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75 years of computers

Daniela SpäthMay 10, 2016

75 years ago Konrad Zuse launched the computer age. He invented the first programmable electromechanical computer, the Z3. Over the decades computers have been getting smaller and smaller. They may soon turn invisible.

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Computer Z3 Nachbau
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/T.. Brakemeier

75 years of computers

Few things have had such a profound impact on our daily lives in recent decades as the computer. Konrad Zuse switched on the first programmable electromechanical computer, the Z3, in 1941. It weighed nearly a ton and could only perform the four basic arithmetic operations. Today, colossal supercomputers crunch big data. At the same time, computers are shrinking. Miniature machines are now used as wearables or in high-tech fashion.