Australia’s oldest computer could show us how quantum might become a reality
CSIRAC, Australia's first digital computer, is being revisited as a historical benchmark for the country's current ambitions in quantum computing. Experts reflect on the machine's massive scale and complexity while discussing the future of Australian technological innovation.
Why it matters
It connects Australia's historical computing roots to modern efforts to become a global leader in the emerging quantum technology sector.
CSIRAC was the first digital computer built in Australia, and the fifth in the world. ( Supplied: Unknown photographer/Museums Victoria/Public Domain )
Link copied Share Share article Peter Thorne still regularly thinks about a weekend job he had almost 70 years ago, running a computer the size of a garage.
"They needed somebody to turn it on, run the test programs and make sure it worked for people at the weekend," he says.
The device Dr Thorne was in charge of — called the CSIRAC — is the fifth automatic digital computer ever built, and the first in Australia.
"It was … probably the most complicated electronic machine in Australia at that time," he says.
The computer — parts of which are still on display — is a behemoth. It weighs close to two tonnes, and has the energy requirements of a cul-de-sac worth of homes.
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