Analog Computer Development in Germany With a Focus on Telefunken [Scanning Our Past]

Until the 1930s, analog computers were mostly mechanical and sometimes electromechanical devices that were clumsy, required significant maintainance, and were difficult to reprogram. Reprogramming required the operators to dismantle and rebuild an intricate maze of axles and gears interconnecting the various computing elements. With the advent of electronics, the idea of a purely electronic analog computer was ripe in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The first such machine was devised and built by George A. Philbrick in 1938 and became known as Polyphemus, due to its particular shape-a rack containing a lot of electronic amplifiers and associated equipment with a single oscilloscope mounted on top, which looked a bit like the one-eyed giant.