From Gamma 2 to Gamma E.T.: The Birth of Electronic Computing at Bull
Abstract
In 1949 the bull company created a team of electronics engineers. Two of them traveled to the U.S.A. in order to become acquainted with recent achievements in electronic computing. In 1951, they developed the Gamma 2 calculator, based on germanium diodes and delay lines and designed to be connected to the Bull BS tabulator for business applications. A commercial version, the Gamma 3, marketed in 1952, became a bestseller. Different models followed, including in 1956 the drum-augmented "Gamma E.T.," Bull's first stored-program computer.
- Publication:
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IEEE Annals of the History of Computing
- Pub Date:
- January 1990
- DOI:
- Bibcode:
- 1990IAHC...12a...5L
- Keywords:
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- Consumer electronics;
- History;
- Engineering management;
- Germanium;
- Diodes;
- Delay lines;
- Business;
- Application software;
- Computer industry;
- Environmental economics