Z4 (computer)

The Z4 was arguably the world's first commercial <a href="/facts/Digital_computer/SQe1aK05">digital computer</a>, and is the oldest surviving programmable computer.: 1028  It was designed, and manufactured by early computer scientist <a href="/facts/Konrad_Zuse/yrvbaEg3">Konrad Zuse</a>'s company Zuse Apparatebau, for an order placed by <a href="/facts/Henschel_%2526_Son/QSlbNf7o">Henschel & Son</a>, in 1942; though only partially assembled in Berlin, then completed in Göttingen in the <a href="/facts/Third_Reich/8kRbqRpo">Third Reich</a> in April 1945, but not delivered before the defeat of Nazi Germany, in 1945. The Z4 was Zuse's final target for the <a href="/facts/Z3_(computer)/JNPXGqDp">Z3</a> design. Like the earlier <a href="/facts/Z2_(computer)/fmrzzY6I">Z2</a>, it comprised a combination of mechanical memory and <a href="/facts/Electromechanics/0D5gkXko">electromechanical</a> logic.
The Z4 was used at the <a href="/facts/ETH_Zurich/IxHAFGUU">ETH Zurich</a> from 1950 to 1955,: 14  also serving as the inspiration for the construction of the <a href="/facts/ERMETH/TvrQ94jD">ERMETH</a>,: 1009  the first Swiss computer, created under the direction of ETH engineer <a href="/facts/Ambros_Speiser/92Ephuxl">Ambros Speiser</a>.: 1087

Z4 (computer) open-in-new

Z4 (computer)