad was born in Berlin, Germany (Berlin, Germany); later his family moved to Braunsberg, East Prussia. In 1923, the Zuse family again changed their place of residence, settling in Hoyerswerda; Here Zuse underwent training in 1928, receiving the right to enter the university. For some time, Conrad studied engineering and architecture, but soon became bored with these areas; in 1935, Zuse received a diploma in housing and civil engineering. He worked briefly for Ford, where he used his outstanding artistic talents to design advertisements. Subsequently, Conrad moved to the Henschel aircraft factory, where he was already engaged in engineering design. As part of his job, he had to make a lot of rather monotonous calculations; This process irritated Zuse quite a bit, awakening dreams of automation.



Zuse began experimenting with computers in 1935, in his parents’ apartment. His first development, the Z1 model, was completed in 1936; It was essentially a mechanical calculator with limited programming capabilities.

In 1937, Conrad received 2 patents, which in many ways anticipated the further work of von Neumann; by 1938 he had completed work on the Z1. This device contained about 30,000 metal parts and, due to inaccuracy in the alignment of parts, did not always work properly. The first model was destroyed on January 30, 1944; later, between 1987 and 1989, Conrad restored his creation.

In 1939, Zuse was drafted into the army, where he was given enough funds to create the Z2. He presented the finished version in September 1940; it occupied several rooms in the same apartment and was built on telephone relays.

Government subsidies received allowed Conrad to continue his research; in 1941 he completed work on the Z3 version. This programmable 22-bit calculator could work with real numbers, supported cyclic operations, had built-in memory and was built on the same relays (mostly defective). Despite the absence of conditional transitions, this machine was Turing-complete (which, however, Zuse himself was not particularly interested in - the inventor was driven more by practical considerations than by scientific interest).

In 1942, Zuse began work on the Z4; after one of the air raids, the partially finished car was taken out of Berlin. It was possible to continue work on the computer only in 1949; On July 12, 1950, the work was completed - and the car turned out to be impressively reliable.

Konrad Zuse was never a member of the Nazi Party, but he was never particularly worried about the need to work for the Nazi war machine. As Zuse stated much later, the best scientists and engineers always had to either make a deal with their conscience by participating in morally dubious projects, or simply forget about working in their specialty.

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Konrad Zuse was born in Berlin on June 22, 1910, 31 years before the start of the Great Patriotic War. Patriotic War. Go down in history as the creator of the first truly working programmable computer (1941) and the first programming language high level (1945).

From childhood, the boy showed interest in design. While still at school, he designed a working model of a coin-changing machine and created a project for a city for 37 million inhabitants. And during his student years, he first came up with the idea of ​​​​creating an automatic programmable computer.

In 1935, Zuse trained as an engineer at the Berlin Higher Technical School in Charlottenburg, which today is called the Technical University of Berlin. Upon completion, he went to work at the Heinkel aircraft factory in the city of Dessau, however, after working for only a year, he quit, becoming closely involved in the creation of a programmable counting machine. After experimenting with the decimal number system, the young engineer preferred the binary number system. In 1938, Zuse's first working development appeared, which he called Z1. It was a binary mechanical computer with an electrical drive and limited opportunity programming using the keyboard. The result of calculations in the decimal system was displayed on the lamp panel. Built with his own funds and money from friends and mounted on a table in the living room of his parents' house, the Z1 worked unreliably due to insufficient execution accuracy components. However, being an experimental model, it was not used for any practical purposes.

The Second World War made it impossible for Zuse to communicate with other computer enthusiasts in Great Britain and the United States of America. In 1939 Zuse was called up to military service, however, he managed to convince army commanders of the need to give him the opportunity to continue his developments. In 1940 he received support Research Institute Aerodynamics (German: Aerodynamische Versuchsanstalt), who used his work to create guided missiles. Thanks to her, Zuse built a modified version of the computer - Z2 based on telephone relays. Unlike the Z1, the new machine read instructions from perforated 35mm film. It was also a demonstration model and was not used for practical purposes. In the same year, Zuse founded the Zuse Apparatebau company to produce programmable machines.

Professor Zuse in 1990 at his recreated Z1 computer

Satisfied with the functionality of the Z2, in 1941 Zuse created a more advanced model - the Z3, which today is considered by many to be the first actually working programmable computer. However, the programmability of this binary computer, assembled, like the previous model, based on telephone relays, was also limited. Although the order of calculations could now be determined in advance, conditional branches and loops were absent. However, Z3 was the first among Zuse's computing machines to receive practical use and was used to design an airplane wing.

All three vehicles, Z1, Z2 and Z3, were destroyed during the bombing of Berlin in 1944. And the following year, 1945, the company itself, created by Zuse, ceased to exist. A little earlier, the partially completed Z4 was loaded onto a cart and transported to a safe place in a Bavarian village. It was for this computer that Zuse developed the world's first high-level programming language, which he called Plankalkül (German: Plankalkül calculus of plans).

Z3. It had a huge memory - 64 words of 22 bits each.

In 1946, Zuse founded a commercial computer manufacturing company, Zuse-Ingenieurbüro Hopferau. Venture capital was received from ETH and IBM.

Three years later, in 1949, having settled in the city of Hünfeld, Zuse created the company Zuse KG. In September 1950, Z4 was finally completed and delivered to ETH Zürich. At the time, it was the only working computer in continental Europe and the first computer in the world to be sold. In this, the Z4 was five months ahead of the Mark I and ten months ahead of the UNIVAC. Zuse and his company built other computers, each with a name that began with capital letter Z. The most famous machines are the Z11, sold to the optical industry and universities, and the Z22, the first computer with magnetic memory.

A device for reading programs and data from improvised punched tape, which was used as photographic film.

In addition to general-purpose computers, Zuse built several specialized computers. Thus, calculators S1 and S2 were used to determine the exact dimensions of parts in aviation technology. The S2 machine, in addition to the computer, also included measuring devices for performing aircraft measurements. The L1 computer, which remained in experimental form, was intended by Zuse to solve logical problems.

By 1967, Zuse KG had supplied 251 computers, worth about DM 100 million, but due to financial problems it was sold to Siemens AG. However, Zuse continued to conduct research in the field of computers and worked as a specialist consultant for Siemens AG.

Zuse believed that the structure of the Universe was like a network of interconnected computers. In 1969, he published the book “Computational Space” (German: Rechnender Raum), translated a year later by employees of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In 1987–1989, despite suffering a heart attack, Zuse recreated his first computer, the Z1. The completed model consisted of 30 thousand components, cost 800 thousand German marks and required the labor of 4 enthusiasts (including Zuse himself) for its assembly. Funding for the project was provided by Siemens AG along with five other companies.

Currently, a fully functioning model of the Z3 computer is located in the “German Museum” in Munich, and a model of the Z1 computer has been transferred to the German Technical Museum in Berlin. Today, the latter also hosts a special exhibition dedicated to Conrad Zuse and his works. The exhibition features twelve of his machines, original documents on the development of the Plankalküll language and several paintings by Zuse.

Monument to Konrad Zuse in Heonfeld (Saxony), where he spent his childhood.

For his contributions and early successes in the field of automatic computing, an independent proposal for use binary system and floating point arithmetic, and designing Germany's first and one of the world's first software-controlled computers in 1965, Zuse received the Harry H. Goode Memorial Award, a medal and $2,000 from the Computer Society (English).

In 1985, Zuse became the first honorary member of the German Society for Informatics, and in 1987 it began to award the Konrad Zuse Medal, which today has become the most famous German award in the field of computer science. In 1995, Zuse was awarded the Order of the Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his life's work. In 2003, he was named the "greatest" living German by ZDF.

Politically, Zuse considered himself a socialist. Among other things, this was expressed in the desire to put computers at the service of socialist ideas. Within the framework of the “equivalent economy,” Zuse, together with Arno Peters, worked to create the concept of a high-tech planned economy based on the management of powerful modern computers. In the process of developing this concept, Zuse coined the term “computer socialism.” The result of this work was the book “Computer Socialism. Conversations with Konrad Zuse" (2000), co-published.

After retiring, Zuse took up his favorite hobby - painting. Zuse died on December 18, 1995 in Hünfeld (Germany), at the age of 85. Today, several cities in Germany have streets and buildings named after him.

All three vehicles, Z1, Z2 and Z3, were destroyed in the 1944 Berlin bombing. And the next year, 1945, the company itself, created by Zuse, ceased to exist. A little earlier, the partially completed one was loaded onto a cart and transported to a safe place in a Bavarian village. It was for this computer that Zuse developed the world's first high-level programming language, which he called Plankalküll (German). Plankalkül calculation of plans ).

In 1985, Zuse became the first honorary member of the German Society for Informatics, and in 1987 it began to award the Konrad Zuse Medal, which today has become the most famous German award in the field of computer science. In 1995, Zuse was awarded the Order of the Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his life's work. In 2003, he was named the "greatest" living German by ZDF.

Politically, Zuse considered himself a socialist. Among other things, this was expressed in the desire to put computers at the service of socialist ideas. Within the framework of the “equivalent economy”, Zuse, together with Arno Peters, worked to create the concept of a high-tech planned economy based on the management of powerful modern computers. In the process of developing this concept, Zuse coined the term “computer socialism”. The result of this work was the book “Computer Socialism. Conversations with Konrad Zuse" (2000), co-published.

After his retirement, Zuse took up his favorite hobby, painting. Zuse died on December 18, 1995 in Hünfeld (Germany), at the age of 85. Today, several cities in Germany have streets and buildings named after him, as well as a school in Hünfeld.

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Notes

Literature

  • Jürgen Alex. Konrad Zuse: der Vater des Computers / Alex J., Flessner H., Mons W. u. a.. - Parzeller, 2000. - 263 S. - ISBN 3-7900-0317-4, KNO-NR: 08 90 94 10.(German)
  • Raúl Rojas, Friedrich Ludwig Bauer, Konrad Zuse. Die Rechenmaschinen von Konrad Zuse. - Berlin: Springer, 1998. - Bd. VII. - 221 S. - ISBN 3-540-63461-4, KNO-NR: 07 36 04 31.(German)
  • Zuse K. Der Computer mein Leben.(German)
  • The Computer - My Life. - Springer Verlag, 1993. - ISBN 0-387-56453-5.(English)
  • Meet: computer = Understanding computers: Computer basics: Input/Output / Transl. from English K. G. Bataeva; Ed. and from before V. M. Kurochkina. - M.: Mir, 1989. - 240 p. - ISBN 5-03-001147-1.
  • Computer language = Understanding computers: Software: Computer Languages ​​/ Transl. from English S. E. Morkovina and V. M. Khodukina; Ed. and from before V. M. Kurochkina. - M.: Mir, 1989. - 240 p. - ISBN 5-03-001148-X.
  • Wilfried de Beauclair. Vom Zahnrad zum Chip: eine Bildgeschichte der Datenverarbeitung. - Balje: Superbrain-Verlag, 2005. - Bd. 3. - ISBN 3-00-013791-2.

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Excerpt characterizing Zuse, Conrad

“No, he’s not a fool,” Natasha said offendedly and seriously.
- Well, what do you want? You are all in love these days. Well, you’re in love, so marry him! – the countess said, laughing angrily. - With God blessing!
- No, mom, I’m not in love with him, I must not be in love with him.
- Well, tell him so.
- Mom, are you angry? You’re not angry, my dear, what’s my fault?
- No, what about it, my friend? If you want, I’ll go and tell him,” said the countess, smiling.
- No, I’ll do it myself, just teach me. Everything is easy for you,” she added, responding to her smile. - If only you could see how he told me this! After all, I know that he didn’t mean to say this, but he said it by accident.
- Well, you still have to refuse.
- No, don't. I feel so sorry for him! He is so cute.
- Well, then accept the offer. “And then it’s time to get married,” the mother said angrily and mockingly.
- No, mom, I feel so sorry for him. I don't know how I'll say it.
“You don’t have anything to say, I’ll say it myself,” said the countess, indignant that they dared to look at this little Natasha as if she were big.
“No, no way, I myself, and you listen at the door,” and Natasha ran through the living room into the hall, where Denisov was sitting on the same chair, by the clavichord, covering his face with his hands. He jumped up at the sound of her light steps.
“Natalie,” he said, approaching her with quick steps, “decide my fate.” It's in your hands!
- Vasily Dmitrich, I feel so sorry for you!... No, but you are so nice... but don’t... this... otherwise I will always love you.
Denisov bent over her hand, and she heard strange sounds, incomprehensible to her. She kissed his black, matted, curly head. At this time, the hasty noise of the countess's dress was heard. She approached them.
“Vasily Dmitrich, I thank you for the honor,” said the countess in an embarrassed voice, but which seemed stern to Denisov, “but my daughter is so young, and I thought that you, as a friend of my son, would turn to me first.” In this case, you would not put me in the need of refusal.
“Athena,” Denisov said with downcast eyes and a guilty look, he wanted to say something else and faltered.
Natasha could not calmly see him so pitiful. She began to sob loudly.
“Countess, I am guilty before you,” Denisov continued in a broken voice, “but know that I adore your daughter and your entire family so much that I would give two lives...” He looked at the countess and, noticing her stern face... “Well, goodbye, Athena,” he said, kissed her hand and, without looking at Natasha, walked out of the room with quick, decisive steps.

The next day, Rostov saw off Denisov, who did not want to stay in Moscow for another day. Denisov was seen off at the gypsies by all his Moscow friends, and he did not remember how they put him in the sleigh and how they took him to the first three stations.
After Denisov’s departure, Rostov, waiting for the money that the old count could not suddenly collect, spent another two weeks in Moscow, without leaving the house, and mainly in the young ladies’ room.
Sonya was more tender and devoted to him than before. She seemed to want to show him that his loss was a feat for which she now loves him even more; but Nikolai now considered himself unworthy of her.
He filled the girls' albums with poems and notes, and without saying goodbye to any of his acquaintances, finally sending all 43 thousand and receiving Dolokhov's signature, he left at the end of November to catch up with the regiment, which was already in Poland.

After his explanation with his wife, Pierre went to St. Petersburg. In Torzhok there were no horses at the station, or the caretaker did not want them. Pierre had to wait. Without undressing, he lay down on the leather sofa in front of round table, put his big feet in warm boots on this table and thought.
– Will you order the suitcases to be brought in? Make the bed, would you like some tea? – asked the valet.
Pierre did not answer because he did not hear or see anything. He began to think at the last station and continued to think about the same thing - about something so important that he did not pay any attention to what was happening around him. Not only was he not interested in the fact that he would arrive in St. Petersburg later or earlier, or whether he would or would not have a place to rest at this station, but it was still in comparison with the thoughts that occupied him now whether he would stay for a few days. hours or a lifetime at this station.
The caretaker, the caretaker, the valet, the woman with Torzhkov sewing came into the room, offering their services. Pierre, without changing his position with his legs raised, looked at them through his glasses, and did not understand what they could need and how they could all live without resolving the questions that occupied him. And he was preoccupied with the same questions from the very day he returned from Sokolniki after the duel and spent the first, painful, sleepless night; only now, in the solitude of the journey, did they take possession of him with special power. No matter what he started to think about, he returned to the same questions that he could not solve and could not stop asking himself. It was as if the main screw on which his whole life was held had turned in his head. The screw did not go in further, did not go out, but spun, not grabbing anything, still on the same groove, and it was impossible to stop turning it.
The caretaker came in and humbly began to ask His Excellency to wait only two hours, after which he would give courier for His Excellency (what will happen, will happen). The caretaker was obviously lying and only wanted to get extra money from the passerby. “Was it bad or good?” Pierre asked himself. “For me it’s good, for another person passing through it’s bad, but for him it’s inevitable, because he has nothing to eat: he said that an officer beat him for this. And the officer nailed him because he needed to go faster. And I shot at Dolokhov because I considered myself insulted, and Louis XVI was executed because he was considered a criminal, and a year later they killed those who executed him, also for something. What's wrong? What well? What should you love, what should you hate? Why live, and what am I? What is life, what is death? What force controls everything?” he asked himself. And there was no answer to any of these questions, except one, not a logical answer, not to these questions at all. This answer was: “If you die, everything will end. You’ll die and find out everything, or you’ll stop asking.” But it was also scary to die.
The Torzhkov merchant offered her goods in a shrill voice, especially goat shoes. “I have hundreds of rubles that I have nowhere to put, and she stands in a torn fur coat and timidly looks at me,” thought Pierre. And why is this money needed? Can this money add exactly one hair to her happiness, peace of mind? Could anything in the world make her and me less susceptible to evil and death? Death, which will end everything and which should come today or tomorrow, is still in a moment, in comparison with eternity.” And he again pressed the screw that was not gripping anything, and the screw still turned in the same place.
His servant handed him a book of the novel in letters to m m e Suza, cut in half. [Madame Suza.] He began to read about the suffering and virtuous struggle of some Amelie de Mansfeld. [Amalia Mansfeld] “And why did she fight against her seducer,” he thought, “when she loved him? God could not put into her soul aspirations that were contrary to His will. My ex-wife didn't fight and maybe she was right. Nothing has been found, Pierre told himself again, nothing has been invented. We can only know that we know nothing. And this is the highest degree of human wisdom."
Everything in himself and around him seemed to him confusing, meaningless and disgusting. But in this very disgust for everything around him, Pierre found a kind of irritating pleasure.
“I dare to ask your Excellency to make room for a little bit, for them,” said the caretaker, entering the room and leading behind him another traveler who had been stopped for lack of horses. The man passing by was a squat, broad-boned, yellow, wrinkled old man with gray overhanging eyebrows over shiny eyes of an indeterminate grayish color.
Pierre took his feet off the table, stood up and lay down on the bed prepared for him, occasionally glancing at the newcomer, who with a sullenly tired look, without looking at Pierre, was heavily undressing with the help of a servant. Left in a worn-out sheepskin coat covered with nankin and in felt boots on thin, bony legs, the traveler sat down on the sofa, leaning his very large, short-cropped head, wide at the temples, against the back and looked at Bezukhy. The stern, intelligent and insightful expression of this look struck Pierre. He wanted to talk to the passerby, but when he was about to turn to him with a question about the road, the passerby had already closed his eyes and folded his wrinkled old hands, on the finger of one of which there was a large cast-iron ring with the image of Adam’s head, sat motionless, either resting, or about thinking deeply and calmly about something, as it seemed to Pierre. The traveler's servant was covered with wrinkles, also a yellow old man, without a mustache or beard, which apparently had not been shaved, and had never grown on him. A nimble old servant dismantled the cellar, prepared the tea table, and brought a boiling samovar. When everything was ready, the traveler opened his eyes, moved closer to the table and poured himself one glass of tea, poured another for the beardless old man and handed it to him. Pierre began to feel uneasy and necessary, and even inevitable, to enter into a conversation with this passing person.
The servant brought back his empty, overturned glass with a half-eaten piece of sugar and asked if anything was needed.
- Nothing. “Give me the book,” said the passerby. The servant handed him a book, which seemed spiritual to Pierre, and the traveler began to read. Pierre looked at him. Suddenly the traveler put the book aside, laid it closed, and, again closing his eyes and leaning on the back, sat down in his previous position. Pierre looked at him and did not have time to turn away when the old man opened his eyes and fixed his firm and stern gaze straight into Pierre's face.
Pierre felt embarrassed and wanted to deviate from this gaze, but the brilliant, senile eyes irresistibly attracted him to them.

“I have the pleasure of speaking with Count Bezukhy, if I’m not mistaken,” said the traveler slowly and loudly. Pierre silently and questioningly looked through his glasses at his interlocutor.
“I heard about you,” continued the traveler, “and about the misfortune that befell you, my lord.” “He seemed to emphasize the last word, as if he said: “yes, misfortune, whatever you call it, I know that what happened to you in Moscow was a misfortune.” “I’m very sorry about that, my lord.”
Pierre blushed and, hastily lowering his legs from the bed, bent over to the old man, smiling unnaturally and timidly.
“I didn’t mention this to you out of curiosity, my lord, but for more important reasons.” “He paused, not letting Pierre out of his gaze, and shifted on the sofa, inviting Pierre to sit next to him with this gesture. It was unpleasant for Pierre to enter into conversation with this old man, but he, involuntarily submitting to him, came up and sat down next to him.
“You are unhappy, my lord,” he continued. – You are young, I am old. I would like to help you to the best of my ability.
“Oh, yes,” Pierre said with an unnatural smile. - Thank you very much...Where are you passing from? “The face of the traveler was not kind, even cold and stern, but despite this, both the speech and the face of the new acquaintance had an irresistibly attractive effect on Pierre.
“But if for some reason you don’t like talking to me,” said the old man, “then say so, my sir.” - And he suddenly smiled unexpectedly, a fatherly tender smile.
“Oh no, not at all, on the contrary, I’m very glad to meet you,” said Pierre, and, looking again at the hands of his new acquaintance, he took a closer look at the ring. He saw Adam's head on it, a sign of Freemasonry.
“Let me ask,” he said. -Are you a Mason?
“Yes, I belong to the brotherhood of free stonemasons,” said the traveler, looking deeper and deeper into Pierre’s eyes. “Both on my own behalf and on their behalf, I extend a brotherly hand to you.”

(Germany) and lived for a long time with his parents in the north of Saxony in the town of Hoyerswerda (German). Hoyerswerda). From childhood, the boy showed interest in design. While still at school, he designed a working model of a coin-changing machine and created a project for a city for 37 million inhabitants. And during his student years, he first came up with the idea of ​​​​creating an automatic programmable computer.

Zuse believed that the structure of the universe was like a network of interconnected computers. He publishes the book “Rechnender Raum” (“Computational Space”), which was translated into English language employees with the name "Calculating Space".

In - years, despite suffering a heart attack, Zuse recreated his first computer “Z1”. The finished model consisted of 30 thousand components, cost 800 thousand German marks and required the labor of 4 enthusiasts (including Zuse himself) for its assembly. Funding for the project was provided by Siemens AG along with five other companies.

Currently, a fully functioning model of the “Z3” computer is located in the “German Museum” of the city of Munich, and a model of the “Z1” computer has been transferred to the German Technical Museum in Berlin. Today, the latter also hosts a special exhibition dedicated to Conrad Zuse and his works. The exhibition features twelve of his machines, original documents on the development of the Plankalküll language and several paintings by Zuse.

For his contributions and early successes in the field of automatic computing, his independent proposal for the use of binary and floating-point arithmetic, and the design of Germany's first and one of the world's very first program-controlled computers, Zuse received the Harry M. Goode Memorial Prize in 2010. English Harry M. Goode Memorial Award), medal and $2,000 from "Computer Society".

In the year Zuse became the first honorary member of the German "Informatics Society", and from there it began to award the “Konrad Zuse Medal,” which today has become the most famous German award in the field of computer science. For his life's work, Zuse was awarded the Order of the Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. And in the ZDF channel he was called the “greatest” living German.

After retiring, Zuse took up his favorite hobby - painting. Zuse died on December 18 in Hünfeld (Germany). Today, several cities in Germany have streets named after him.

Literature

  • Konrad Zuse: Der Vater des Computers./ Jürgen Alex, Hermann Flessner, Wilhelm Mons u. a. - Parzeller, . - 264 S(German). ISBN 3-7900-0317-4, KNO-NR: 08 90 94 10
  • Die Rechenmaschinen von Konrad Zuse/Hrsg. v. Raul Rojas. - Berlin: Springer, . - VII, 221 S(German). ISBN 3-540-63461-4, KNO-NR: 07 36 04 31
  • Der Computer mein Leben./ Konrad Zuse(German).
  • The Computer - My Life- Springer Verlag (August) . ISBN 0-387-56453-5
  • Meet the computer = Understanding computers: Computer basics: Input/Output; Per. from English K. G. Bataeva; Ed. and from before V. M. Kurochkina - Moscow: World, . - 240 pp., ill. ISBN 5-03-001147-1 (Russian) .
  • Computer language = Understanding computers: Software: Computer Languages; Per. from English S. E. Morkovina and V. M. Khodukina; Ed. and from before V. M. Kurochkina - Moscow: World, . - 240 pp., ill. ISBN 5-03-001148-X (Russian) .

Links

  • Wikimedia Commons has media related to this topic Konrad Zuse
  • Biography (English)
  • Brief biography in the online virtual museum LeMO (German)
  • Konrad Zuse and his calculators on the website of his son, Hornst Zuse at the Technical University of Berlin (German)
  • Konrad Zuse Internet Archive
  • Technical University of Berlin (German) (English)
  • The life and works of Konrad Zuse ( (eng.)
  • Konrad Zuse (English)
  • Konrad Zuse, creator of the first programmable computer
  • Zuse's Theses on Digital Physics and the Computational Universe
  • Information about the Konrad Zuse Museum in Hoyerswerda (German) (English)