Manchester Mark 1

What Does Manchester Mark 1 Mean?

The Manchester Mark 1 was the world's first commercially available general-purpose computer. It was developed as the Manchester Mark 1 at the University of Manchester in 1949 and built and distributed by Ferranti Inc. as the Ferranti Mark 1 in 1951.

The Manchester Mark 1 was also called the Manchester Automatic Digital Machine (MADM), the Ferranti Mark 1 and the Manchester Ferranti.

Techopedia Explains Manchester Mark 1

The computer's development led to 34 patents and significantly contributed to subsequent commercial products, including the IBM 701 and 702. The Manchester Mark 1 differed from other stored-program computers at the time with its use of Williams cathode ray tubes and magnetic drums for memory, instead of mercury delay lines.