Atanasoff–Berry Computer Completed

Mass over 318 kg; 280 vacuum tubes and 31 thyratrons.

Industry, infrastructure and technology changed rapidly between 1938 and 1946, reshaping production, mobility and the material foundations of war and post-war recovery.

The principal source supports the period 1942 for “Atanasoff–Berry Computer Completed”, but it does not justify assigning a single calendar day. WWII CHRONOS therefore preserves the event with a partial date rather than inventing one.

Verified figure or fact: Mass over 318 kg; 280 vacuum tubes and 31 thyratrons. Physical measurements in WWII CHRONOS are expressed in the metric system.

This computing milestone helps explain the material systems behind the era: factories, energy, transport networks, extraction, communications, new materials and production methods.

Where an industrial achievement was tied to war, coercion or forced labour, the technical accomplishment must be read together with that human and political context rather than celebrated in isolation.

Editorial status: Year, core fact and mass verified. The source below supports the period and central claim; unsupported details have deliberately not been added.

Source: View historical source ↗