Helmut Hoelzer's Fully Electronic Analog Computer

A fully electronic general-purpose analog computer was designed by Helmut Hoelzer, a German electrical engineer and remote-controlled guidance specialist. He and an assistant built the device in 1941 in Peenemunde, Germany, where they were working as part of Wernher von Braun's long-range rocket development team. The computer was based on an electronic integrator and differentiator conceived by Hoelzer in 1935 and first applied to the guidance system of the A-4 rocket. This computer is significant in the history not only of analog computation but also of the formulation of simulation techniques. It contributed to a system for rocket development that resulted in vehicles capable of reaching the moon.