Computers That Made the World

Discover the birth of the technological world we now live in through the origins of 12 influential computers built between 1939 and 1950.​

In 1940, a computer was someone who ploughed through grueling calculations each day. A decade later, a computer was a buzzing machine that filled a room. This book tells the story of how our world was reshaped by a dozen such computers — and the geniuses that brought them into being, from Alan Turing to John von Neumann.​

This world tour through the modern history of computing begins in 1939 with the first electronic digital computer, the Atanasoff-Berry computer (ABC). The story of computing in World War II takes readers through Germany, UK, and the US, before covering the explosive post-war years when anything seemed possible. Learn the fascinating stories behind the Manchester Baby, EDSAC, EDVAC, UNIVAC, Princeton IAS, and Alan Turing’s Pilot ACE and the birth of artificial intelligence.​

The Computers that Made the World chronicles how a new world, built on technology, sprang into being.

Tim Danton is author of The Computers That Made Britain, a Raspberry Pi book, and editor-in-chief of the British technology magazine PC Pro. He has also helped to launch several technology websites, most recently TechFinitive.com, where he is a senior editor.